Page 19 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood
This is for Briar. Hold on to that.
I needed time to rescue Briar. Time to seek vengeance. Time to protect what remained of my family and my kingdom.
The humming of the council members continued as the vibrations from the magic intensified.
My gaze darted upward again in time to see the third shadow shoot toward me. Light and darkness exploded in front of my eyes as the icy tendril pierced my right shoulder. My wings flared and twitched as agony splintered through me.
Another shadow punctured my temple and drove through my mind, igniting memories and thoughts with blinding clarity.Briar. I called her face in my memory again and held on tight. I focused on the taste of her lips and the heat of her body against mine, gripping the orb tighter and leaning forward to brace myself, and then a fourth, fifth, and sixth shadow sank into my spine, my stomach, and my skull.
A strained grunt escaped my lips, but my jaw remained shut. Sweat poured down my brow. Pain saturated my consciousness and swallowed me whole. Not one point on my body was free of this torment. Screams of agony sealed in my throat and chest, trying to rip out of me, and yet depriving me of the very breath I needed.
A seventh shadow tendril appeared in front of my face, then speared me through the eyes. Heat, cold, and darkness exploded over my face and through my mind. Everything vanished, and I fell into the void.
Chapter Six
Vad
The orb ignited within my grasp.
The skin on my hands melted, and the frigid coldness of the shadow magic pressed even harder upon me. My lungs stopped working, and the ground spun. I closed my eyes and tried to keep Briar’s face foremost in my mind. She was the final vision I wanted to see before death.
The dull purple light of the orbed flashed through my eyelids, blocking her face from me and reminding me that I was a failure to my father, my sister, Briar, and my kingdom. When I opened my eyes, crimson water was seeping over the orb and turning pink.
The message was clear.
I had failed.
I’d marred my family’s entire legacy.
No.No. It couldn’t end like this. I refused to give up when the threats against Briar, my family, and kingdom were so strong.
The fire beneath my hands ebbed, and icy agony spiraled through my veins and drove away every trace of warmth. Themagic wanted to suck me away from consciousness and drag me the rest of the way into the bottomless depths.
No. I was doing this to gain more time, not less. Death wasn’t a consequence I was willing to face. I had to survive and be as powerful as possible; otherwise, this was all pointless.
I gripped the now frozen orb tighter, barely feeling it in my palms. Shadows poured into me, and my own shadows couldn’t fight them off any longer. My heart slowed, and the shadows coiled around me, making me feel as if I were suffocating. I grunted as my knees hit the ground with a painfulbang. My fingers slipped, almost releasing the orb, and I screamed as I dug my fingertips back into the stone. The urge to let go and vanish into the darkness pressed against me.
Images blazed through my mind: Father’s iron grip on my shoulder as he demanded I show strength, the set of his jaw when he saw Mother’s body placed in the marble crypt with her hands folded over the bouquet of death blossoms on her chest, the first night Elara awoke screaming, clutching her chest and shaking with terror when the illness set upon her, and Briar—my Briar—grinning and covered in blackberry trifle and daring me to join in the fun.
The last memory made my heart skip a beat.
Briar made all this suffering worth it, and I clung to that memory. Every image of the people I loved strengthened me, even as the shadows sought to rend me apart and the council’s voices climbed to a deep booming rhythm.
Get through this. Fecking void, you have to get through this.And yet, the orb drank from my life force greedily, and the void promised peace and safety. It’d be so easy to let go, but what would that mean for Briar?
I couldn’t die, not until I saw she was safe with my own two eyes.
I wouldn’t give up or be manipulated into losing. I wouldn’t be owned. I wouldn't accept any queen but one, and I would carry her from that forsaken prison myself.
The shadows spiraled around me, and the frigid agony continued to build. I clenched my hands and jaw even tighter, biting down so hard my own teeth might crack. And suddenly, torment, ice, and darkness surrounded me.
My chest seized, and I screamed internally, yetI refuse to die!
Deep within my soul, something clicked into place. My lungs expanded and filled with clean air once more, and my shadows eased, as if both my shadows and the source recognized one another and were at peace. The agony ebbed, and I opened my eyes to find that my sight had returned.
A sob built in my chest as my shadows surrounded me. They didn’t grip me from within as tightly as they had just a day before. The light within the orb had gone from dull to rich deep purple and thrummed more evenly.
I swallowed the cry. This was the miracle I’d asked for, and I wouldn’t complain. However, the return of the kingdom’s magic wouldn’t last long. Time was ticking once more.
