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year 30 of the curse
“P-Patrick?”
My voice wasn’t my own. It was a rasp of a thing, a choked hiss. Pain radiated from my chest, searing stabs of blistering lightning. I couldn’t take in a breath, and blackness swept across my eyes, muting an already dark world.
“Oh,Ki,” Patrick said, his voice not sounding the same. It was severe and biting.Cruel. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”
He twisted the knife, and I gasped.
“W-why—” I staggered back, peering between our bodies to the dagger currently embedded in my chest, inches below my heart. My eyes went back to him.
Patrick…smiled.
“All this time I thoughtyouwere the only one I needed, but really, I needed him too. Thetruedescendant of the Sun Goddess.” He scoffed, the sound bitter. “For decades, I followed that insipid sun priestess, a favorite of Raina’s, around the realm. Apparently, it was your precious Aurora who aided my dearest love when she fell. When she became a worthless human.”
Patrick swallowed thickly, briefly squeezing his eyes as if in regret. “If she had simplywaitedbefore fleeing, I would have made sure she stayed immortal, ruling at my side. But instead, she chose not to trust me, chose to think the worst before I even had time to explain.”
The blade was yanked from my chest and in his hand before I could register the pain. Blood bubbled up in my throat, and I sputtered, spitting red on the ground. Behind me, I heard Jude shouting, anguish tainting his voice.
But all I could focus on was the boy in front of me.
Who wasn’t really a boy at all.
“Y-you’re the mortal man she fell in love with.” It wasn’t a question. Patrick was the man who’d cut her to pieces. Who’d cursed us all to darkness.
The flickers of sorrow vanished from his features. “Yes, Raina did love me. But it wasn’t enough. For either of us. She was content with me always being below her, never her equal. It ruined us.”
There was no trace of the person I’d gotten to know all these weeks. The friend who’dprotectedme. Taken me under his wing. The boy who’d taught me how to open myself up and allow another in. I’d fallen for his lies without much of a fight, all because he’d reminded me of Liam. Maybe that had been his plan the entire time.
Raina’s traitorous lover. He’d impaled her with a blade gifted to him by Arlo in the hopes of stealing her magic for himself. He could argue he did it for love all he wanted, but his words would ring hollow.
Love was acceptance, and Patrick had never accepted Raina for what she was. No, he coveted her, turning her into the object of his envy.
A wave of dizziness had me swaying, and Patrick watched with an emotionless expression as I tumbled to the ground, gasping for air.
Gods, I felt cold, and it wasn’t the kind of cold that came when I used my shadows. No—this was the coldness of death.
“Step away from her!” Jude snarled from behind me. I felt hands grasp me, moving up and down my arms, inspecting my wound.
I couldn’t feel much of anything other than his warmth. Wherever he touched, heat singed my skin, chasing away that persistent chill. Why was he so warm? It hurt, his touch, even as I welcomed it.
“Jude,” I whispered, blood filling my mouth, making it hard to speak. Peering through my lashes, I found his stare on Patrick, his mismatched eyes changing, shifting into something new. He inhaled sharply, his rage causing his body to tremble, and when he opened his eyes once more, they were molten.Literallyfilled with glowing fire and scorching wrath.
I blinked at the impending darkness, Jude and his fiery eyes coming in and out of focus. I’d lose consciousness soon, and then…
Then I would well and truly die.
Before my lids closed, I noticed Jude give a subtle jerk of his head. It would have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but I’d become too aware of him, of his every move and every breath.
Steps pounded like muted drums, and then Jake spoke, his tone dripping acid. “You were supposed to be my friend,” he seethed. I couldn’t see him, but I felt his temper swell. “Why betray us?”
My eyes were fully closed now, and the sweet pull of nothingness called out to me. It would be so easy to slip away, to give in and finally find peace.
“Stay with me,” Jude’s voice hissed above my ear.
Jake was still talking, screaming at Patrick. I didn’t hear Patrick’s reply, but they were arguing.
I understood then that Jake was working to distract him.
