I screamed as his power entered me—cold, commanding, ancient. The pain became something else: lightning, ice, fire—all at once. The Renegade’s mark fought back, resisting the pull. It felt like a poisonous sting being drawn from my heart.
Something inside me snapped.
“I won’t lose you,” Emrys growled.
The room exploded in a shockwave of white light.
The undyne disappeared with a splash, the water rippling like a living being, like a terrifying, tentacled monster. She crawled toward the floor crack leading to the lake. A whisper slithered from the hole. “I am free. And I will come for what is mine.”
The voice inside me was gone. The Unbidden had left. But it left a void inside me. A terrifying, dark abyss that hungered for something.
I looked around like a starved beast and held onto the glowing tendril connecting me to Emrys.
“No—” he gasped. But it was too late. The void in my chest pulled on his bright, powerful magic. “Daphne—” he warned. “Stop this now.”
His eyes glowed up with the light of a thousand lightning bolts, and that thread beneath us severed. The world turned black for a heartbeat.
“Daphne?” he shook me. I blinked. It was quiet. Too quiet. The pain was gone. The Renegade’s mark, too.
“Am I dead?” I whispered.
He shook his head. The black pupils of his eyes narrowed.
“That didn’t go the way I planned it, Miss Daphne. Quite the price we both paid for this.”
Wait a minute—
“The way you planned it?!” I asked, pushing myself to my elbows. God, I was soaked to the bone. “You planned all this? And made me risk my life? You—” Still in shock, I couldn’t think of any fitting insult.
He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know you bore the mark of the Renegade, Miss Daphne.” His tone was cool again, his features composed. All traces of warmth were gone. Was I really only a tool to this man? I shuffled backwards.
“You were planning to use me to break the wards and set you free?” I repeated, my mouth suddenly dry. How foolish I was!
“Let’s say I saw our common interest and let you do what you intended, Miss Daphne.” He pushed himself to his feet and brushed his wet clothes. “I’m afraid it didn’t go as planned. Had you told me before that the Renegade marked you—”
I stood up, too, refusing to take the hand he offered to help me. “What do you mean, it didn’t go as planned? The wards are down, aren’t they? And the undyne—”
“She’s free. Just like both of us,” he said darkly. Something stirred inside me. Something powerful and ancient had taken the place vacated by the undyne.
And familiar.
“There’s more to it, right?” I asked softly.
“Yes. You stole a fragment of my power. We’re bound to each other, little thief. Until I find a way to undo it.”
Somewhere above echoed a blood-curdling screech.
Hollowborn.
“We need to move. Now. Stay close to me. A part of me is inside you now. If you want to live, stay close to me.”
Sweet Mary and Joseph –
“But—”
“No “but”. We escape. We live. And we find a way to solve this,” he said, and his tone made me bristle.
No way.
