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More murmurs, these ones more excited than the last.
"Within her control is power enough to destroy a smoke dragon and to harm the shadow king."
"Get to it!" someone shouts.
Phantom glances in my direction. It's half a second, but I see the concern in his eyes before his expression is fully one of confidence. "The mate bond is complete. Now we need only wait for the shadows to show us the next step."
Silence. His words are met with complete and utter silence.
"So, you don't know what to do next?" Flame asks, pushing through the others and coming to stand right in front of us.
"Prophecies aren't simple. We must still be patient."
"We've been patient for a very long time," Flame says, and there's disappointment and frustration in his voice.
"I know," Phantom tells him, his voice gentling. "I know that when all of you followed us to this world, you had no idea what was in store. None of us did. But I'm proud of you. You're fighting, not just for yourselves, not just for us, but all the people still enslaved beneath the shadow king's hold. When we stop him--"
"Ifwe can stop him," Flame says, his dark eyes locked onto Phantom's. "Ifwe can stop him, then what? When we fight the other shadow beasts, we're fighting our friends, our family. If this keeps up, we'll be returning to a dark world we can't survive in, and all the people we once loved will be dead, casualties of this war."
"There are always sacrifices in war." Phantom's voice is grave. "But with the prophecy fulfilled, we just have to hold on a little longer. Not lose our faith."
More silence.
"We've run out of faith," Flame says, and his words sound like an apology, which I don't understand.
But I do sense the way the tension around us increases. I see the way our men's eyes narrow, and even a change that sweeps through them as they exchange glances.
This isn't good. Not good at all.
I breathe out slowly, my muscles tense, then slowly lay my hand on the hilt of the dagger on my belt. Maybe I won't need it, maybe I'm worrying about nothing, but itfeelslike a storm is brewing.
Phantom gives a slight nod, his gaze meeting mine, and then sweeping over the others. If we have to fight, if there’s no other choice than to go against the shadow beasts we’ve fought beside and would continue to fight beside, then we will fight them. But I hope that's not what's brewing. I hope this is just something that can be talked about.
Flame looks each of us up and down like he’s sizing us up, like he’s assessing the danger. And the rumbling in my gut turns to a roar. They’re about to betray us. I can feel it. Then, he speaks to all of us, but looks at Phantom. “We’re tired of the violence and all the death that comes from fighting the king.”
"We're all tired of it," Phantom says, his voice patient. "But the alternative is to give into him, to let him destroy this world, and to let him control us all."
"This world?" Flame almost sighs the words. "It would be a shame for it to be destroyed the way our world was, but this was never about saving this world. It was about protecting ourselves, about fighting to free our people. But each day that passes, we have less people to save. Our men are dying. His men, our enslaved people, are dying."
"No one said war was easy." My voice is soft but it carries over the room.
"No one said we wanted a war," Flame counters, his expression still sad.
"There's no other choice," Phantom tells them, then raises his voice. "We have no other choice. We just need to keep our faith that the prophecy will be fulfilled and we'll save our people."
"There is another choice though," Flame says, and his hand moves to his sword.
My fingers curl around the hilt of my dagger. I don’t want to fight today, but I will because I know what’s coming. Desperation does not make for smart decisions, and these men think they've run out of options.
"I can use the light again. I can help us win this war." Ann's voices carries through the room, but no one seems to care.
"Can you control this power?" Flame asks, lifting a brow, but she doesn't answer. "We already know you can't. It's an incredible trick, but nothing more than a trick if you can't use it when we need you to."
"Be smart," Phantom warns, his voice almost a growl.
"I am." The circle around us tightens, and I watch Flame for any signal he might be giving. “We made a deal with the shadow king.”
“Adeal?” My words come out shocked, harsh. "For what? All the king wants is death and power."
