Page 8 of Ecliptic

“It took mountains of corpses to find you,” he said casually, inspecting the dark smoke against my skin, and I flinched in disgust. “I’m glad you’ve finally decided to see things my way and cooperate. It wasn’t easy getting you here.”

Erovos stepped into my space, eyes on fire with a gravitational hunger that pulled at the edges of my skin. He placed his finger on my cupid’s bow, his touch cold, hard, and unflinching. My gaze burned with revulsion as he traced a finger down my mouth and paused at my lower lip. I snapped at his hand with my teeth, but he grabbed my chin in a bone-crushing grip. “Don’t bite the hand that is about to free you.”

“Interesting words to say to someone you just shackled,” I said, staring back into his eyes defiantly.

“Oh, Keira, it is not these chains that bind you. Can’t you see? It is this body that imprisons you,” Erovos said, loosening his grip to trace his fingers over my chin. My breathing was rampant, my chest heaving as his finger continued to slide down the column of my throat.

“Where does the Alcreon Light reside? Is it in your spirit? Your mind? Or is it here?” he asked, tapping his finger at the swell of my left breast. His touch lingered over my pounding heart, which simultaneously surged with life yet shattered with grief. “I guess I will just have to use all of you to find out.”

At least my heart had known Rowen’s, however fleeting our time together had been. He finally confessed his love for me and explained why he’d kept it hidden for so long—why so much time had been wasted. He had done it to protect me from the woman who had cursed and abused him.

I needed to get back to him. That couldn’t have been all the time we were allowed after baring our souls and claiming eachother’s bodies. I would forever resent the Spirits if that were all the time we were given.

I thrashed beneath Erovos’ icy touch, desperate to find a way—any way—to stop him. But I had willingly brought this upon myself, and he relished every second of my fight.

His amused expression turned hungry as his orange eyes glinted in the night. “Such a pity that one so beautiful must be destroyed,” he said, his hand latching onto my shoulder. “I can put you back to your true form. You were never meant to be trapped in this fragile body. Can’t you feel it failing all around you?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of Rowen. No matter what happened, I would keep thinking of him, of our few perfect nights together. I would let the memory of his fingers and breath on my skin give me strength.

“Beings of my kind made you. Therefore, it shouldn’t be without too much difficulty to unmake you. You should be thanking me.”

“You underestimate the Elder Spirits,” I said, ignoring the dress that clung to my skin like a shroud of crawling spiders. “They chose me for a reason. Maybe this was their plan all along, and you’re falling right into their trap.” I was grasping at straws, but how could I defeat a being with no weaknesses?

The Dark Spirit smiled, a horrifying sight on his smooth, pale face. “The Elder Spirits have made many mistakes. As well as your fearless leader Nepta. When she broke the Stone, the Light sought a vessel from another world, though why it chose one so fragile is beyond me. You might just be another mistake, but I must admit, you were the last place I would ever look.”

Erovos lifted both hands and placed them on either side of my face. His touch was gentle, almost like he was pulling me in for a kiss. Disgusted, I wrenched my head in his grasp, but hisfingers dug in deeper. I may have agreed to be here to save everyone I loved, but I refused to be toyed with any longer.

“Do what you mean to do, and let’s be done with it,” I spat.

“Very well. Goodbye, Keira, bearer of the Alcreon Light.”

A splitting pain unlike anything I’d ever felt erupted in my skull. It traveled down my neck and back in chasms of agony when, suddenly, a blast of light shot out of my arm like a bullet hole.

I blinked in shock before another silver beam shot out of my chest, then my shoulder, stomach, and hands. Bright streaks erupted all over my body, covering me in pinholes of searing Light.

I yanked against the bonds, uselessly thrashing as Erovos’ fingers pressed into my scalp. I only knew I was screaming from the tearing sensation in my throat.

I’d emitted power out of my body before. But this? This was different. It was as if the Light was being pulled from the very essence of my being. My legs gave out, forcing my wrists to take the brunt of my weight.

Tears streamed down my face as I retreated somewhere deep inside, where I wouldn’t feel this . . . this destroying.

“Watch as I free you,” Erovos said, forcing my gaze back to his. His focus was steady as he dug his nails in so deep, I swore blood dripped down my temples. “Watch as I bend your body to my will, reshaping you into a gateway—a tunnel of light through which I can travel.”

My eyes widened in terror as agony pierced me to my marrow. He was deconstructing me down to the purest form of Light.

My flesh burned out of existence as more streams of celestial brilliance shot out of my body. I barely registered the breathtaking sight before I whipped back in a violent arch; the Light engulfing me like an exploding star.

I was losing feeling, going numb, which was bad. Very bad. I tried focusing on my wrists where I still felt the cold metal shackles, but even that was fading.

Suddenly, the pain vanished. All of it, and the chains that once bound my wrists now hung limp and empty.

The body I knew was gone.

My pearlescent glow bloomed like a noxlily, my silver petals unfurling to connect with the sides of the tree, looking for something to grasp on to.

“Fascinating,” Erovos marveled as his eyes grew wider, a shimmering pool of Light reflecting in his irises.

Me.

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