Eraldon sighs. “Good.”
I feel him already, swimming in my veins.
“Keep feeding.” He presses his lips to my forehead. “Come back to me.”
I swallow again, numbness spreading all over me. Eraldon’s thrall settling on me like fine ash. It’s easier this way.
Eraldon turns, his wrist falling away as his blood drips down my chin. “What in Arin is—”
A fat tentacle whips between the trees and swipes him off his feet.
He yells as he falls, and his seekers turn and rush forward. In the light of the crescent moon I see a familiar shape rising behind the trees. An island with too many teeth and three eyes. On top, Solano shoots balls of pure sunlight from his hands, igniting seeker after seeker as he rides Malnaloch toward me.
The seekers holding me join the throng rushing to defend their master.Mymaster. I shake my head. No.No! I lean over and retch, coughing up his dark blood, splattering it on the mossy ground.
Eraldon is on his feet now, his ire rising as he whips his sword from its sheath. A high wind swirls around us, and Solano’s warriors land in the crush of seekers, each of them fighting and slashing, trying to get to me.
“You can’t stay here,” I call to Solano.
“I will never abandon you.”
I look up to the moon and ask for it to guide me, to make me strong enough to do what I must.
Solano’s flares are growing dimmer, and Malnaloch moves slowly in the dark night. The day warriors are falling under the seeker attack, some of them returning from the day realm at Eraldon’s command.
Eraldon brandishes his sword as Solano moves closer. “Come for me, day king. I’ve long wanted to take your head!”
I move forward, my wing hanging limp as I approach Eraldon. His blood speaks to me, tells me I’m his, tells me to watch as he destroys Solano. He’s overtaking my will, violating my mind again like a sure poison.
“Wait your turn, pet.” Eraldon ducks as a fireball flies past. “I’ll be with you—in you—shortly.” He raises his sword as Solano races toward us through the trees.
I hurt, my body and soul aching from Eraldon’s influence, but I turn that pain outward. One last gasp of free will. One final bit of myself left to lose.
Baring my fangs, I leap onto Eraldon and bury them in his neck. With a vicious yank, I rip him open.
He shoves me away, and I stumble back. But I don’t give up. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” I scream.
With my last wisp of energy, I jump on him again, clawing his chest with my good arm as I tear out his throat.
His yell chills me so deeply I can’t move. He falls, his arms going around me in a lover’s embrace as he hits the ground.
“Emma!” Solano rushes up behind me.
Eraldon holds my gaze, his eyes unblinking as his blood drains away. Slowly, his features change, his ruined skin becoming smooth, his black irises turning a light gray. “I could’ve loved you. I could’ve, Emma. Like this. Like I was. Would you have loved me too, nightling?” Ifeelhis last breath, his final gasp of life.
As his spirit abandons him for the Spires, he whispers his love to me in strokes of blood and darkness. I rise, forcing him to release me. He’s a bloody ruin, a once-beautiful prince turned into a monster. And for one fleeting moment, I pity the twisted creature.
Then I pluck up Eraldon’s sword from the ground beside him and run it through his heart.
Solano summons a ball of sun so powerful it singes my skin, then presses it to Eraldon’s chest.
He disintegrates, his body turned to dust.
A great roar rises from the day side of the barrier as the seekers around us start to scatter. More Daylands soldiers pour into night and circle around us, their weapons held high and their spirits lifted. Malnaloch slinks away, likely back to his lake to digest.
“His thrall is broken.” Tristano keeps his blades up as the seekers wander off.
“Allow the seekers to leave in peace,” Solano announces. “They belong to the Nightlands.”
