Khadyr.
My heart gives a painful squeeze and I realize that tearing myself away from Reznik and Yaelyn’s side didn’t save the shards, and if Khadyr is going for the whole set, it didn’t save them either. Regret hollows me out, leaving me gutted and raw.
I told the shards I would keep them safe, like there was anything I could truly do to stop the scariest kin I’ve ever encountered. Like I was more than the thief who stole them and carried them with me as they turned me into the world’s most fucked-up flashlight. Like I could ever be even a sliver of what the Light Bearer once was.
Wait, what? Did spooky scary Khadyr just callmethe Light Bearer? What the actual ever-loving fuck? "Pretty sure you've got the wrong girl," I hedge.
He materializes in the shadows, his form ghostlike, a specter of shadow as he walks the circumference of the round room at the tomb's center. "Then why do you glow?"
I mean, that's a fair point. But I wouldknowif I were the Light Bearer reborn... wouldn't I? Shit, it's not like the shards came with a Light Bearer instruction manual. But no, I can't be.
Can I?
Wouldn't Reznik and Yaelyn have noticed?
Unless they did and didn't think I was fit to wear Lux's crown.The thought shouldn’t hurt as much the possibility of losing the stones and the realms along with them. And maybe that’s why the demonkin I love found me unfit, wanting. Nothing compared to their Lux.
"They are creatures of shadow," Khadyr says in disgust. "Neither light nor dark. They don't know you like I do."
Just when I didn't think a creepy tomb could get creepier.
"So you're the darkness?"
He slinks around me in the shadows. "A scrap," he says. "Who escaped my realm and grows and devours. Soon all this world will know is darkness. I will extinguish your light once and for all, Light Bearer. A shame you will not witness the fall of all realms, but your death is necessary."
Okay, not how I expected to die at Khadyr's hands.
But if he’s going to bad guy monologue, maybe I can pull some kind of crazy plan out of my ass. I just need to keep him talking long enough. So I pull up my big-girl bravado undies, unpick the crazy plan wedgie, and shrug my shoulders carelessly. "Fine, you caught me. How long have you known?"
"I had my suspicions. And then I showed you that scrap of vellum and you lit up." He laughs, cold and cruel. "There are only three who could have found the shards, but you were the only one I could bend to my will. A shame you don't have all nine shards. Your guardians could have given you theirs, you know. You could be wearing your crown even as we speak."
"They didn't know. I was testing them, determining if they were worthy before revealing myself," I lie.
"Ah, but your incubus figured it out. I saw the truth of it in his heart. Such a dark place," he says. "So much pain."
I try to keep my alarm from showing on my face. Yaelyn knew and didn't tell me? So they did take my measure and find me unworthy. I tell myself it’s for the best that they didn’t give me their shards, that they didn’t find me worthy enough to wear the Light Bearer’s crown. Because I am going to die, but at least they’ll have a fighting chance at protecting the Light Bearer’s legacy. TherealLight Bearer, that is.
There are no big girl panties in the world big enough to bolster my waning bravado, but I forge on anyway.
"I may not have my guardians or all my shards, but I'm not Lux. You would do well to remember that, dark one." Fuck, I sure hope he buys my bullshit. Buy one, get one. No coupon needed. I still have no plan to speak of. "She was timid. Weak. No match for the armies of darkness. But, ah, it appears you've left your armies behind? That's a rather egregious oversight on your part, seeing as I still have mine."
"A dead army."
"Undead," I correct. "But no less fierce." And theywouldbe fierce, if I had the first idea about how to command them.
Khadyr waves a shadowy hand in dismissal. "The fight is between us, Light Bearer."
I force the haughtiest laugh I can. "Are you scared of me? You should be."
"Oh, little Light Bearer. You are nothing. I am inevitable. Worlds collapse into darkness. And this one will fall because of you. Because you were weak, unworthy of your crown."
He stretches out a hand swathed in swirls of shadow. I do the only thing I can think to do.
I flash Khadyr fucking Blackmore.
I throw my winter coat open and beg my little buddies to light beam the bastard. Blinding white light bursts free, and my eyes snap shut against the overwhelming glare. Euphoria rushes through my veins as the light pours out of me.
But it isn’t enough to reach the dark corners of the tomb. It’s not enough and I’m not enough.
