Awhooshof power, and suddenly his shadows had locked around her ankles, her wrists, faster than she could gasp at their icy touch.
‘Let mego!’ Ezer screamed, as panic tightened in her chest.
She tried to stumble backwards, but the shadows were too strong.
And then suddenly Kinlear was at her back, his body cold instead of warm, strong instead of sickly. ‘Don’t fight it, Ezer,’ he hissed into her ear. ‘Don’t fight what the One has fated for you.’
‘You willneverhave me,’ Ezer spat. ‘I will fight you until the day you?—’
‘Silence,’ the Acolyte hissed.
Her words died on her tongue. Fear took anger’s place, because a tendril of shadow now swirled at his fingertip.
Shadow … that was slowly forming into the shape of a blade.
And it was pointed right at Six.
A sob rose in the back of her throat. ‘Don’t,’ she begged. ‘Don’t touch her.’
‘Bring her here,’ Erath sighed, and then Kinlear was pushing hertowards the throne. Thenpastthe throne, to the enormous crevasse in the floor where the pool of blood once sat. ‘To the Veil.’
Her toes were right on the edge. It was only the shadows holding her back now. Her breath froze as she looked into the endless dark abyss … as it seemed to sigh and breathe her in.
It was hungry for her.
She could sense it.
A desperate sob rose in her chest.
‘Youarefated to join us, Ezer,’ the Acolyte said. ‘But you must make the choice yourself. You must see to believe. Listen to the voice! Let the whisper prove to you what glory and freedom awaits.’
‘Let me go,’ Ezer begged. ‘Please, Erath. For Styerra, let mego!’
‘I was afraid you would say that,’ he said with atsk.‘Which is why I will offer you the same mercy I give every survivor we find on the battlefield, inches from death. We bring them here, to the Veil. And the One offers them a choice. What will it be, Daughter? Will you die … or will youlive?’
Horror raced through her as his shadowssqueezed,like constricting snakes. So tight, she cried out. And then they were turning her around. Spinning her so that her back was to the void, and only the shadows held her from tumbling in.
Kinlear stood a breath away.
‘Ezer,’ he sighed. ‘Don’t fight it anymore. Join us. We could do great things together.’
‘No,’ she gasped as his hand lifted the blade from his hip.
Six screeched, fighting like hell to get to her, but the shadows had bound her, too. ‘Kinlear,please,’ she begged him through tears. ‘Come back to me. Think ofbefore, think of everything we’ve been through. You love me. Youloveme, Kinlear. You would never hurt me.’
‘I do love you,’ he whispered, and smiled through his fangs. She flinched as he leaned forward and kissed her. ‘But I love the One more,’ he sighed against her lips.
She gasped as he pulled away.
Six screeched and thrashed like she felt the blinding pain for herself.
Because when Ezer looked down … she found Kinlear’s blade buried deep in her chest.
‘There’s only one way out of this,’ Kinlear hissed.
Ezer cried out as she ripped the blade from her chest. She stumbled, her body numb and cold, as the blade clattered to the stones.
‘Die, my love,’ Kinlear said. ‘Or choose to join us and live.’
