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“You drew blood from her. Dared to fucking touch her.” Draven’s voice is eerily quiet. “It’s taking all of my control to not break every single bone in your body. To not kill you myself.” The truth of his words cut sharper than his blade. “You are like a plague, infecting anyone in your path without knowing who is already suffering.”
A whistle expels from Aiden’s lips when he wheezes in air. Opening his mouth to speak, no words come out as he starts coughing.
I step forward, gently placing a hand on Draven’s chest to offer some comfort, and nod to Fynn and Cora who still stand behind him with stern expressions. Fynn grasps Draven’s shoulder to help pull his anger back before it ignites again. I stare down at the male before my feet, who is wincing in pain.
“You are clueless. Seeking vengeance on those who are not the enemy, all for selfish acts. Do you even care how I died or why?!” My voice raises with all of the emotions charging me at once. “You chose your side, and it was the wrong one. Whiro doesn’t give a damn about you or what you want. He only seeks power for himself.” My hands ball up at my sides, and the tips of my nails bite into my palms from the force. “You mean nothing to him. Nobody does.”
Grunting through his teeth, Aiden sits partially up, staying slightly hunched. “Of course, I did! That’s why I sailed here as fast as I could!” His voice is raspy and strained as he takes another wheezing breath in. “You died because of this bastard!”
He jerks his head to Draven before sliding his gaze back to me. I can feel a renewed anger rolling in waves through the bond. It’s so strong that I fear I will choke on it and Draven will snap from Aiden placing blame for my so-called death on him when he already feels so guilty.
Aiden’s head drops, fingers curling into the hard ground beneath him. “Whiro said he would help me, because the two of us have the same goal. To rid the world of one single soul.”
The blood in my veins chills, growing colder by the minute, while my darkness rises to the surface. My teeth grind together, hard exhales huffing out of my nose.
Crouching down, I grip Aiden’s chin roughly between my fingers and force him to stare into my eyes as I let them darken, becoming a little fucking demon.
“Except, Whiro wants to rid the world of every soul,” I say with a tone that holds no emotion.
Aiden’s face blanches, looking strange with the contrast against the blood still coating his skin. “W–what?”
“That’s right. You didn’t care to know the bigger picture. But I suppose you might be right about something…” I trail off.
He holds his breath, waiting.
I grip his chin harder, jerking his face closer. “To rid the world of one single soul will be beneficial.”
The harsh inhale gets caught in his throat as my shadows trickle out, dancing around me. Ripping his chin from my grasp, he falls back on his elbows. A blubbering mess trying to speak.
He coughs, and the blood in his throat makes it sound wet. “You won’t kill me,” he says when he finds his voice. He’s trying to sound confident, but I can hear the faint tremor behind each syllable. “It will eat away at you if you do.”
Cocking my head to the side, I watch him carefully. Taking note of every twitch his body makes, the way his eyes gloss over, and the hitch in his chest. It’s his fear of me at this moment.
Shaking my head, I sigh. “I hold a lot of guilt for many of those who have died by my hands, but you won’t be one of them.”
His jaw falls open, and before a plea or a protest to give him another chance can spill past his lips, I let my power whip out. One arrow-pointed shadow pierces into this chest, constricting around his heart and squeezing. The swell of the beating organ before it bursts is the same as the others. Except, this one was deserving and one that won’t keep me up all hours of the night.
Aiden’s eyes remain open, frozen in shock as his body falls limply to the side, internally bleeding in his chest. I draw my shadows back while keeping my eyes on his lifeless body, waiting for the grief of a friend’s loss to sneak up on me. But he stopped being a friend to me a long time ago, even when I didn’t want to admit it.
Strong hands grip my shoulders, spinning me to tuck me in his chest. Just the smell of his cedar and maple scent has my darkness receding faster. My eyes fall shut, soaking into his haven and breathing in his strength.
At that moment, the entire earth beneath our feet rattles.
The castle walls tremble and the ground quakes as if the world is being ripped in half.
The snapping of my neck sets my gaze towards the doors rattling with force. To the windows offering sight to the way the trees bend, almost snapping. The once-calm fog now swirls in chaos. A thunder of power surges in the air, silencing the outside world. It's heavy and suffocating. And the darkening sky steals the sun’s final descent—an omen of what's to come.
I know this power just as well as my own.
Whiro is here.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Emma
All four of us race to the heavy double doors, opening them and peering out into the trembling forest. The harsh pounding of footsteps rages across the ground as soldiers race around the perimeter of the castle, readying their weapons.
“Fuck,” Fynn breathes out, watching a wisp of shadow spiral in the sky, tunneling down towards the ground.
