“Wake up,” he told himself, as a sob clawed its way out of his throat.
He could walk no longer.
He screamed his fury, ground his teeth in rage as he shoved against the snow, but it was to no avail.
He was caught again.
And soon...
A shadow fell across his back.
“It’s no use running, Princeling,” the monster breathed.
Oh, gods.
“Save me,” Kinlear begged them. “Save me, please.”
He couldn’t think for the fear that now clouded his mind, for the cold that now turned his vision into a depthless pool of black.
But he could certainly feel it, when the monster made contact. As once-human fingertips...now tipped in blackened, sharpened claws, tiptoed across his back.
“Please,” Kinlear whimpered. “Don’t kill me again.”
The monster’s laughter rumbled through him. “Poor creature,” it hissed, as those claws curled around his shoulders. “How long will you fear your destiny?”
He yelped as it spun him around.
He saw only darkness.
He saw, as he always did...a faceless being in ruined robes, the glint of two white fangs curving into a slow, chilling smile.
“Die, Kinlear Laroux,” the monster crooned. “Die a beautiful death.”
Then it drove those claws deep into his chest.
4
He was nine years old.
Kinlear sighed as he sat in a worn armchair by the fire, his hand throbbing something fierce as he tried to sketch his monster on a fresh piece of parchment.
He wasn’t a particularly talented artist.
But it helped, however messy the drawings were, to try and bring the images into his waking moments. To try and make sense ofwhya beast that looked like a darksoul hunted him when he slept.
He’d long since given up telling the Masters about it. Every time he tried...they made him pay penance.
The brands on the backs of his hands were proof of that.
A knock on the door sounded.
Kinlear scrambled to hide the journal, but it was only Arawn who entered, covered in sweat from another training session, no doubt.
“That didn’t last long,” Kinlear said.
Arawn shrugged. “I bested them all in under five minutes. The Masters set me loose to pray.”
“So, you’re here?” Kinlear asked, lifting a dark brow.
