The shrieks of starving vampyrs slice the air as I fly toward them.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Maxim
Nameless dread sets my instincts on fire as I race to the front of my cave.
Moments ago, I woke from sleep to a darkness that beat at the burning embers of my fire, an oppressive black shadow flooding my cave.
Rushing to dress, I sprint out onto the sand dunes, where my fiery heart leaps into my throat.
In a sky that should gleam brightly with the sun’s final, burning rays, all light has vanished.
Gone.
Not a beam of sunlight nor even a ray of moonlight or starlight breaks through the dark…
“Brother!” My sister’s fearful cry cuts through the buzzing in my ears as I try to process the immense shadow forming an impenetrable canopy above us.
Zenaida rushes across the dunes, her silken clothing flying around her body, her golden jewelry clinking.
Even through the darkness, I can see that her tan cheeks are deathly pale.
She jolts to a stop in front of me, her legs trembling as she tries to take a knee, her mouth working, but all she manages is a gasped, “The sky!”
For what could be the first time in my life, my blistering heart is a block of coal in my chest, heavy as stone.
“I see it.”
A dark light so thick and complete that it reminds me, sickeningly, of the perpetual night that shrouds the bloodlands.
“Where’s Kaiba?” I ask, knowing my cousin will not be standing idle.
Zenaida’s reply is a rasped whisper, her throat clearly tight. “At the border. He was patrolling there this afternoon.”
“Good.”
I would have been there by now, too, if I hadn’t decided to play it safe. I wanted to make sure I slept during the hottest part of the day when my fire is at its most dangerous, before I set out for the Iron Kingdom.
Just as I draw breath to speak again, the light above us shifts.
Far in the distance to both the east and the west, moonlight pierces the darkness, cascading inward toward our location.
Beside me, Zenaida gasps, her hand flying to her heart, her head tilted back, a murmur of relief passing her lips as the darkness narrows and narrows, appearing as if it will vanish altogether.
But the nameless dread that drove me awake only grows heavier within my chest.
A channel forms across my kingdom, so black it appears as immovable as a solid object.
The approaching moonlight stops on either side of it, leaving a dark conduit that stretches from the north and extends south as far as I can see, a half-mile-wide path through which not a single ray of light shines.
For another heartbeat, I wait,willingthe natural light to break through.
Instead of salvation, from the distance comes the horrifying shrieks of bloodthirsty creatures spilling past the boundaries that once contained them.
I fight to restrain my fire so I don’t endanger my sister, the corners of my mouth turning down as I meet her eyes. “Evacuate the city within this dark corridor. Keep our people safe.”
Her cheeks remain pale, and her eyes are wide with fear, but she draws a deep breath. And calms. Becoming the leader our people will need.
