His eyes widened. “Do you mean …”
“I found a way to defeat the Shadow.”
“The Shadow?” King Yoel interjected.
“I’m referring to a shadow demon.” Dyna looked to the grand windows in the study, seeing the demon’s profile that had filled the frame of her small bedroom window. “North Star is cursed, sire. Each decade on the night of the winter solstice, the Netherworld Gate opens in our village, and the Shadow comes through to hunt …”
“Children.” Zev finished under his breath.
Cassiel’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible. Shadow demons cannot leave the Netherworld. Their forms are insubstantial. If they passed through the Mortal Gate, they would dissipate.”
King Yoel frowned at him. “I see you have been neglecting your studies. If you had read the demon dissertations, you would know it is very possible.” He turned his frown to Dyna. “A shadow demon may cross both the Netherworld and Mortal Gates if it is summoned. Then it would be quick to possess a body so it can remain in this world.”
Dyna nodded. The Shadow came to North Star because a villager had meddled with dark magic.
The Prince crossed his arms. “Then you have brought it upon yourselves.”
She lowered her head. He was right.
Zev growled. “We had nothing to do with it. The shadow demon was summoned before either of us was born. Yet our generation is suffering the repercussions. During its last attack nine years ago, it took Dyna’s brother and her parents perished in their attempt to fight it. Don’t you dare say it’s her fault!”
“Zev.” Dyna laid a hand on his taut arm. His claws retracted from the upholstery.
“You have my sympathies, Dynalya,” the High King said after a short pause.
She nodded, not knowing what else to say.
Prince Cassiel turned to his father. “If the demon has possessed a body, it can be destroyed.”
King Yoel shook his head. “This is no simple matter, son. Possession gives the shadow demon a solid form to walk the Mortal Realm, but it does not lose its vitality or its abilities. They are smoke, spawned from the fires of the Netherworld. Quick and vicious. Humans cannot stand against them.”
“It was not for our family’s lack of trying,” Dyna said. “My grandfather and my father lost their lives trying to stop the Shadow. Now, it is up to me. I have dedicated my life to prepare for its next coming by reading all the books in the village about demons, possessions, and The Seven Gates. I believed there had to be a way to end the ten-year cycle or some manner to defeat the demon, and I was right.” She smiled at her cousin, blinking back her misty vision. “I know how to destroy the Shadow once and for all.”
His mouth fell open, traces of shock and joy on his face. “You do?”
Dyna pulled out the journal from her satchel and set it on her lap. She caressed the embossed sigil of House Astron on the aged leather. It responded with a gentle warm energy seeping into her as it connected with her Essence.
She had been angry for a long time after the brutal massacre of her family. Their absence left a void inside of her, but the world remained and life had continued in the wake of her loss. There was nothing she could do about the past, but the future she could change.
“This journal belonged tohim,” Dyna told Zev. She opened it to a page with detailed drawings of two medallions. One was the Luna Medallion plated in silver and diamonds, a moonstone at its heart. But it was the other medallion made of gold with a large red gem in the center that held her hope. “This is the Sol Medallion. The Head of the Sun Guild created it three-hundred-years ago. See this here?” She pointed at the gem. “It’s a Sunstone, and it contains the power of a single sunray. Tell me, what extinguishes the dark, Zev?”
“Light,” he whispered in awe. “This is real? You found the answer?”
“Yes!” she laughed breathlessly. “The journal confirms the Sunstone kills demons. All I have left to do is find it!”
Zev squeezed her in a bone-crushing hug. They celebrated together, at last allowing themselves a small semblance of happiness.
“Hold a moment,” King Yoel interrupted. “Does your journal mention where to find this medallion?”
“Yes, sire.” Dyna prepared herself for what she was about to reveal, bracing for humiliation and reproach. “The Sol Medallion was stolen from the Magos Empire centuries ago during the War of the Guilds and hidden … on the island of Mount Ida.”
No one laughed.
The Prince’s flute slipped from his hand, and he floundered to catch it. “Did you say Mount Ida?”
“I did.”
King Yoel studied her. “Are you familiar with the tale of that island?”
