“What do you mean?” I ask, even as her words hit something fragile inside me. Something crafted of glass, delicate and thin. And when she meets my gaze, I think it may shatter open.
Wendy’s breathing rattles through her, like each one is painful. “I gave myself the power to hurt him, but every slice hurt me, too. It isn’t fair—it’ll never be...”
“Even.” I finish for her, because I feel her words in my blood—feel them in the echoes Niko left in my heart and on my skin. And no matter how he hurt me, no matter how I thought to even the score—I’d only hurt myself in the end.
Wendy nods, like she’s grateful someone understands. And I do. How love can live inside you even after it’s been starved and beaten and ignored. How it can drive you beyond your logic, beyond your reason. And how power is capable of the same thing.
“Why don’t you come back with me to—”
The rest of the words never make it out of my throat.
The Aeternalis stirs, his lashes fluttering wildly. Dread sinks in my stomach like an iron weight as those grass green eyes flickopen and he pushes himself upward. The wound at the center of his chest still gapes wide, but the circular one where the bullet pierced his skull is now little more than a soft red mark.
I try to grab Wendy, try to reach for my magic, for a sword—foranythingto slow the hatred burning in his gaze. But Pan is inhumanly quick as he lunges for us, sending us toppling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Threads of his magic tighten around me, pulling my arms and legs taut until I can do nothing but watch as the Aeternalis plunges a small dagger into Wendy’s heart. A cry of horror wedges itself in my throat as her eyes bulge, and her mouth opens and closes without sound; as more tears spill down her cheeks and mingle with her blood.
Pan leans over her, drinking in every bit of her fear; feeding his shadow with Wendy’s pain. “Once again, dear cousin, you’ve allowed your idealism to mislead you.” His shadow grinds on top of her, undulating in her agony. “You do not love me, but I—I have always loved you.”
The words are not a sweet boon in the Aeternalis’ mouth, but a lethal threat. A sob bubbles up from Wendy’s throat and blood trickles from the corner of her lips.
“You have been taught that love feelsgood,and so you did not recognize it when it hurt.” He twists the knife.
Wendy’s resounding scream rents through the newly fallen night.
I wrestle against the bindings of magic, their white-hot power searing my skin with each touch. The Aeternalis yanks the knife from Wendy’s chest, and more blood spurts from the wound.
I hadn’t truly believed her when she said she shared my curse, but now, I pray for it to be true.
Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead.
I whisper it to the forest. I whisper it to my magic. I whisper it to the second star and whatever exists beyond that.
But no matter how I whisper, it does nothing to stop the glassy emptiness in Wendy’s eyes.
Pan rises to his feet. His golden hair is matted with blood, his skin peppered with pieces of his own skull. I go still, tensing in anticipation of what he’ll do next. He cannot kill me as he killed Wendy, but if I cannot escape his chains, he can hurt me far worse.
His eyes lock onto mine as he raises the bloodied blade to run his tongue along the edge. His eyes roll in pleasure at the taste, and my shadow digs its claws beneath my skin. It clatters against my bones as Pan cleans the blade, consuming the last pieces of her.
He runs his tongue over his lips with relish, before releasing me from his magic. But even as the binds loosen, a deep sense of despair tightens.
“Thank you for the beautiful gift,” he says, eyes intense on me.
Perhaps he expects me to run or to fall swooning at his feet, but I only stare at him indifferently. If Pan’s shadow is anything like mine, it thrives on others’ pain. And though I may not be able to defeat him with magic or weapons, I can refuse to give him what he wants.
“She wasn’t a gift. She was our family.” I will my gaze not to stray to where her body lies discarded, bleeding out on the moss; refuse to think about her last heart beats sounding in a land she hated.
Pan’s pale brows furrow, and for a moment, he appears far too childlike. “You are upset with me?” His confusion is palpable as he motions to my shadow writhing above me. It tugs at my hair, pulls painfully at my heart, excited by the pain thick in the air.
“But Willa,” the Aeternalis pleads with surprising earnest. “I ended her for you.”
I lean away from him, shaking my head. “No. You don’t do anything for anyone but yourself.”
His mouth twists in sudden annoyance, and he snaps, “It.Wants.”
My shadow lurches in agreement, twitching toward Wendy. A serpentine smile crawls over Pan’s face.
“It doesn’t,” I grit out, even as the shadow’s teeth begin to snap at my heart.
