He’d just reached the front of the line, where he saw his name scribbled in glistening blood, at the top of an ancient, long list. He’d just felt himself being pulled towards it...
When suddenly, a sound cut through the darkness like a blade.
Beat.
Beat.
Beat.
The sound of something carried on two dark wings.
Help!He begged it.Come and carry me away!
Something flickered in the distance. Wings and paws spun of shadow...a strange beast soaring towards him. Something that could not possibly belong here, for it feltotherevery bit as much as he did.
But he was not afraid.
A voice broke through the darkness.
“Kinlear.”
It was so soft, he could barely hear it.
“Choose now, before it’s too late.”
He wanted to.
Oh, how helongedto choose. He turned towards the beast, reached for it with everything he had. He stretched and he screamed...until he saw the hooded figure upon its back. In its hand was held a spear of darkness.
And that spear came spiraling towards him, too fast to escape.
It struck him in his chest.
A gasp of breath, a pinch of pain...
And then something bold, something bright, somethingdifferent, suddenly grabbed him from behind. The shadow-spear broke free as he was torn away from it.
And pulled, kicking and screaming, into the first breath of his miserable mortal life.
2
He was born second.
A late and most unwelcome arrival, for the King and Queen of Lordach weren’t sure what to do with aspare. And if Kinlear was the second-born, the shuddering shadow...
Then Arawn was the sun, powerful and bright.
“Is he here, Mother?” Kinlear asked now.
He was only five, small and thin, staring up at the Queen of Lordach as she sighed and sat down once more on the edge of his four-post bed. She had hair like Arawn, like strands of woven snow. Kinlear looked more like his father...who he hadn’t seen in days.
The king preferred to spend his time with Arawn when he returned from the battlefield. In fact, if he really thought about it...Kinlear couldn’t remember a single night that his father had tuckedhimin.
“Your brother is in his bed, Kinlear,” the queen said now. “Just across the hall, as he always is. And probably alreadyasleep,as you should be.”
She narrowed her eyes at him in warning.
“I’m not talking about Arawn,” Kinlear said, and shook his head. His dark curls fell into his eyes, and she brushed them away with a swipe of her ringed fingers, atskof her tongue. He pulled the blankets up to his chin and shivered. “I’m talking about themonster.”
