There was a liquor I’d liked once. I’d tasted it in another lifetime, one where the light still ruled. I could not recall its name. But that life was gone. I wanted nothing of light. Only sweet, liquid dark.
My shadows whipped around the battlefield—this one, the one beyond it where other beings fought. Less magic, but so much hate those short-lived ones had inside of them. No wonder we were feeding upon them. Their malice for one another was almost as good as the magic the pointy-eared ones had flowing through their veins.
Oh, yes, the feeding here was glorious. But—
But we had to stop. The compulsion was stronger than the desire to feed. The tendrils of shadow curled around my sisters and the feeble bodies they’d taken for their own. They ripped them from their broken legs, their mangled forms, away from the still-living they tore into pieces. Thousands of rifts ripped open in the very fabric of the world. An opportunity—a portal.All of my sisters could come. We’d feed on this realm, then the next and the next, using this powerful body to take us from realm to realm.
But the shadows did not obey. They ripped my sisters from the twin battlefields, forcing them back into our own realm, the origin of darkness and death. And then those rifts closed.
All except for one.
It hung in the air in front of me, in front of the powerful body I’d claimed. I could hear their hisses and cries—my sisters, calling me back. I took a step toward them.
A voice screamed, again and again, reminding me that I was not alone in that tower. Veyka, Veyka, Veyka.
That had been my name, once. But no longer.
86
ARRAN
One minute, defeat was upon us. And in the next, the succubus were gone. Ripped from the air, the ground, the bodies where they’d been feeding. Just gone. Banished from our world by shadows that moved with a sentience that sent chills down my spine. The same shadows that had flowed into Veyka in Avalon.
She’d done it. She’d banished the succubus, plucked them from this realm forever.
Around me, soldiers fell to the ground, the toll of exhaustion and the cost of expended magic taking its due.
But I could see it even from where I stood on the other side of the battlefield. In the center of the Effren Valley, at the very top of the Tower of Myda, a portal rift glowed, a spiraling whorl of light. Just like the image Accolon had carved into the standing stones. That part of the prophecy had come true, even without Veyka and Mya’s sacrifice.
My selfish heart did not worry about whether or not Mya lived. That portal rift shone, which meant Veyka was still alive.
I reached for her, spinning my consciousness around the golden connection of our mating bond, only to find it… barelythere. A single tiny thread was all that remained. And at the end of it… complete darkness.
Veyka. Veyka, listen to me. I know you are still there.
That precious, fragile thread was proof of it. It could not break entirely, because I still lived. The part of her soul that resided inside of me was still safe. She could come back.
Princess, you can hear me. I know you can. The bond is still there, so I know you are still there. Come back to me.
She is gone,a voice too deep to belong to her hissed.
No,my beast growled.You do not have my permission to go. You belong to me.
I belong to no one.But she wavered on that last word.
I wrapped every bit of love and emotion around that golden thread. The parts of myself that were broken—the ones she’d healed, and the new wounds that would take years to stitch back together. I gave her everything I had. My soul, because it belonged to her anyway.
You do. You are mine, and I am yours. You are kind and brilliant and loving. Your soul… your soul is beautiful, Veyka. The light and the dark. There can be no light without shadows, no love without loss. But we have already lost enough. Come back, and let me love you for a thousand years, just like we promised.
I can’t,Veyka whimpered.
You can, my love. You’ve been so strong. You have saved us all. You can be strong, just this one last time. Come back to me.
Darkness filled my mind. It flooded the valley, blocking out the sun and the mountains. Shadows so dense I could not see my own limbs, a foot in front of me. Then it disappeared as quickly as it had come. One bright flash, and the portal rift hovering over the tower closed. One breath, and then she was on the ground in front of me.
I grabbed her to me, checking for a pulse, running my hands over every inch of her body I could access.
Angry red welts marred her arms, but they were already healed over. No blood leaked from her. Nothing more dangerous either. The scabbards stopped her from bleeding.
