His whole face had gone pale. He looked haunted. “They say the Serpent Lord was experimenting. He wanted stronger demons. So he used a hungry ghost as the base.”
He paused, chest rising and falling too fast. Then, quietly: “He succeeded.”
My stomach roiled. “Hungry ghosts can never be sated.”
His voice was grim. “At least they’re incorporeal. Somehow the Serpent Lord made it into flesh, a powerful demon that consumes and consumes, yet the more it eats, the hungrier it becomes. It is impossible for it to feel satisfied.”
I shivered. “Unless it gets this woman of prophecy. Ire didn’t just show me Edith, Blake. He told me—”
My words died off and I bit down on my lip as I considered the words Ire had spoken. The words from my dream.
“What, Rubi? Tell me.” Blake sounded desperate, his usual cool composure shattered since I’d been taken.
“He told me a prophecy. He recited it to me—but I’d heard it before. As a song, in my dreams. I sang it once, to Edith.” I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. “The Serpent Lord wants me, in exchange for her. I think they believe that I’m—”
I stopped, breath tight.
“They think you are the one from this prophecy?”
Nodding, I parted my lips and sang the song I’d heard in my dreams.
“Born of passion and the silencing queen,
A light shall rise where none have been.
Through her, the dawn will banish night,
If the dragon’s heart grants her might.
Should the hollow one consume her power,
Darkness will reign in the final hour.
Let the serpent’s heir stand by her side
And storms shall rage and kingdoms die.”
As I finished, I gazed up to where Blake now sat beside me with his arms crossed, his Mark still hidden within his fists.
I studied him, the tightness around his mouth, the flicker of something troubled in his eyes. “Have you heard of this prophecy?”
Blake shook his head, but his expression told me everything. He was thinking the same thing I was.
They’d taken Edith. It didn’t matter if Iwasthe woman of the prophecy. The Serpent Lord believed I was.
“The demon would let her go,” I whispered, my thoughts tumbling over each other. “You could repair the Anchor and everyone would be safe.”
Blake shook his head, his energy surging wildly through the Paired bond that still linked us, frantic. “Everyone exceptyou! Rubi, whatever you’re thinking—”
I blinked back tears as I looked up at him. I uttered the words he was silently begging me not to speak.
“If my life is the price—”
“Youcan’t.” It should have been a command. It sounded more like a plea.
“Blake—”
His voice cracked like a whip, sharp enough to steal the breath from my lungs. “Absolutely not, Rubi. I forbid it.”
