The taller legionnaire clicked his tongue. “Deduct that from the seasonal ration they’ll get tomorrow.”
Dark thoughts, once nameless and without force, rose to meet me.Tomorrow.The Light Bringer would cleanse Mother’s and Father’s souls, but the process would destroy their mortal bodies. It was what happened to all Corrupt. Left unchecked, the Corrupt would commit unspeakable, violent crimes against their friends and neighbors. Against their families, too.
But where would Elliot and I go? How would we survive in the village our parents betrayed? The bitter truth laid itself bare: We had nowhere to go.
I sat next to my brother, wrapping my arms around his slight shoulders. He leaned away from me, burying his face in his hands. I stroked his hair, settling into what I hoped was a calming rhythm. Eden used to comfort me in a similar way, brushing or braiding my hair if I was ever uneasy, but I never fully appreciated the gesture. After her death, I vowed not to make the same mistake again.
“They should’ve just let me die,” Elliot warbled, voice cracking as his hands balled into fists.
“Don’teversay that,” I said fiercely. “Look at me.”
His large brown eyes, utterly heartbroken, met mine.
“None of this is your fault. None of this will ever be your fault,” I said, squeezing him tight. “It’s the Shadow Bringer’s fault. He’s the one who caused Corruption in the first place.”
Elliot buried his face in his hands again. “I know it’s not my fault.I know. But we’ve been giving them bad elixir. I thought we were doing good things. Instead, we’ve beenkillingour neighbors. And now Mother and Father are going to die, too.”
“They may look like Mother and Father, but it isn’t truly them,” I whispered. “Our real mother and father will be dancing with the Maker soon. Their souls will finally be set free.”
The woman and man who thrashed under the water, gasping for air as they nearly drowned, were puppets filled by their respective demons. But in the presence of the Light Bringer, their souls would travel somewhere else; the Light Bringer would walk into their dreams and free their souls so that they could bask in the Maker’s light.
That’s what we’d been taught, at least.
But then there was me.
Were demons not roiling under my skin, waiting to take over my soul? They’d found me last night; perhaps they’d find me again. I held Elliot tighter. This time he didn’t resist, and he sank against me, sobbing into his elbow.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too, Elliot,” I whispered back.
I’ll keep him safe for you, Eden.
A desperate plea to a sister who couldn’t hear me, but I made the vow regardless.
I couldn’t keep Mother and Father safe, but I’ll protect Elliot with all I have left.
Elliot found Chester, placing him between us on the pillow. And that’s how we fell asleep—tired, scared, and more alone than ever before.
My back was freezing. Still, I clenched my eyes shut. The day could wait.
Yes, it can wait.
But a wind, damp and bitter, wound its way into my dress, demanding otherwise. I tugged on the hem, tucking it around my feet, and settled miserably against the pillows behind me. No, not pillows.
Awall.
My eyes flew open.
I was leaning against an impossibly beautiful castle, its obsidian walls gleaming from a star-flecked sky the color of a dark amethyst. I clawed at my chest, probing the unfamiliar material with too-cold fingers. Black silk draped from my shoulders, narrowing to tighter sleeves across my forearms. The fabric continued across my chest, coming to a stop just below my jaw and flowing long and full around my legs. An ornate metal belt, shaped to perfectly conform to my waist, wrapped around my stomach to sit perched atop my hips, and dark tights hugged my legs like a second skin, meandering down my legs to meet knee-high leather boots. It wasn’t practical, but it was beautiful. Something I’d dreamed up, surely.
Dreaming. I’m dreaming.
My heart thudded violently in my chest. Even after I’d taken the legionnaire’s vial of elixir, the Dream Realm had found me once again. The carvings on the castle doors, previously blurry, were clear this time: Flowers spiraled into delicate willow tree branches, a young boy rode a cloud shaped like a chariot, and a king and queen happily conversed with winged dreamers.
But the more I looked, the more I didn’t want to see.
The flowers began to burn, shadows bubbled from beneath the willow branches, and the figures’ smiles twisted into gaping screams. The boy’s cloud spun into a surging tempest of shadow, eating him alive. I cried out in surprise, wheeling back from the carvings, but I had nowhere to go. Dozens of demons, ugly messes of haphazard body parts, were lurching—or crawling—toward me from the castle’s courtyard, trapping me.
