Demons.
“Alora…” Rune breathed, lifting his hands slowly, palms open. His claws retracted, the shadows thinning at his sides as though he were forcing them back by sheer will. “It’s all right, songbird…”
It was the way his voice shook that struck her first. Not the horns or the wings flexing behind him. Not the hounds prowling low at his back like living nightmares.
His throat bobbed with a swallow, holding himself still as if one wrong movement might shatter something fragile between them. His crimson eyes searched her face with naked, aching dread.
As though he were bracing for her to recoil.
For her to scream.
To look at him and finally see what the world had always seen.
A monster.
The thought sent a painful twist through her chest. Rune stopped himself from coming any closer. As if the distance between them were a chasm he dared not cross.
“Don’t be afraid,” Rune swallowed, the word scraped raw from his throat. “I would sooner tear myself apart than harm you.”
The words trembled in the air with a silvery sheen, desperate and unguarded. This was the secret he had hidden all along, the truth he had dreaded to share.
His shadows curled tighter around his clawed feet, clinging to him as though to shield him. His wings twitched once, betraying nerves he could not hide, and her heart trembled at the sight.
He was petrified.
“Alora,” Rune said again, softer now, his voice stripped of its usual velvet sway. “Please…”
Tears gathered on her lashes. All she had wanted was to be with him.
“You cannot change your fate, daughter.”
Her wide eyes flickered past him as the clouds parted, revealing Vorak’s red, slitted eye in the moon.
“I will rip the magic from your veins, but before I do, I rip him apart in front of your first.”
Alora shook her head, stumbling back. Rune reached for her and she screamed.
“No! Stay away from me!”
The power she held gave her speed and she fled through the trees as if on wind. Vorak wouldn’t touch him if he was chasing her instead. But Rune gave chase as well. Both were on her tail. And there was no time to explain.
The only way to save them was to curse herself.
She came out onto a cliffside that looked over the Kingdom of Argyle. The spindle vibrated in her hand.
She shut her eyes and thought of Rune.Forgive me.
Before she could change her mind, Alora pricked her finger.
Blood swelled bright and warm, spilling onto the grass. The earth answered at once, flowers tearing free from the soil in a rush of crimson light. She knew no spells, but one.
How to weave will through song.
Alora closed her eyes, letting her voice fill the sky.
Fall into the hush of endless sleep,
Seal the light the dark would keep,
