My brother kicks one of the guards away and then strikes another at their chin, making a smile escape me.
A tone I haven’t heard much often before leaves the king his mouth. It is dark, prepared, and malicious.
“I knew this day would come.” He grins, his voice low and growling. Shadows circle around his hands.
They are different.
And it scares me.
Eliane lies passed out on my knees, but her head moves as she picks up the sounds as well.
Soft whispers.
Soft humming.
The shadows are zooming and whispering.
Normally, the king wields shadows and gathers them together in a bundle to do whatever he pleases with it.
They come out of everywhere. They fly from the air. Out of the ground. From between people.
Out of Fintan’s limp body.
And that is when the real panic starts. People burst out in panic, running away. Some watch, others take cover.
These aren’t normal shadows. They are the curse people use.
Eliane had told me about this, about those books she keeps reading.
And I even think somewhere she knew that is why the king admired and feared her. I hate myself for not doing that more. Deepening into our history. But I am glad she did.
She knows what we’re fighting against.
An evil smile appears on his face as the shadows or manes gather around him. They whisper like dead.
They drain like dead. They are after our magic.
But I don’t move.
The manes have been released.
Zephron’s wide eyes search for mine, and when our gazes meet, shivers run all over me.
“I am not scared of you, Eliane,” the king breathes out and he starts laughing. Eliane must have heard her name because her eyes open abruptly, and she pushes herself up.
“I needed you.”
As if I didn’t want to strangle him already, those words give me the urge to jump up and wrap my hands around his throat immediately.
“If you would have read and searched a bit deeper, you would have known that there were these beautiful creatures before,” he speaks up, a grin from ear to ear, his eyes wide.
Eliane doesn’t move.
“You probably knew that, because you’re a smart little girl,” he purrs out. “But what you didn’t know is that they could be reraised when the sun was taken down.” The smile on his face grows wider and wider.
“And that you just did.”
Eliane freezes at those words, her jaw locking in place. I reach for her hand, but she shoves it away before her skin can touch mine.
