“I did kill it,” he insisted. “But I don’t remember when it happened. Or how.”
As the Shadow Bringer and I deliberated what was happening—and if we should do anything about it—the boy appeared to be considering the demon’s offer. His shoulders drew in, heavy with some unseen weight, and his eyes closed in concentration.
“Come to me,” the demon purred, lowering its head so that it was level with the boy’s, “and never again will you feel pain or sorrow. Your loneliness will ebb into darkness. And the darkness is where you belong.”
“Where I belong?” the boy echoed, lifting his eyes. Gone were their lively sparks of shadow; his eyes had flattened into something hopeless and sad. “The dark has followed me since before I can remember. I am tired of the dark.”
“That is only because you have resisted it,” the demon answered easily. “You are a part of the dark. And the dark is a part of you.” It twisted its maw into what resembled a smile. “It is your purpose.”
“I have never known a purpose,” said the boy. “What would I do with it?”
The demon began to move. Wherever it slid, a piece of the boy’s dream fell into decay, and when it gave a deep, guttural inhale by the cottage, the voices inside were silenced. I twisted my hands in the grass, unable to watch any longer.
“Bringer,” I said insistently, hoping that he would agree with what Iwas about to say. “Before you came back to the castle, Somnus showed me my brother’s dream. I saw this demon there, too, but I was able to reduce it into nothing with my sword.”
“What are you implying?”
“Well, if I can do that again, maybe I can save you.”
“This is a dream. Amemory.” Still, something new dawned in the Bringer’s eyes, mingling with his doubt. “We shouldn’t have the ability to alter it.”
“But what if we could? This is the past, but we’re from the present. Thefuture. Maybewewere the ones who attacked this demon. You don’t remember how it happened. It’s possible.”
“Impossible,” the Shadow Bringer breathed, slowly shaking his head. In front of us, the boy froze, staring up at the demon as it coiled around him. Its mouth widened, revealing the abyss-like length of its throat. The Bringer snarled in disbelief. “Why am I not doing anything? Why am I letting it get so close?”
And then, with a delighted scream, the demon swallowed the boy whole.
The demon slid over the cottage, sweeping a lazy tongue across its teeth.
“Damn you,” the Bringer growled, surging from the ground. Had he his full powers, a whorl of mist and shadows would have been rising with him. Instead, he had only me. “Release him,” he commanded, his voice deadly in its severity.
“You are not of this dream,” the demon rasped, inhaling slowly through its nostril slits as if it were tasting us. I shuddered, feeling positively violated. “Or of this time. But you both have darkness within you. What is it that you seek?”
“I said torelease him,” the Shadow Bringer repeated with a snarl. “He is not yours to keep.”
“But heis.” The demon dropped its head so that it was beholding its own midsection. The skin there was smooth, motionless. No sign of life from within. “The dark is where he belongs. I am defending his birthright. His fate.”
“No one’s birthright is to belong in a demon’s stomach,” I said, standing my ground beside the Shadow Bringer.
It grinned, flicking its tongue as it slid toward us. “I disagree, human. Especially when the bond is so symbiotic.”
“Demons steal birthrights and ruin fates,” I insisted, summoning every ounce of my remaining courage. “There is no bond to be had.”
Angry tears burned at my eyes, reminding me of every twisted, Corrupt body I’d seen. Corrupt children, their lives broken forever. Men and women who would never experience a true, restful sleep. Lives ripped apart before they could be fully experienced.
“Oh, how little you see,” the demon purred. “This is the beginning of something glorious.” It was close now, the arch of its skull touching the trees above us. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to breathe your mortal air.”
“On my call, distract it,” the Shadow Bringer murmured, scarcely moving his lips.
My stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”
The demon rumbled on. “I want to wear your skin. Bleed your blood.”
“According to your own account, you were ‘able to reduce it into nothing,’ Esmer.” The Shadow Bringer looked very much as though he wanted to roll his eyes. For the sake of my dignity—or perhaps his own—he didn’t. “I’m going to bind the demon so you can safely try that technique again, but I need you to distract it first. Just hold its attention. Speak to it.”
I nodded grimly, biting the inside of my cheek. “Fine.”
“Soon I will know how it feels,” the demon said, eyes glistening in ecstasy.
