Page 105 of Darkness and Deceit
He rises from the throne, not like a man, but like the night itself straightening to its full height. Shadows cling to him. They don’t move independently. Theymove with him.Like a cloak. Like limbs. Like a crown he never had to earn.
I stumble backward, heart hammering in my throat. “How long have you been watching me?”
“Long enough,” he says, his voice smooth and low. “Long enough to know your grief is real. And your power—” his gaze flicks to the flickering magic at my fingertips “—is still becoming.”
Still becoming.
Like I’m not finished.
Magic stirs in my chest. It’s barely a spark. But enough to burn. I don’t care how weak I am. I will tear him apart if he brought me here, if he hurt Tony, if he?—
“That won’t be necessary,” he says, with the ease of someone commenting on the weather. “If I meant you harm, you’d know it already.”
I want to scream at him. But the grief is choking me. So instead, I spit, “Then why the hell am I here?”
His eyes flick to the broken glasses in my hands. He doesn’t say anything, but his silence cuts deeper than any answer.
I shake, both fury and grief warring inside me. I want to hit him. Burn him. Destroy something.
“You dragged me here for what?” I snap. “A performance review? To gloat? To tell me how I broke everything, again?”
The shadows part for him, theybowfor him, curling around his ankles, licking up his arms, reverently.
“I brought you here,” he says, voice low, “because the academy is dying. The Balance is already broken. And you… you are the only thing left worth saving.”
I laugh bitterly. “Bullshit.”
“I don’t lie,” he says simply. “Your father taught me that.”
The words hit like a slap.
I freeze. My heart flatlines for a beat. “My father? You’re lying.”
But he’s not smiling now. He looks at me like I’m something he’s been waiting to unfold.
“He said you’d fight it at first. That you’d be reckless. Emotional.” His eyes scan me, not unkindly. “But you’d come around.”
“Don’t you fucking dare talk about him—” My voice breaks on the last word.
Magnus steps closer. “He said you’d be the key to everything.”
I flinch.
He reaches for me, his fingers gently brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I don’t move. I can’t. My whole body is stone.
“I’ve been waiting a long time,” he murmurs. “And now you’re here. Stronger than they ever meant you to be.”
His violet gaze pins me in place. “And I’m going to show you exactly what they tried to keep from you.”
He lifts his hand—and the world shifts.
Behind him, the shadows split open like a wound.
And there—suspended in the dark like a marionette—is Tony.
His body hangs limp. His eyes are open.
Empty.
