Page 14 of Cursed Shadows

Dragan nods before continuing. “And… Variant plunged a dagger into your heart.”

Baron looks at Cambion, who simply nods as if to confirm that what Dragan relates is the truth. But Baron’s jaw is tight, and I can tell he doesn’t want to believe them.

“It’s true,” I whisper as I reach up and touch his arm. He glances at me and we hold each other’s gaze for a few moments. He doesn’t pull away. “You can trust them. You can trust me.”

“I trust no one,” he says acidly.

“I’m sorry, brother, for not standing with you then,” Cambion says. His voice is weighted with an apology that has likely sat on his tongue for the last hundred years.

“They’re telling the truth,” I repeat. “They wouldn’t lie to you.”

“We wouldn’t lie to you,” Dragan repeats.

Baron is quiet for a long few seconds before he nods. I’m not sure if he believes us fully, though, and wonder if the nod is just to move the conversation along.

“But someone brought you back.” Dragan’s low timber cuts through the heavy air.

Baron looks at me, and in his eyes, I can see he doesn’t want me to mention the woman’s voice we both heard in the vision. I just nod with a clipped smile to let him know his secret is safe with me. I remain quiet, not wanting to explain the voice I hear in my own head. I don’t understand why but the very thought of telling my… friends that this woman speaks to me is metwith resistance as soon as I think of it. I’m not sure if it’s my resistance or hers.

Assuming we’re finished, I weakly pull my cloak back over my shoulders. I turn around and find all four of the men looking at me, their expressions illegible. Baron’s is the hardest to read—he’s looking at me intently, as if trying to decide who I really am. His closeness makes me nervous, and I’m so aware of the space between us that it feels as though it comes alive.

He still looks like he’s searching for something.

***

CAMBION

Baron is alive.

The thought keeps playing through my mind, over and over again.

Baron isalive.

I pair this knowledge with the scene of his death, a day I’ll never forget. The day that ended the war and changed all of our lives forever.

In the beginning, there were four: Myself, Variant, Baron, and Dragan. Two kings of darkness and two of light. Appointed by the Midnight Queen, we were marked as the most powerful men in the three realms, destined to rule over balanced and fair lands. And for centuries, we did just that. Of course, there were disagreements—land disputes, childish bickering, conflicting opinions. However, despite our frequent annoyances with one another, we ruled together, steady and fair. The realms thrived, the people were fed, balance held.

But Variant was hungry for more. The disagreements became more recurrent and his desire (or ability) to relent vanished. He held that he was the most powerful of the kings, that the realms would do better with one leader instead offour. That all the talk of balance was antiquated, our constant bickering prevented prosperity, and he was the most fit to rule.

We opposed him, of course. Many did. His council of angels conspired in secret to appoint a new leader, a new King Of Light, someone to restore the balance that Variant was so intent on destroying. But they were too late. Variant discovered their plot to overthrow him and, in an explosion, that destroyed half the capitol, he murdered every last one of them.

I remember the rage I felt that day, the sickened sense of disbelief. Baron wanted him dead immediately. Dragan and I urged Baron to wait for the council of the Midnight Queen, but, although we called on her, she didn’t respond quickly enough for Baron’s liking. Instead, he took matters into his own hands. Dragan and I followed him to Variant’s castle in the sky, but we entered the throne room with only enough time to see Variant stab our friend through the chest with a dagger bearing a blade made of ice.

I watched him die.

I watched his blood become a blossoming stain against the marble floor.

And, now, as much as I want to deny the truth, I know my eyes aren’t deceiving me.

Baron lives.

***

DRAGAN

Watching Baron, the intensity of his gaze as he looks at Eilish while his hands trail along her spine, I feel a vulnerability that hasn’t touched my hardened, stone heart in longer than I can remember.

I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with Cambion, but Revenant isn’t the Baron we remember. We still don’t know if wecan trust him, and after the way he looked at Eilish, I’m afraid for what he’d do to her.

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