"I'm the only real thing in your pathetic life." The shadow-Briar moved closer, and Briar saw that her fingernails had grown into long claws, that her teeth were slightly too sharp. "I'm what's under the skin. What the magic is making you. What you were always going to become."
"No."
"Denial doesn’t make it any less true.” Shadow-Briar smiled, and blood dripped from her teeth. "You killed Ferria and you enjoyed it.Weenjoyed it. That moment whenthe thorns went through her, when her blood spilled? I can stillsmellit, still feel the satisfaction. For the first time since you came here you felt complete."
Briar's stomach turned because it was true. In that moment, she had felt satisfaction, she had wanted Ferria dead and felt nothing but rightness when it happened.
"You're not even human anymore." Shadow-Briar reached out, and her touch was ice-cold on Briar's cheek. When she tried to pull away, the fingers tightened, the clawed nails digging painfully into her face. "The magic has been changing you, cell by cell, breath by breath. Soon there won't be anything left of the girl who saved her sister. You’re going to be just another monster wearing a human face."
"I'm not—"
"You are." Her mother's voice joined Shadow-Briar's. "Monster. Burden. Worthless thing that should have died instead of him."
More voices joined in. Allegra: "You ruined my life. I never asked you to save me."
Seraphin: "I was punished because of your selfishness, your need to have something from your old life."
Finally Eliam: "You thought I could care for a human? You think I’d want you after Malus used you? You're just a vessel for power. Once I have what's inside you, you're nothing."
"No, please…” Briar gasped. “Stop." She fell to her knees, the voices pressing down on her. Each word driving deeper than the last, each one something she'd always known but tried not to acknowledge.
Shadow-Briar knelt in front of her, gripping her face, forcing her to look into those dead eyes.
"Stop resisting. This is what you are," she said softly. "This is all you've ever been and all you’ll ever be. A burden who got lucky. A worthless girl who stumbled into power she doesn't deserve. A killer who pretends at kindness. It would be better for everyone if you died in this cave."
The shadow's hands moved to Briar's throat, over the marks which suddenly burned with an intensity that left Briar gasping on her hands and knees.
"You can't even love properly. You were right. Everything you feel is the magic, pulling you toward them. Without it, they'd never look at you twice. Without it, you're nothing but a broken girl whose mother couldn't stand her, whose sister resented her, who kills anyone who shows her kindness."
Briar felt tears running down her face.
"Just give up," Shadow-Briar said gently, almost kindly. "Like the warriors did. It's easier than fighting what you know is true. Easier than pretending you're worth saving."
Briar caught sight of more bodies, all in that same position of surrender. They too had faced their shadow selves and couldn't bear what they saw.
"You want to." Shadow-Briar's voice was hypnotic now. "I can see how tired you are of fighting for every scrap, for every breath. It’s okay to give up, to be tired of trying, of failing. Just let go. Just stop. Do something right for once in your pitiful, pointless life and die."
Shewasbeyond tired, the exhaustion had worked its way deep into her bones. Her body hurt from the fight with Ferria, from the march through corrupted lands, from the constant fear and tension. It would be so easy to give in, to lie down like the warriors had. To let the truth of her worthlessness finally win.
"That's it," Shadow-Briar crooned and Briar felt herself sinking lower, her trembling arms simply giving up, pitching her forward. Shadow-Briar caught her, laying her gently on the cool stone floor. "The sooner that you accept that you’ve always been nothing the better it will be for everyone."
More tears slid down Briar’s cheeks as eyes started to close. Maybe if she just rested for a moment...
"No one will mourn you," her mother's voice said. "They'll be relieved."
"The world will be better without you," Allegra's voice agreed.
"You're just another mistake that needs correcting," Eliam's voice added, cold and dismissive.
Briar's eyes closed, the tension eased from her muscles.
“That’s it…” she felt the clawed fingers biting into her flesh. “It will all be over soon.”
Then the warmth in her chest pulsed.
Not the sick golden glow that Shadow-Briar showed, but real warmth. And with it came a different memory.
Eliam's hand in her hair while she slept. Gentle, careful, like she was something precious.
