Her scream cuts through the air, in the same way it cuts through my heart—swift, devastating.
She struggles against the chains, snarling and growling in defiance as the soldiers drag her to her feet.
“You don’t want to back out, do you?” Maldrak lilts.
I look to Nalya—frail, skeletal, scarred—and the knife poised at her throat beyond the rocks.
I can’t let her fucking die.
“Say yes, and she dies,my prince,” the soldier behind me whispers into my ear with a snarl.
“No,” I say but it fucking kills me.
I do what I swore I wouldn’t. I look at Elyssara, struggling, fighting, tears of fury running like rivers down her cheeks.
“You fucking did this,” she shrieks, her voice raspy from screaming. “The prophecy was right, Kael. Youhavedestroyed me,” she screeches, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief. “You have fucking destroyed me,” she cries, sobs wracking her body.
The Lightborne shall rise, and truth shall ignite,
Unless the Sky destroys her light.
One truth must break, one vow must sever,
Or silence and shadow shall reign forever.
I’ve destroyed her. I’ve broken my vow to never hurt her. I’ve carried out my part of the prophecy.
I squeeze my eyes shut, as if darkness might erase the sight of her breaking.
As if anything could.
I look to Rhyven, and something flickers in his gaze. Remorse, perhaps? Or regret? The flicker is gone before I can be sure, but I pin him with my stare, the taste for blood on my lips. “You do not come out of this alive, Rhyven,” I bite, my voice low, lethal. “I will hang you next to your brother in the town square and I will not repent,” I vow, the words a promise.
Elyssara’s screams mingle with Seren’s, sisters torn apart, as the soldiers drag her across the jungle floor while she fights, kicks, screams for her freedom.
“I’ll take care of her for you, nephew,” Maldrak sings through the broken cries. “She’ll birth a dynasty from the magic the gods left behind in her veins—and I will turn their gift against the world they sought to save.” My hands itch for steel. Hunger for shadows at my fingertips. “Our children will outlive us all. And the world will kneel—not just today, but for a thousand years to come.”
I bite my cheek, a metallic tang coating my tongue.
I’ll fucking kill him.
“She’ll make me an army of gods, Kael—we’ll conquer every piece of land until there’s nothing left for anyone else,” he says as if he’s won. As if this is the end. “My Queen,” he says wistfully, and the words wreck me, cleave me in two.
He knows.
He knows about the gods’ magic.
A cloaked sorcerer steps forward, arms raised, light bleeding from their palms in ribbons of fire and thread. The air warps, crackles. Magic stretches open the world like a wound. The light grows,expanding in threads that seem alive, humming.A Gateway of Threads.
The gateway opens to reveal the land beyond—Maldrak’s kingdom—and the soldiers step through, piling into the portal in droves.
Maldrak drops into a mocking bow, stepping through the gateway with the look of victory on his face.
Her shrieks tear through the air. And then—her eyes find mine. Wide. Wild. Shattered. “You destroyed me,” she breathes, like the final curse of a dying star as she’s swallowed whole by the gateway.
I can’t breathe. The prophecy strikes like a sword through the ribs.
The Lightborne shall rise, and truth shall ignite,
