Page 124 of A Deal with the Shadow King

My spine hurts, but my body obeys. Using the staircase Baka climbed stealthily earlier to hand me the crossbow, I put one foot in front of the other until I’m standing in front of my conniving governess, more under her thumb than ever.

“How did you wake up so fast? You couldn’t have traveled the in-between without your mask—” she rummages through her bag and clutches my emerald mask between her hands.

One looks shell-shocked. “You were safe, kitten. Why would you come back?”

Four coughs up a mouthful of blood, and Two and Three back away from him, eyes full of fright. Four’s emaciated body curls into itself. I couldn’t kill Morrigan with one bolt, but I could kill Four. I’ve finally figured out how the curse works.

“I came back to save you,” I tell him.

Morrigan’s face changes as she realizes my shot landed exactly where it was supposed to. “What did you do?” Her gaze bounces between us. “Come and heal him, quick. And I will let you live.”

Still under her spell, I walk over to Four and put my hand over his heart. Black blood smears my fingers. Right next to the bolt is Morrigan’s poisoned needle, and I pinch the area beneath the pearly tip. “I cannot heal what is already dead.”

“Silly girl, you seem to want to make some kind of point, but Damian and I are married now. I don’t know what you think you came here to accomplish?—”

I turn to One, Two, and Three in turn. “You don’t need Four.”

“Shush,” Morrigan orders.

The spiders glare at me, but Morrigan doesn’t have enough magic to keep control of the entire congregation and steal my voice.

“Let her say her piece,” One growls, raising his arm between us to warn her off.

Jo motions to his unbound hands behind Morrigan’s back. Now, I just have to give the speech of my life.

I anchor my gaze to One. “You say you can’t feel, can’t love, can’t reign as you are, but you’re wrong. You’ve been doing it for decades. Maybe not the same way you used to, but you’re doing it. You do feel and you do love. The day you used your magic to split into four parts, you might have been the dark and unfeeling nightmare hunter, and Two the cruel megalomaniac?—”

“Hey!” Two protests.

“And Three the mute, sex-crazed animal.”

Three grins from ear to ear.

“But that’s not who you guys are anymore—or at least not all you are.”

Jo moves with stealth and purpose, the spiders’ complete attention fixed on me as he cuts Misha, Cary, and James’ bindings.

“If you really couldn’t love or feel true empathy without Four, you would have brought your kingdom into chaos, but you didn’t. You all learned to be Damian in your own way, and I wasn’t the one who allowed you to merge again. You did it all on your own.” My breath catches in my throat when I slide the needle out of Four to bring an end to his suffering. “One of you is enough. It’s always been enough.”

Four’s body flakes off into dark ashes under my palm, the dead piece finally put to rest. The ashes spiral in the wind and zoom toward the closest Damian, just as I’ve been praying they would.

I was right.

“Now that the dead limb has been cut off—now that her poison has nothing to feed on—you can finally heal, Damian. ”

In the blink of an eye, only one of them stands in front of me, and my chest quakes with hot, blinding relief.

I can’t begin to describe the sum of them together. The mask flaunted by the Shadow King is made of iridescent onyx and freckled with polished glass. The beauty of him makes it impossible for me to look away.

“But—we made a deal!” Morrigan motions to the bleeding cut on her arm. “We’re married now. You can’t deny me your magic.”

Shadows swirl around him, drawn from the Hawthorn, the earth—the night sky itself.

A long sword stretches from his hand. “Come and take it then, darling,” Damian snarls.

He strikes, but Morrigan blocks the blade with her own just in time not to be cut in two. The sound of the swords crashing together thunders across the clearing, and the leaves of the Hawthorn ripple at the force of the blow.

Chaos takes over. The spiders dart into the fray from above and below, Cary and Misha jumping into the fight, too. The renewed power of the Shadow King drums in the ground, instilling a new energy in all of us. I quickly jump over the edge of the altar to help James cut Lori down.

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