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She looks like she wants to punch me, but she moves closer, erasing the distance between us. “Just be glad I took the risk for the both of us, or there would be no one here to releaseyou. To bringyouto your men and help to save both our worlds.”
It takes everything in me not to take a step back as her wrath emanates off of her. “Agreed.”
She moves back, her gaze sweeping over me again, sizing me up. “You’re not much. Not at all what I expected. But it doesn’t really matter. We need to go. The king has taken the wealth of his army to earth. They’ll plant the shards, including the one in Phantom’s heart, into the earth, and then the Void will spread. His power will grow, and he’ll keep spreading it until all of your world is plunged into darkness. If we aren’t fast enough, regardless of the prophecy, all will be lost. And he’ll be too powerful to ever stop.”
I knew everything except the piece about Phantom, even though the king had made it clear that Phantom wouldn’t be ruling alongside him. “He’s going to kill Phantom?”
She lifts a brow. “He was always going to kill Phantom. The Shadow King was never a good person, but his first wife tapered that evil. She gave him a reason to want more than just power. And then she died, and that terrible darkness inside of him overcame him. Even if he hadn’t found a way to take the goddess’s heart from the sky, he would have found a way to destroy this world. He needs to be stopped, regardless of whether it costs Phantom his life or not.”
“No,” I tell her, and she looks surprised. “We’re going to save this world, my world, him, all ofmymen. I swear it.” And this time, I’m the one who advances on her, glaring.
It’s strange when she looks at me as if impressed. “Maybe you’re not nearly as useless as I thought. Now, come on, I have our ride. But we’re going to have to hurry.”
She doesn’t give me time to think, time to consider what we’re doing. She just turns and heads out the door. It’s maybe not exactly what I pictured, but I followed her, because this woman seems to be the one who will lead me to wherever my men are.
We race down the steps, and I hope like hell that we’re fast enough. Maybe I’m not the person of prophecy. Maybe the prophecy is a lie. But I’ll be damned if this thing doesn’t end with me fighting at my men’s side.
FOURTEEN
Rayne
Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I try to keep my breathing and heart rate even. I have no idea how refined the shadow beasts’ hearing is, but if I give myself away, it’s all over. Not just my chance to save Phantom, butourchance to save earth.
This is my role. My part to play in this war.
Even if just the idea of giving up this body makes me sick.What if I can’t come back? What if the body dies while I’m out of it? What if the king pushes me out and I spend the rest of my life as a ghost?
Fuck.Those aren’t good thoughts, so I try to force them away. To focus on the situation in front of me. Even though I’ve changed since dying, I’m still deep down a scholar, not a soldier, and right now I need to be a soldier. A warrior. Someone who stays calm and focused in a dangerous situation.
Someone like Phantom, Onyx, and Dusk. For some reason, I want to make them proud. I want to do this for them. Over our time together I’ve changed from someone they saw as competition to maybe… a brother. I already disappointed Esmeray when I died, when I pulled away from her. I didn’t want to ruin this second chance by disappointing these men too.
So don’t disappoint them.
And then there’s Ann. This fucking king took her, or at the least, commanded Phantom to take her. He hurt her and created this whole mess, so I need to do this. For her. And for the men she loves.
I’m as close to the Shadow King and Phantom as I can possibly get, hiding in a patch of dead trees with a sizable boulder in the center of them. Luckily, the spot was close to where I’d crossed over, so I hadn’t had to go far. I didn’t risk peeking out at them as I heard their army approaching. There were too many eyes that could spot me. But I listened carefully as their sounds and voices got louder. Now, I can hear Phantom and the Shadow King like I’m standing beside them.
Although mostly the king has been busy tooting his own horn over the sound of the chittering rot monkeys, the growls of the shadow beasts, and the grunting of the grave trolls. Like now, as he finishes a string of compliments about himself, then releases a deep sigh. “This is it, son. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for.”
“Your kingdom will expand,” Phantom responds, his voice strangely emotionless compared to his father’s. “Earth will be yours, and you’ll have the power you deserve.”
The sound of his dark creatures quiets so quickly from one moment to the next that it’s eerie. I’m sure if I looked out now, they’d be all standing in silence, staring at the king, waiting for his command, having been silenced by whatever power the king holds. But I can’t see them. All I can do is stay still and pray that Dusk and Onyx can handle what’s coming their way. At least until I can save Phantom. Then, Phantom can help us take down his father, stop the shadow beasts, and end this war.
I just hope with him back, it’s enough.
I try not to think about the fact that it wasn’t enough to stop the king before, because those kinds of thoughts won’t help me now. Whatever end game this monstrous man has worked out, it’s about to happen, and the others need me. I’m their secret weapon. Their last chance to change the tide of this war.
No pressure, right?
Turning, I peek out just a little, and my stomach drops. This army… it’s larger than I ever imagined, an unstoppable force of nightmarish beasts, and it’s like the very world knows it. Trembles beneath their power, holding its breath. I wonder if their myth about the Moon Goddess is real, because I swear the dirt beneath my body feels… sad… upset.
The king speaks, his voice louder than before, meant to be heard by all his subjects, not just Phantom. He directs his army of beasts to cross out of the shadow realm, to attack anything that moves. But it isn’t the speech of a moving leader, it’s the command of a slave leader. Words that are simply meant to be heard and obeyed.
Howls from the shadow beasts fill the air. The grave trolls stomp and roar, and the rot monkeys squeal and race ahead of them all. Then, the army begins to move through the dark wall, disappearing from sight. It’d be a comfort if I didn’t know Dusk and Onyx were on the other side. Because as incredible as those two men are, there’s no way they can stop this army.
If they try, they’re dead.
The king speaks more quietly this time, but his words rise above the noise of the army moving. “Go with them. Command them.” He smiles at Phantom, and it makes my stomach turn. “Bring me the heads of your brother and the mute.”
