Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
QUINN
“ W hat do you mean we’re on the wrong path? What have you seen?”
Arabella’s face is ashen, and the fear in her eyes is unmistakable. If we made a mistake in coming here, in risking everything to get her out, then I need to know. “There’s no time to explain. We have to go before—”
The torches around the room go out all at once. In the time it takes me to blink, the room goes from a soft yellow-orange to total blackness. Even with my enhanced sight, I can’t penetrate this darkness. It’s unnatural, and something about it thickens the air like smoke. It smells of death and decay and everything wrong with this world.
As suddenly as it fills the room, the darkness dissipates and the golden glow of firelight returns. The torches are still lit, but even their flames couldn’t cut through this blackness. We’re no longer alone in this room, either. A man leans casually against the wall in front of us. His short hair is black as night and his eyes are a striking violet.
Void.
But not the Void I remember from the beach mere months ago. This Void is much older. Not quite my age, but at least eighteen. He’s a man now, and judging by the ease in which he chased the light from this room and slipped inside without my notice, he’s come into his full powers.
“You played your role so nicely, sister. But aiding our enemies?” He raises a finger in front of him and wags it while clicking his tongue.
And then something moves. Not him, but his shadow. As if it were a living entity all its own, it darts towards Arabella and wraps a hand around her throat. Her hands fly to her neck, but they slip through the shadow as if it were nothing.
“Let her go!” I shout as she gasps, readying to move for the non-corporeal being myself, but I can’t. My feet are locked in place, and, to my horror, I realize it’s my own shadow, pooled around my feet, that holds me there.
What kind of power is this?
Arabella chokes again, and then her body goes limp. The shadow vanishes into mist and she slumps hard to the stone ground. Ty darts for her side, and his shadow makes no move to stop him. “She’s breathing!” he says, and it’s an immediate weight off my heart.
Thank the Gods.
“Of course she is,” Void says, as if mock offended. “Do you really think I would murder my own sister?” His eyes flash to mine and then he smiles. “Well, maybe I can’t blame you, given your history.”
He’s baiting me, so I rein in the rage those words spark. I spent nearly six years thinking I’d killed Kaylee. Six years living with that guilt and waking up each morning wishing I were dead instead of her. That particular pain is like an old friend, and the thought of it now wants to have me spiralling back into that place of darkness.
‘Void found us.’ I made a promise to Abby and even though I don’t want her anywhere near this man, I won’t break it.
Her gasp fills my mind and I feel the fear that fills her. ‘I’m coming.’
Void’s smile grows. “Is Abby on her way? I’m so looking forward to our reunion. We have so much to discuss.”
I raise my sword. “You’ll be dead before you get the chance.” I lift my foot, testing the binds he had on me only to find that they, too, are gone. I’m fast—probably faster than he expects—and should be able to reach him. I have to reach him.
He laughs off my threat as if it were the funniest thing someone has dared say to him. “You have no idea, do you? Steel can’t pierce shadow.”
The second his gaze breaks away from mine, I run. If his shadows—or mine—are trying to stop me, I don’t notice because I’m focused entirely on him. I force my arm forward and feel the blade penetrate his gut. Where blood should spurt, shadows rush out from the wound and wrap tightly around my sword. They snake up to the hilt and then wrap themselves around my wrist. The sensation of them on my skin is colder than even snow, and I rip my hand away. The sensation follows, and when I look down at my hand, it’s devoid of colour.
The sound of tearing fabric fills my ears and at first I think it’s me shifting, but then a wolf rushes forward. Ty .
“Don’t!” I shout at him, but it’s too late. Ty lungs for Void in the same moment shadows move again. The room falls into darkness once more, but this time I feel it around me. Like a thousand hands grabbing and pulling me every-which-way. Darkness fills my vision entirely, blocking out all light as the phantom hands push and pull. I feel weightless and my stomach turns as the solid stone beneath my feet becomes nothing.
When light returns, it’s not the golden glow of fire. Or, at least, not entirely. We’re outside now, on some kind of terrace that isn’t unlike my garden in Rosewood, though it’s clear nothing grows here in the soil patch beneath us. Silver light from the full moon shines down from the open sky above, battling with the raging fires in the city below. It seems impossible that someone could have to power to move us through shadow, but here we are. Void, a still unconscious Arabella, and…
Wait. Where is Ty?
My gaze settles on Void, my sword still protruding from his belly. The shadows still swirling around him move, yanking the blade free and sending it skittering across the terrace. His smile only grows as the shadows finally dissipate to reveal the damage I caused. Or lack of damage. There’s a distinct hole in his black tunic, but the skin beneath it is unmarred.
“Quinn?” A voice I know so well sounds from behind me, and I whip around to face it. I don’t give a fuck that my back is to my enemy. Not when it’s Abby on her knees in the dirt.
I close the space between us in what feels like a single heartbeat and drop to the ground beside her, taking her face in my hands and searching her gaze. “Are you hurt?” Gods, she’s covered in blood. Her hair is still wet with it and red smears her face as if she tried to wipe herself clean.
“It’s not my blood.”
Even in this moment, with our enemy mere steps away, pride swells in my chest at the fighter she’s become. This strong, beautiful woman with more kindness filling her heart than anyone else I know put her values aside and did what she had to tonight. To survive. And still she’s here. The same beacon of light that pierces the darkness and reaches me, even when I’m in the depths of despair.
Before I can speak, her voice flits through my mind. ‘Ty’s alive. He’s going for help.’
Void’s shadows didn’t kill him. He’d moved us before Ty could reach him, which means that—just maybe—he can be hurt. ‘We just might make it out of this.’
‘Arabella?’
‘Alive.’ But for how long? The Spider said the only reason to incapacitate a weaver is if fate is already set in a way that guarantees your victory. Arabella said this is the wrong path, so why let her live? They must still need her.
Soft footsteps sound from behind me, and I don’t think it’s the dirt that muffles them. I turn, ready to put myself between him and Abby, but find his hands already raised in a show of submission.
“Hello, Abby,” he says with what can almost be described as a shy wave. “It’s nice to see you again. In person.” So he really has been tormenting her in her dreams.
“You look different,” she says, jumping to her feet and palming a dagger. Her grip is too tight, so I brush against our bond in a silent reminder not to let fear rule her.
He shrugs. “Time works differently where I’m from.”
“And where is that, exactly?”
The only answer he gives her is a sinister smile that I wish I could knock clean off his face. But if my sword did nothing, what good are my fists?
“What do you want?” I ask. I channel my rage through the words and hope it masks what I’m really feeling. Hope . Ty needs all the time we can give him.
“What I always want. Just to talk.”
Good.
“You’ve done enough of that,” Abby snaps, taking a step forward and raising her blade.
Not good. I snatch her empty hand in mine and hold her in place at my side. ‘ Let him talk.’
‘What?’ The word is little more than a hiss.
‘Trust me. We can’t fight him like this.’
She relaxes, but only slightly, and Void takes that as a sign to continue. “We’re the same, you and I.”
“I am nothing like you.” The anger permeating off her is almost tangible and I can’t tell if it’s because of his words or because I’m asking her to hold back.
“Oh, but you are—and you have no idea. That was my mistake. I thought you understood, but I see now that we’ll have to start from the beginning. But first, I’d like your full attention.” His shadows move, forming a thin tendril as it shoots towards me. I raise my hands to block it, but it slips right through them and slams into my chest.
Or, it tries to.
Light erupts from the rose Abby’s power branded there, forming a shield and forcing the shadows back. Each time it stabs for me, a flash of light cuts through the night and chases the tendril away. Void hisses with each attempt, either in pain or anger. “Interesting,” he says, though his tone isn’t amused. “You can just sit quietly then.”
My shadow moves this time, wrapping around my legs, my arms, and then eventually forcing its way into my mouth. I can breathe, but when I try to speak, no sound comes out.
“Stop it!” Abby shouts beside me, though her words are distorted by the shadow restraining me.
‘I’m okay. Keep him talking.’ I’m not even sure if she heard me.
“Relax,” Void says with a roll of his eyes. He seems to grow impatient. “It seems I can’t kill him, either.”
Either?
If Abby catches that word, there’s no time for her to ask before the all too familiar click of heeled shoes sound from the open doorway. Imelda .
“You moved them?” Her voice is sharp as narrowed violet eyes that match her son’s move from him to each of us, before finally settling on Arabella lying motionless on the stone. She kneels beside her daughter and touches a hand to her now bruising throat. “Why does her heart still beat?”
The blood in my veins turns to ice. She would kill her own daughter to ensure this future doesn’t change. She’s just as cruel as she was the day she poured Jade’s blood down my throat and turned me into the beast that destroyed a kingdom. The same woman who stole my sister and let me believe that I’d murdered her.
My aunt.
I squirm against my bindings, but it’s impossible to break free.
“Oh, he really doesn’t like you,” Void muses, as if he can feel my desperation to escape. And perhaps he can. Right now, my shadow doesn’t belong to me.
“No, I suppose he wouldn’t,” Imelda says, standing and turning back to her son. “You’ve dragged this out long enough. They’ve nearly destroyed my city. The pigs are running amuck. It’s time we end this.”
He lets out a heavy sigh. “You’re right, Mother. As always.” He crosses the space between him and Abby, and I can’t help but wonder if her shadow is locking her in place, too. “Where is Terranous?”
She blinks, confused by his question.
Imelda rushes forward until her face is just in front of Abby’s. She must be held in place, otherwise she would have driven that blade in her hand right into that bitch’s neck. “Where. Is. He?” She says each word as if it’s a question all its own.
When Abby doesn’t answer, curiosity returns to Void. “He hasn’t even spoken to you, has he? It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters!” I never thought that Imelda would be the irrational one out of the two of them, but here we are. Even as a teenager, Void is far more in control of his emotions than she is. But then again, he isn’t a teenager, is he? He could be hundreds of years old for all we know. With this kind of power, he might have even existed when the Gods still roamed these lands. Though, judging by his question, he seems to think they still do.
“She has his power. We don’t need him.” He pushes past his mother and takes Abby’s chin in his hand, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. She struggles against his grip, but can’t pull away. I wrestle to free myself again, and can almost swear the smile that blooms on his face is because of my futile efforts. “We have the power to shape this world into whatever we want. Together, we can make it better. Fix what’s broken. Start over from the beginning.”
I don’t like the sound of that, and it doesn’t look like Abby does either.
“I’m not going to help you destroy everything.”
“There cannot be creation without destruction. Together, we can create a world without hunger, without war. I know that’s what you dream about, and this is how we can make that dream a reality.”
He doesn’t see himself as the villain. He sees the evil in this world, the harshness and the cruelty, and his solution is to wipe the slate clean. To kill everyone and everything, and begin anew as if the Chosen were Gods themselves.
But if that were true…
“That wasn’t the plan!” Imelda screeches. It seems she knows about as much of what’s happening as we do.
He doesn’t look at his mother. “Plans change.” He extends a hand to Abby. “What do you say?”
“Never!” Free from her restraints, she swings with her blade and drives it into his heart, just as she once did with me. Just as with my blade, his body rejects it as shadows spill from where the wound should be and send the knife flying across the terrace while leaving him entirely unharmed.
“You little bitch,” Imelda says, slapping Abby across the face with one hand and driving her nails into her chest with the other. Abby’s head arches back as a scream rips through her. Whatever Imelda’s doing, it’s more than just freezing her in place.
‘ABBY!’ I try to call to her, but it only reaches her through the bond. The need to get to her fills me and I fight against my shadow’s relentless hold. All I can do is watch as the whites of her eyes seem to glow in the moonlight as her eyes roll back in her head. Void said he can’t kill her, but maybe Imelda can.
The rose on Abby’s chest glows, as do the golden vines that snake down her arms. The light she produces is enough to cut through the darkness, and my own rose illuminates in response, though it has no effect on the shadows that bind me.
And then the palace shakes. No, not the palace. Everything .
Life springs from the soil beneath me, and then in the city below. Flowers, grass, leaves. Trees grow in mere seconds, pushing their way up through the cracks in the city's stone floor. The fires glowing below extinguish as if snuffed out by the new growth pushing through the rubble.
“What is this?!” Imelda asks as a bramble forms between her and Abby. The branches snake around her legs as it grows, wrapping tightly and confining her to a prison far kinder than she deserves. Thorns cut into the skin of her face and arms, tearing through the silver fabric of her gown and speckling it in red. “Nothing grows in Lunae!”
Abby drops to the ground, as if suddenly released from both Imelda’s nails and the shadows that held her. “But it used to.” She pushes the hair from her face as she stares up at her enemies. Imelda—and Void, who seems far too pleased with this development.
“Don’t you see?” he asks, his smile turning smug. “You have more power inside you than you can even imagine. You just have to embrace it. Join us.”
Abby ignores him and stands, planting herself directly in front of the woman who took everything. “Did you kill my mother? Tell me, before I kill you.”
“No.” I almost believe her.
Void sighs. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.” His shadows move at the same moment I’m released from mine.
“No!” I scream, but I can’t get to them in time.
Blood squelches as sharpened shadow meets flesh, but it’s not Abby who falls limp.
It’s Imelda .