A dam burst inside of me along with a lingering shadowy voice.
We will regret this.
Reluctantly, my shadows crept along the stone path, covering the man’s mouth, his screams lost to my power.
Whipping my hand around, the shadows twisted, snapping his neck. His body fell to the ground, thethudof his head on the stone echoing into the silence surrounding the crowd.
It took all my energy to reel the shadows back to my side, their anger palpable in my being. They vehemently hated what just happened, but I didn’t have time to decipher what it meant.
I was a harbinger of death, waiting for my next order to kill. Created to ensure the king’s wishes were executed.
As the line of pledging Guardians thinned, the army of loyalists grew. The dark buzz of energy growing among thecourtyard radiated outward, as those who had accepted the call of darkness twitched excitedly before its citizens.
Not many resisted our king’s call. Those who refused to turn died. Which meant when two more Guardians showed their brandless skin, they met their demise by my shadows as well. Each death at my hands caused Thames’s smile to grow. My swift justice pleased him.
I raised my head, noticing the last Guardian now kneeling. Without hesitation, he revealed his arm. It bore no mark.
Thames reared back in anger. “You dare kneel so arrogantly before me,” he seethed. “Let this be a warning to all those who are thinking the same. Those unloyal to the crown will be dealt with by the Monster of Mysthaven, but those traitors who attempt to infiltrate my ranks… Well, there is a special punishment for that level of disloyalty.”
“I have no regrets. You are a usurper. You’ve poisoned people, and call it loyalty,” the Guardian shouted, rising and drawing his blade. “Prince Kade is the true king!”
He speaks the truth. Listen.
Thames snapped his fingers, and a wooden contraption materialized, summoned by his power. Four Guardians moved from the shadows toward the man, who looked wholly unafraid.
I tilted my head, scrutinizing him. How could he not fear what was about to happen?
Because he knows the truth. As do you. Fight. Back.
“There is nothing to fight,”I said, attempting to silence the treacherous shadows.
The man fought feverishly, but when more loyal Guardians joined the fray, he was easily overpowered.Theygrasped him by his hands and feet, tying him to the device until the traitor hung suspended by ropes and chains.
“Not so brave now, are we?” Thames sneered. “Kade, show him what happens to those who dare to trick me.”
“Kade, you are our rightful king,” the man pleaded. “You are better than him.”
His words stirred that thing inside of me again. One day, whatever plagued me would come to an end, and I wouldn’t have to fight my magic.
The darkness took over, unrelenting in its need for death and destruction. The shadow sword formed in my hand.
No, run, fight.
Thames passed by me, waving his hand at the traitor. “Make it memorable,” he whispered in my ear before he turned, walking up the stairs back toward the palace. He crossed his arms, watching from a perch higher than everyone else. Removed from the violence yet observing the pandemonium he created.
I shook my head to get the noise out that was swimming in my brain as I approached the man. In his fight against the contraption, others took their chance to cut him with their own blades. Blood dripped from his wounds, wetting the ground before me.
I raised my shadow sword and slowly, deliberately, dragged the tip of the blade down the center of the man’s chest, snagging a loose thread, and his tunic slowly fell to the ground on a whisper of a breeze.
“He can’t control you if you fight him. Whatever has happened, you are stronger. I saw you, I’ve seen you save people.”
I snarled. “That was before I saw the truth.”
“No!” the man entreated.
A delirious laughter escaped my lips, one I didn’t recognize as I dragged the sword back up the man. I pierced his skin at the top of his sternum, twisting the blade, only to drag it down once more. Back and forth.
The cuts should’ve been cleaner. My shadow sword felt dull, barely cutting the skin beneath it.
