“Not at all. There’s a certain comfort in the dark,” I answered honestly. “Especially in a place like this, so filled with chaos.”
“You understand, then.” He smiled, squeezing my hand as if in reassurance, but his eyes were still cold. “Are you a lord’s daughter? A cousin of the king? It’s rare to see a new face; I’m curious.”
“I’m of no importance.” I pulled back a step, conscious of the way his eyes betrayed the forced warmth in his smile. Speaking to Erebus felt strange; it was almost as if he knew I didn’t belong there. “Just a dreamer at their first Revel.”
“In one way or another, everyone here is important.”
“Especially you, it seems. The dreamers can’t stop looking at you,” I said.
He pulled me back to him. Grazed the tips of his wings over my own. “Are you so sure? Look around—it is onlyyouthey see.”
He was right.
The dreamers’ stares were brimming with jealousy and anger, and in their collective rage, no one so much as blinked at Erebus. A different girl might have felt fear or even triumph at that jealousy—at all the attention that came with being the person who transfixed their beloved.
“Why did you request to dance with me?” I had to ask.
He hesitated. As if evenhedidn’t know why he’d sought me out.
“You were due for a new partner,” he said finally, guiding me into a slow, graceful spin. My wings complied, following his lead.
“But I wasn’t. The dance was only halfway through.”
“Was it?” he asked, feigning indifference. “I thought it was nearly over.”
Maker, this man is every bit as stubborn as his future self.
I skimmed my hand along his shoulder, moving it absently towardthe black hair that rested there. What had turned it white? Had the Bringer’s castle leeched all color, allsoul, from his body, rendering him bitter and bloodless? Erebus shared many similarities with the Shadow Bringer, but he radiated life in ways the Shadow Bringer did not. Erebus’s eyes were sharper, his skin darker, and his lips more precisely defined. And there was a sense of self-assuredness in the way that Erebus carried himself. He was less haunted and burdened. More certain of his path and his purpose.
Our eyes met again. This time, whatever he saw in my gaze gave him pause.
He dipped his head, bringing his mouth to graze the edge of my ear. “Listen carefully and respond as truthfully as you are able. What is happening outside the Dream Realm? You’re new here; you will be able to answer more clearly than the others. Has the sickness spread?”
“Sickness,” I echoed, a chill spreading over my skin.Corruption.Did he not have a word for it yet? “Do you mean Corruption?”
Erebus’s mouth tightened. “That is an accurate way to describe it. What have you seen?”
“It’s dreadful,” I whispered. The dreamers around us were switching partners, but we did not stray from each other’s arms. “It killed my parents and my sister. Eden,” I clarified, as if her name mattered to him. “She was young.” My voice caught, tangled by emotions that twisted my heart into knots. “She had her entire life to look forward to.”
But then Ikilledher.
I encouraged her to dream, and a demon found her. I wrought the shadows underneath her eyes. I caused the blood on her skin and the splinters on her coffin. I ruined a life that was not my own. Then her death rattled an honorable mother and father into committing unspeakable acts, ripping apart the lives of countless others.
I wanted to say this and more, but the shadows in Erebus’s eyes made me pause. They swirled, pooled, darkened. I first guessed the emotion to be anger or horror, but it felt different. More depthless and aching.
Sorrow, I realized.
Was he trapped here, in Evernight? Why couldn’t he just wake up and investigate himself?
I spoke my questions aloud: “Why can’t you go see for yourself?”
He blinked, a flash of sadness breaking through his careful guard. “It is not as simple as that.” He dipped me in perfect timing with the other dreamers, causing my feathers to brush the clouds underfoot. Once upright again, he spun me back to his chest. “I intend to fix this world,” he murmured into my hair. “There will be no more sickness or death. The dark must be destroyed.”
I realized something then.
Erebus was, indeed, more certain of his purpose, but that purpose wouldn’t lead him to glory or happiness. He was bound for five hundred years of torment at the hands of a thousand monsters, and a detestable new moniker: Shadow Bringer.
“Whatever you’re about to do… it doesn’t end how you wish it to.” The words stumbled out before I could stop them.
