Page 166 of Once the Skies Fade

Each breath fed the flames in my chest. My shadows curled and writhed within me, like they were gearing up for battle.

“Hang on, Isa. I’ll get you out of here,” I said, only realizing I’d uttered the words aloud when the Assembly began to laugh. Ursula’s cackle broke through my muffled hearing, so I heard her response clearly.

“How are you going to do that,Your Majesty?”

Her mockery of my title only served to feed my fury. I shot my hands out at her, a silent scream escaping my lips, but the chains pulled taut as the anchors held fast. Searing pain engulfed my palms as my shadows met the inside of the iron gloves. My fingers clawed against the metal, agony tearing through my hands. Still I persisted, spurred on by Ursula and Warren’s jeering.

“I think she’s actually trying to free herself,” Warren noted.

Fern’s hand lifted to her mouth, her eyes tearing up, though still she remained silent. The entire Assembly—aside from Ursula and Warren—simply stood there, watching, letting this happen.

Warren, chuckling haughtily, strolled forward to peer up at Isa’s slackened face.

“Wake up, general! Would be a shame for you to miss this display of affection from your queen.” He glared at me over his shoulder, but continued to speak to Isa. “You should really see her try, though. She must actually care about you. Too bad it won’t work.”

As if on cue, another vine dropped down from the canopy and began to wind itself around Isa’s throat.

Ursula turned to Warren, shaking her head. “This is so much better than having to rely on others to kill the king and queen, isn’t it?”

My parents? Did they know who—had they been the ones to?—

I tried to push more of my energy into my hands, but the excruciating pain threatened to blind me as my vision started to warp at the edges. My shadows pushed back against me, crawling back into my veins.

No. They couldn’t retreat. They couldn’t give up.

My hands fell to my sides. My chin dropped to my chest. My whole body trembled.

Silently, I pleaded with my shadows. With each ragged breath I begged them to listen, to regroup, to try again. I tried to lift my hands, but they seemed so heavy now, like the earth had a hold of my chains and was fighting me. I peered down, sure I would see the vines working against me, but there was nothing there except the dirt and leaves beneath my boots and my chains secured to the anchors.

My shadows gathered in my chest, embracing my heart, as if promising me it would all be okay.

Ursula leaned forward, bending down as if she were speaking to a child and not her queen. “Just stop, Calla. We all know you can’t win here. Stop fighting it.”

Do not let them win!

Raven’s words roared through my mind, and my shadows reacted. Releasing my heart, they billowed into a savage tempest, but instead of rushing to my palms, they flooded my lungs, choking off my breath. My head snapped up, and my eyes met Ursula’s. Fear flashed in her expression when my jaw fell open and my shadows surged from between my lips, heading straight for the female.

Ursula tried to scramble backwards, but my power punched through her body, impaling her as effortlessly as if she were mere shadow herself. Blood gushed from countless wounds, soaking through her bodice. Her hands clamped down over her stomach in a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding. Falling to her knees, she gaped in terror as my shadows gathered around her.

“Stop her!” Warren screamed, but he made no attempt to help his fellow advisor. My shadows, however, were no longer tethered to me as they normally were, and the guards shifted nervously beside me as I stood calmly watching my enemy’s demise.

“Call them back,” one of the guards—the nicer of the lot—requested.

“Not yet.” I bit out the words and pursed my lips, refusing to glance away from where my shadows now poured down Ursula’s throat, flowing into her ears, drowning her in my bitter darkness and sweet revenge.

In my periphery, Warren crept backwards, foolishly thinking I wouldn’t notice him trying to retreat. He was behind two of the other Assembly members when I jerked my head in his direction. Whether some invisible connection still existed between my shadows and me or not, they heeded my command regardless, abandoning Ursula to chase down the fleeing male.

Two other Assembly members darted forward to avoid my shadows’ path, but I wasn’t after them—not yet, anyway. The darkness coiled around Warren, lifting him off the ground and whisking him back to face me. They held him tightly, a little more than an arm’s length away. Though the stench of his fear hovered in the air around us, he glared at me with burning defiance.

“Kill me. Kill us all. But you won’t reach him in time. He’ll die across the sea, just like your parents.”

The shadows tightened until he gasped painfully for air. Still, he sneered at me.

“No amount of spilled blood will fix your failings. They’ll still be dead, all because you?—”

I lifted my chin and gulped down a deep breath, and I couldn’t help but smirk at the traitor as my shadows flooded his yapping mouth. Choking, he lifted his hands to his neck, clawing at his throat as if he could somehow rip the darkness out of himself. Suffocation alone was too good for him, though. My next command rumbled in the back of my throat like a feral growl, and jerking my chained hands behind me as far as they would go, I summoned them.

Bursting outward, my shadows ripped through Warren, leaving no piece of him untouched by my power, reducing him to ash floating down to the forest floor.

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