Chapter 36 Raith
RAITH
The darkness covering the land grew thicker as we walked east, and it was hard to tell it had once been a forest and not a monstrosity made of shadow and gloom.
Every instinct urged me to turn around and go back, but Rose’s presence at my side kept me moving forward.
She’d come back for me even after I’d pushed her away, and she’d faced me in my nightmarish beast form, ultimately bringing me back to myself.
She had to be the most fearless woman I’d ever met, and my heart blazed with love for her.
Admitting it out loud had been a great relief, and somehow it had cast the darkness from my soul at the same time.
We came to a smooth patch of land which must have once been a road, although now it looked more like a bubbling, oozing black river than anything else.
I gazed down its path and spotted something in the distance.
Something moving…right where Silena had been killed.
A dark blur that beckoned me forward, urging me to uncover its secrets.
I took Rose’s hand and magic immediately sparked between us, giving me strength. We headed down the road, stepping in the few places the darkness had barely touched, while blasting anything back that blocked our way or reached for us.
I gripped Rose’s hand tighter as we approached the place where my first wife had been murdered.
I hadn’t stepped foot in this area since I’d found Silena’s body all those years ago.
I’d sworn to never return, but now I had no choice.
I had to face this part of my past, or I’d never be able to free my kingdom from this darkness.
As we approached the dark blur, memories of that night came rushing back to me.
The carriage had been on its side, the horses bleeding out on the ground, and all the guards and servants dead around it.
I’d rushed forward with dread gripping my heart, already knowing what I would find, but convinced I could stop it nonetheless.
I’d yanked the carriage door open and found my beloved wife’s body inside, her throat slashed open by an assassin’s blade.
I’d clutched her to my chest and roared with anger and despair, vowing to find whoever had done this to make them suffer like I did.
That was the last thing I’d remembered of that night. Until now.
In place of the carriage was a swirling black portal that leaked darkness across the land. A shadowy beast emerged as we drew closer, and I blasted it back with lightning. There was no doubt this was the source of the darkness overtaking my kingdom.
“What is that?” Rose asked.
“A portal to the Shadow Lands.” I truly was the cause of all this misery, even if my mind had blocked it from me all this time. But not anymore. Now the truth flooded my mind, too horrible to ignore any longer.
“How did it get here?”
“I made it.” I stepped closer to the portal, staring into its shimmering dark depths.
“I remember everything now. When I found Silena, the grief was so strong I lashed out with my magic and tore a hole to the Shadow Lands. The Shadow Lord appeared, the real one, and I begged him to give me the power to take vengeance on the people who had done this to her. He laughed and granted my wish, but not the way I wanted. He cursed me, twisting my magic against me, so that it would control me and turn me into a monster. The only way to break the curse was to allow my heart to love again, which he didn’t think would ever happen. ”
Rose gasped. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“Because he was bored? Because he wanted to take over my land? Who can say for sure?” I turned toward her. “All I know is that you broke the curse. You showed me how to love again, and in doing so, you freed me of the darkness that had taken hold of my soul.”
She squeezed my hand. “You’re the one who truly broke the curse. You opened yourself to love a second time, even though you knew it might hurt you again.”
“Only because you refused to let me continue on as the miserable man I’d become. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“All right, I’ll admit I helped.” She gave me a faint smile. “And just like we broke the curse together, we’re going to close this portal together.”
“It won’t be easy. The Shadow Lord might resist us.”
“We’re two of the most powerful fae mages in the world, and our magic is even stronger when we combine it. If anyone can do it, we can.”
I brought her hand to my lips. “So confident and brave. You never let anything hold you back. That’s why I love you.” I fixed my eyes on the portal and steeled myself. “Now let’s destroy this thing and end the plague over our kingdom once and for all.”
She stared at me with a wondrous smile. “You said our kingdom.”
“Of course I did. You’re my queen.”
Fiery determination lit up her eyes. “That’s right, and I’m not stopping until all the darkness is gone from this land.”
With our hands still linked, we turned toward the swirling dark portal and summoned runes for fire and lightning.
Together we unleashed them upon the unholy gateway to the Shadow Lands, and it slowly began to shrink under our combined efforts.
But the darkness wasn’t letting go that easily.
Monstrous shadow creatures emerged from the remains of the forest, flying and loping toward us at speeds no human could match.
They let out horrid shrieks and cries, and when the first drew near, I turned to press my back against Rose’s to face them while she continued attacking the portal.
“It’s working!” Rose said, although her voice was strained with the effort of burning the portal with relentless fire.
“Don’t stop!” I turned a shadow creature to ash with a blast of lightning. “No matter what happens!”
Dark tentacles suddenly reached out from the center of the portal and wrapped around us, burning us with icy cold malice. A menacing laugh filled the air, and then a cruel voice said, “You may have broken the curse, but I’ve already claimed much of your land. It’s mine now.”
I sent a wave of lightning through the tentacle, and it released me and shriveled away. “Never. This is our kingdom, and it shall never be yours. Be gone from this land forever.”
“You can’t stop me,” the Shadow Lord said.
An outline of a large man appeared in the blackness of the portal, but nothing more.
“I am night itself, the space between stars, the silence between breaths. I existed long before you were even a distant thought, and I shall continue long after you’re smoke and ash. None can defeat me.”
“We can,” Rose said, her fingers tightening around mine.
She met my eye, and I nodded. For years I’d tried to stop the darkness alone, convinced I was the only one who could handle it.
I told myself I didn’t need or want any help.
But I was wrong. Rose had shown me we were stronger together—and even if we failed, I would have no regrets.
We summoned magic together and it sparked between our palms, growing stronger with the strength of our love.
Fire and lightning combined before us and struck the portal as one, but the Shadow Lord lashed out with his dark magic and fought us back.
It wouldn’t be enough to stop him…but Rose and I both had a second affinity.
“We need to take control of the darkness!” I told her. “With me, now!”
I traced a rune in the air, confident Rose would be able to copy it.
Her brow furrowed with concentration, but she managed to pull it off, and the darkness snapped into our control.
The Shadow Lord roared and tried to regain control, but Rose and I held on, though sweat dripped down my forehead and she clenched her fists from the effort.
“Go back to the Shadow Lands!” I called out, as we sent the dark beasts and shadowy tendrils through the portal.
“This isn’t over,” the Shadow Lord said. “I am eternal. I will return for your daughter, and her child, and so forth, for however long it takes until this land is mine.”
With those last haunting words, he vanished.
The portal shrank in on itself and then disappeared.
We stared at the empty space where it had once been, and then I turned to Rose and pulled her into my arms. We held each other for some time as the forest quieted once again, both of us exhausted from our hard-fought victory.
“It’s over,” I said, with a lightness I hadn’t imagined I could ever feel. I clutched her face in my hands and kissed her, her soft lips banishing the last traces of darkness in my soul. “The curse is broken, and the kingdom is safe again.”
For now, anyway. I wasn’t sure what he’d meant about our daughter—did he know something, or was he simply spouting ominous words to pretend he hadn’t been defeated? Only time would tell.
Rose smiled up at me with love in her eyes. “I knew we could do it.”
“I never should have doubted you.”
I glanced back at the dark forest. Though the area around us had been cleaned of corruption, the rest was still covered in thick darkness, and shadowy beasts still roamed the land. It would take us some time to remove every last trace of the Shadow Lord’s attack, but at least we’d put a stop to it.
Now it was time to return home and undo the damage I’d wrought there.