But he doesn’t understand. If I don’t do this it’s his life on the line, too. The queen knows all my weaknesses. Betrayal shines in Raith’s eyes when I let the queen in. Her magic barrels into my mind, racing along the connection of dreams. Thane and Galenfeel the effects of her curse, but they never visited our mate. The only pain they feel is the curse burning into their skin. They remain bound, and unable to move at the back of the room as the curse takes hold of them. But Raith feels a fraction of what I do as he stands chained a few feet to my side.
He hears our mate’s screams of agony as the queen’s curse burns through us and races to our mate. The connection is brief, but the agony tears through the very essence of her being. It’s a pain no human could endure. An agony I share alongside her, screaming as my power fights, rushing to consume the queen’s magic. To sever the connection. To save her. But it’s too late. A heartbeat later and the connection is lost like the threads have been burned, and any tie I had to my mate is gone.
Sheis gone. I feel the depth of it inside me. The emptiness. The light has died. The sunshine has been obliterated. I’m still roaring, but the queen is too prepared. My power grows, threatening to destroy all around me, but before I can unleash my magic, I’m put down.
The other originals combine their power, throwing me into a sleep state that I don’t wake from for days. It’s an endless void of darkness, because that’s all I am now. Darkness withouther.
When I wake, I hear a deal has been struck. Provided Thane and the others keep me under control, we’ll be allowed to continue our work at the academy. We’re too valuable, but the queen’s threats are real. Decades go by, and the queen doesn’t visit in person. All I see is betrayal in Raith’s eyes every time I look at him.
But slowly, Thane coaxes me back to life. If one can call it living. It’s death. Like I’m one of the wandering lost souls in the shadow realm.
But I focus on my purpose. We need the queen. To win the war. And over the years, she believes I’ve come to understand her actions. Eventually, she lets me close to her again as themain liaison for Shadowbone Academy, but the moment the fold is closed, I will come for her. I will end her. Only so I can see her blood spilling over her throne.
Downing my drink, I think of the woman in the next room, and I remember how the nemins had tormented her as we’d watched. And how badly I’d wanted to tear them apart. I want to entertain the thought that she could be the same mate I lost, but this human feels different, and in any case, no human could have survived what the queen put my mate through. No matter how much I wish it were so.
No, this human will also die. She’s hopeless. A clueless being with barely any coordination. It’s a wonder she’s still living. And if she has been affected by that same curse the queen has placed on us, then the queen’s magic must have reached her via some other way.
But even as I think that, and even if she is a different mate, something still stirs inside me. I fight to smother it with darkness. This world and all the realms will not survive if I have to endure the loss of another mate.
Chapter Fourteen
~ Shade ~
“What’s up with you?” Kenzie asks through a mouthful of buttered toast.
I push my bowl of oatmeal away, forcing my mind back to the present. “Huh?”
“You have a weird look on your face,” she prods.
“Well, the girl picked overcooked oats for breakfast, what do you expect?”Elgen says in my mind like she’s responding to Kenzie, though of course, Kenzie can’t hear her.
“I like oatmeal,”I mumble back to the shadow defensively.“It’s warm and comforting.”
“It’s gruel,”Elgen replies with an indignant sniff.
Ignoring her, I turn to where Kenzie is still eyeing me. “Girl, this is just what my face looks like.”
She gives me a skeptical expression. “You know what I mean. You’re distracted.”
A small smile lifts my lips as I contemplate how to answer her. Somehow, it doesn’t seem like a great idea to be telling myfriend about the strange nemin creatures who tickled tortured me, or the fact that I finally banged one of my professors. And then there’s the part where I feel…different. Yep, that’s been happening. I didn’t dream again last night, my mind like a blank void, but from the moment I woke up, I’ve felt…strange. My magic has felt a little less chaotic. Like when I changed outfits this morning and there was hardly any pain at all. I eye the academy ring on my finger, wondering what’s different now. So sure, I’m still wearing a weird outfit that consists of black feathers and tight material, but no agonizing pain is a big plus.
“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Kenzie says, waving her toast in the air in front of my face. “There’s thatlook again.”
“It’s nothing,” I murmur, pretty unconvincingly.
“Uh huh. Well, if you’re not going to share, whatever it is you may want to forget about it for now, because we have Offensive and Defensive Maneuvers this morning with your favorite professor.”
I groan, propping my head on my hands. “I thought we had Shadow basics?”
“Yeah, there’s been a change to our timetable,” Kenzie replies, grimacing because she knows just how much I dread my classes with Knox. “There was a letter under our door this morning with an updated schedule. It didn’t say why.”
Laughter from across the room has me lifting my head, and I look at where Izzy and Paiton are watching Ian use his shadows to mess with another student’s food. His shadow grabs the plate of jam toast, tipping the breakfast onto the student’s head.
“Well, this is going to be interesting,”I say to the shadows.
“It will indeed,”Elgen comments, sounding way too eager as usual.
“All right, you ready to do this?” Jensen asks me some time later when Knox finishes barking orders at us. Students start breaking off for hand-to-hand combat, and Kenzie squeezes my shoulder before pairing up with a petite girl named Reni.
