Chapter 37
AURORA
Thunder booms overhead and lightning fingers across the darkened sky as Thalric vanishes into the night. Sadness stabs through my chest like a sharp blade as I gaze at the balcony, my eyes straining as I search for any sign of him.
How could he leave me like this? How could he push me away again?
I sit on the edge of the bed, the silken sheets pooling around me like moonlight. Thalric’s scent—the smell of warm granite and rain—still clings faintly to my skin. My heart aches at the memory of his touch, and the way he held me as if I were something rare and precious.
Reaching up, I close my hand around the gemstone resting against my chest, warm from the heat of my skin. It’s the last gift he gave me before everything changed… a sign of his love and devotion.
Despair fills me as I acknowledge the truth. Even if fate binds me to another, even if curses and kingdoms and prophecies stand between us, my soul has already chosen.
And it will never let him go.
Curling my hands into fists, my nails bite into my palms as anger floods my veins. Not anger at Thalric, but at the cruel fate that would bind me to a prince I hardly know.
The storm continues to rage outside as heavy rain falls and the wind howls around the castle.
I’m so consumed by my frustration that I barely register the sudden chill in the room. Pulling a blanket around my shoulders, I notice a flicker of movement along the opposite wall.
Ice fills my veins as I turn toward it and see shadows shifting and writhing in the corner of the room. My breath hitches as they peel away from the walls, forming monstrous, hunched shapes with twisted limbs and hollow, glowing eyes.
A terrified scream rips from my throat as one lunges toward me, its shadowy claws swiping out at me.
I stumble back, nearly tripping over my own feet just as a bright flash of sapphire magic slices between us.
Ryllen rushes into the room, blue magic arcing across his fingers like small bits of lightning as he places himself between me and the shadows.
“Stay behind me!” he orders, sending a bolt of magic toward the creatures.
They recoil with shrill cries as it slams into them, their shadowy forms flickering briefly before surging forward again.
Ryllen’s movements are swift and yet somehow graceful, each spell thrown with lethal precision.
But fear tightens my chest as they circle closer, pressing in like a wall of living darkness.
There are far too many.
A massive shadow flies through the balcony doors. It takes me a moment to realize it’s Thalric as he barrels into the fray in a terrifying vision of fury.
He fights like a warrior possessed as the shadows swarm around him, snarling and clawing, his powerful claws ripping through their insubstantial forms. Ryllen attacks from the opposite side, shielding me from our attackers.
The shadow slashes out at him with dagger-sharp claws. He twists away, but not fast enough. He falls to one knee as another one stabs at his side in a spray of dark blood.
Ryllen cries out, pain flickering briefly across his face before he lifts his hand, magic flaring a moment before he sends it arcing toward the shadow creatures.
“Run, Aurora!” Ryllen shouts, his voice desperate as he struggles to remain standing. “Get out! Now!”
My heart leaps into my throat. Every instinct screams at me to flee, to save myself, but I can’t leave him. I won’t.
Glancing around frantically for anything I can use as a weapon, my gaze lands on the burning candle beside my bed, the flame flickering in the darkness. I notice none of the shadow creatures are anywhere near it.
Light. They must hate light.
Snatching it up, I race forward, planting myself defiantly between Ryllen and the shadow monsters.
The creatures hiss violently, flinching back from the lantern’s glow, their forms recoiling as I slowly advance. “Stay away from him!” I shout fiercely, driving them back with the brightness.
Ryllen staggers upright, pressing one hand to his bleeding chest, before sending another bolt of magic at the shadows.
Across the room, Thalric battles furiously, desperate to reach us.
Several Fae and human guards rush in, their swords already drawn as they charge into the chaos.
Holding the candle out before me, the shadows shrink away, their forms collapsing and dissolving under the light before finally disappearing entirely.
As soon as they’re gone, Thalric rushes forward, his powerful hands moving over me, searching for any sign of injury. “Are you hurt?” he asks, his expression full of panic. “Did they touch you?”
“I’m fine,” I reassure him even as I notice the blood dripping down his body. “But you’re not.”
“It’s nothing,” he insists, but the deep claw marks scored across his chest suggest otherwise. “I’ll heal.”
Thalric’s parents and mine rush over to us. “Are you alright?” my father asks.
I nod and then turn to Ryllen. His handsome features are pale as he presses a hand to his side to stem the bleeding from a gash along his torso. Despite the dark blood seeping between his fingers, he stares at me in concern. “Aurora, are you injured?”
My throat tightens with emotion. Ryllen would have sacrificed himself for me—a woman he barely knows. “I’m fine. But you—” I glance between him and Thalric—”both of you are hurt. You need to see the healer.”
“This was Malvara’s magic,” Fiora says darkly as she walks over to us. “I can smell the poison of her spell still in the air.”
“I sensed it in my chambers,” Ryllen adds. “A dark presence.” He looks at me. “I wasn’t sure what it was. But it’s what led me here.”
Lyria and Maribel cross the room. Lyria gasps when she sees Thalric and Ryllen’s injuries. “These will need healing balm,” she says. “Or else they will become infected.”
“The marks are already turning darker around the edges,” Maribel adds.
“Send for the healer!” Fiora commands one of the other guards. “Quickly!”
As we wait for the healer to arrive, I send a silent prayer of thanks to the gods for sparing their lives.
I don’t know how she got past the castle wards and all the guards posted throughout, and I pray this is the last we’ve seen of Malvara’s dark magic, but something inside me tells me this may only be the beginning.