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I want to punch him for calling Onyx that, for enslaving his son and commanding him to end the lives of people I care about. I want to tear his head off and throw it to the grave trolls to feast on, but I swallow down my anger and stare at the two men through narrowed eyes. They’re so damn close to me. Almost close enough to touch.
Should I try to take the king over now?I really fucking want to. I want to make this asshole pay.
Shaking my head, I will myself to be just a little more patient. My opportunity is coming, but not with Phantom staring right at the king. Not with his entire army surrounding him. I can’t choose the wrong moment just because I’m angry.
“Show no mercy,” the king says, then squeezes his son’s shoulder, eyes flashing with an emotion I can’t name.
Phantom nods like any mind he ever had of his own is gone. “I’ll do as you say, my king.”
As Phantom walks past me, I watch the king, and I find myself unimpressed. Yes, him standing in dark clothes, wearing a dark cloak, commanding nightmarish creatures gives him a frightening appearance. But when I actually look at the man himself, I see someone smaller than his sons, thinner and shorter. If he were wearing human clothes, I could picture him in a park feeding pigeons. Not that he’s old exactly, just that beneath all his evil, he’s just a man.
Or maybe I’m telling myself that because of what I’m about to do. I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. Whatever helps me.
The king waits until Phantom is out of sight, until his army has faded from sight to earth, then whistles like he’s calling forth a horse. I frown, feeling confused. I try to peer around without moving too much and risking him seeing me.
To my shock, a woman appears. I don’t know if she melted out of thin air, or if I couldn’t see her approaching until she was there, but she’s terrifying in a way I never expected. Like for all my fears of the shadow beasts and the grave trolls, I never knew that this was the thing I should be fearing most here.
She’s dressed in a scraggly black dress that drags on the ground and moves like the tentacles of an octopus in the sea. I can almost believe she’s floating, but somehow, I don’t think she is. It feels more like she’s something so… wrong that she can’t even exist in this dark world.
When she reaches the king, she lifts her head, and I almost gasp. I’ve seen ugliness before but she’s a whole other level of hideous. She’s wrinkled with bulging eyes, thin lips, and a long, skinny nose. It’s as if she were a human forced to live until she was two or three hundred years old, but her body continued to disintegrate.
It seems impossible that her skin is still holding her bones together. Impossible that she can walk, or think. She’s like a pumpkin left to rot in the sun, and I can only imagine what she might smell like if the wind shifted.
I wait for them to speak. I wait… I don’t know for what. But she just stares at the king with cold eyes, not like Phantom, who seems emotionless, but like a dangerous creature forced into a cage. A shiver rolls down my back, and I find myself hoping that whatever figurative cage holds this woman, it stays there.
At last, the king speaks, looking down at her with an expression of pure intensity. “You saw my son?”
Her voice is thin and tinny as she says, “The one they call Phantom? Yes.”
The king’s smile grows as cold as her eyes. “I want you to use the shard in his chest and pin him to the Earth. It’s the last piece. The most important piece. With it there, with him there, I can use him to be my conduit, to funnel my power and destroy earth.” If ever there was a time that an evil laugh was fitting, it’s now. I half expect it, but he simply smiles.
What will that do to Phantom? And can it be undone?I hate that I don’t know, but what I do know is that if the king is right, that will be the end of earth, the end of life, and the end of everything and everyone I ever loved.
His smile expands as the witch turns away from him. “And when you’re finished, bring me my bride from my tower, with her hands bound behind her back. We’ll be wed immediately.”
“Your wish is my command,” she says, but there’s something dark in her voice. Maybe even a warning.
Maybe because this asshole can only wed a woman who’s tied up? My woman who could kick his ass, and he knows it?
The witch, and she can’t possibly be anything else, turns back and bows to him, then heads to the edge of the Void. That strange gown of hers floats around her. Somehow her stride is powerful and sure until she disappears, following the army to earth.
Damn it.
Part of me wishes I would have already tried to take over the king’s body, so I could have stopped him before he spoke to the witch, but the other part of me has no fucking clue how to do this and would rather try it without the added pressure of a witch watching me. Either way, it’s too late now to stop her. I just have to hope that Phantom and the others will be okay.Myjob is to focus on what has to be done next.
This is my role. I have to do this. If I fail, we’ve lost.
Taking a deep breath, I watch the king for a few more seconds. I don’t know what he’s waiting for, but he’s standing near, surveying the land, probably staying close to the battle, just in case. But, hell, I don’t care what he’s doing. This is the time. I have to act.
Closing my eyes, I do something I’ve avoided doing since taking this body. I search within myself for my soul, for whatever makes me… me. When I first entered this body, myself and Adrik’s body felt like two symbiotic creatures, but as I search myself, I feel different. The separation between this body and me is almost not there. It’s like this was always my body.
Relief rushes through me for one moment. If I stay in this body, I don’t know if I’ll ever lose it, and that’s been something I’ve feared since the moment I came back. But then I remember what I’m doing, purposely stepping away from it, and my heartbeat suddenly fills my ears, my entire being. It’s so loud it’s almost like the harsh banging of drums. Overwhelming. Painful.
Every instinct inside of me says not to do this, but I force myself to untangle from the body. I’m shaking, or this body is shaking, I’m not sure which, but I keep extracting myself until I’m suddenly free. Separate. Hovering above Adrik’s body,mybody.
It collapses behind the stone, looking like an empty shell, even though the chest still rises and falls. I instantly want to dive back into the body, but I force myself to look away. To concentrate on the king. He stands with his fists curled, glaring toward the Void. Power radiates off of him in a way I didn’t see before. And realize that it’s taking an incredible amount of power and control for him to keep his army safe on earth from the harsher light.So that’s why he’s here, close but not in the battle.
My body wants to stay away from him, but I force myself to move forward. To stand in front of him. He looks through me, not aware of my ghost, and I take a deep breath, then force myself into him.
