The darkness erases any form of vision. This is the darkness that comes to visit you in the middle of the night, in your dreams, in your nightmares.
Marik starts laughing again, and I want to yell at him to shut up.
The stag is still at my feet, his body now tense at the sudden shift in the room.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but my magic is broiling and ready to fight. I hear people shifting in their seats, muttering, asking if this is a part of the ceremony.
It’s not. Something bad is happening. I just don’t know what yet.
“Mae Bailey…High Queen to Nothing,” an eerie voice calls from across the room. The voice is familiar, but I can’t place it.
I hear Marik as he stands from the throne, his clothes rustling as he stands. Footsteps come closer to me. I consider running, but I have no idea who—or what—I would run into. I stand stock-still, ready to fight the moment he touches me.
But when he does, my magic goes silent.
“Remember me?” Marik’s voice comes from behind me, his breath hot against my ear.
My blood turns cold. The scrape of claws, just like before, trails up my right arm. I fight back a shiver. I choke down a scream.
“It was you. You were the one who attacked me,” I whisper.
“Didn’t my brother tell you I had a temper?” His voice rumbles in my ear.
Bile lurches up my throat, but I swallow it. His claws press harder into my arm, and I grit my teeth, refusing to show my pain.
“I did not appreciate you embarrassing me in the pool the other night with him.”
“How was it you? I saw you on the porch with Willa,” I say.
“It’s a part of me. It lives inside of me, but I can command it to do my bidding separately if I will it.”
“You’re a monster,” I say, disgust dripping from every word.
“Yes, I suppose I am. But I had a little help,” he says.
Finally, the darkness lifts.
He releases me. My magic comes flooding back to me, and I stumble from the force of it returning. He backs away from me and gestures to the crowd.
I spare a glance backward. Elle stands, knife out, watching Marik with cold, calculating eyes. Holly stands beside her, no weapon in hand. Magic is her first choice of offense—or defense. Luca and Ivan are side-by-side at the back of the stage, muttering under their breath furiously. Suddenly, Luca turns and darts to the door at the back of the stage, discreetly hidden in the wall.
Marik takes no notice.
Ivan steps forward. “Marik, what is the meaning of this?” His voice is commanding, full of authority. Guards begin to file in slowly from the back entrance, taking position on the periphery of the room.
“It’s High King now,” he says dismissively. He whips his head to the crowd and shouts, “Cora! Please come to the stage!”
I turn my head back to the crowd, waiting to see who steps up. My eyes catch on Asmo, who’s looking at me with a panicked expression on his face. He’s trying to stand up, but Vasuki places an arm out and across his chest, ordering him to sit back down.
Suddenly, a single female stands in the back. She slowly walks down the aisle. It’s the old woman from the greenhouse. Her cane is gone, and she walks with an ease that wasn’t there before.
I glance at Marik again, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at the old woman, his eyes fixed on her with an intensity that reminds me of the way he glared at Asmo the night of the pool party. But he doesn’t look mad. He looks…captivated.
The woman makes her way down the aisle, then she stops just before the stage and looks at me.
“Hello, Mae,” she says. Her voice doesn’t sound quite like I remember, and her eyes are clear, no longer milky. Now her eyes are almost entirely white, just like the full moon.
“You…” I say.
