Page 20 of King Elijah (The Zemiran Chronicles 2)

Eight

JANELLE AND AIDENsat quietly at a corner table inside Elijah’s chamber. Elijah paced the room, glancing over his shoulder once he stopped at his bed.

“How could this have happened?” Elijah asked, breaking the silence that weighed heavily between all three of them. He gave Janelle a sideways glance, watching her stir uncomfortably.

Her confession caused his stomach to tighten. None of what she shared was what he expected, though he didn’t know exactly what he thought he would learn in her dreams.

Janelle had been living in the country of Myloria, in a small town called Newick, where the witches first formed their coven. The city was right outside Heyerberg, where Elijah was born. She had been there with the Newick witches ever since she left the Eastland Forest.

The witches lived peacefully until a creature appeared and wreaked havoc on their people. The Shadow Creature, they called it. A monster that hid within the woods, blending in as the shadow of the trees until magic drew it closer to their village. This monster wasn’t like the creatures born of the land.

According to Janelle, the Sybil Curse crew used the Kroneon to open a portal, letting in a creature that didn’t belong in their world. It not only killed its victims, but it sucked their powers from them, growing stronger with each life it took.

Elijah looked down, seeing Janelle’s cheeks turn bright red as if shame had consumed her, or fear of what was to come.

“I’ve seen it, Elijah,” she said, meeting his eyes. “It is almost impossible to detect. That thing blends within the shadows of everything around it. All we know is that it solidifies once it has fed. The witches’ magic on that land has helped it become something more. Once that stolen power fades from the creature, it becomes a shadow once more until it’s ready to feed again. It constantly hides, never staying in the same place for too long, endlessly searching for magic to consume.”

“With a land of sorcerers,” Elijah started, “how have they not been able to kill it by now?”

Elijah let his own power flare to life inside him, just a little, taking comfort in the warm curl of it in his chest. Surely there was some mistake, some error on the part of the sorcerers. No creature was powerful enough to escape capture for that long. How would he be able to protect his people if it traveled to Zemira?

“Sure, the people are strong,” she said. “Most of them are Newick witches, wielding their power within every strike of their sword. However, in the last few weeks, we have seen that they’re not strong enough. Too many have died at the hands of the Shadow Creature; without your men, your soldiers, they fear their entire kind will be wiped out and—”

“It is only a matter of time before it comes here next,” Elijah finished. “For the magic of our land.”

She nodded. “The man you saw in my dream is Kieran—the coven leader. He wants your soldiers to help him, and he knows you’ll not give them up without a fight. If you’re dead, he can take your throne and command your battalion to follow him. With enough of your men, they have a fighting chance of killing that . . . thing.” She glanced at Aiden. “Kieran will sacrifice every Elven warrior before sending his own. He’s lost too many to that creature. They won’t survive without yours.”

Elijah flicked his tongue. “He cannot simply take my throne or my warriors upon my death.”

“Sure, he can,” Aiden said. “You have no heir, Elijah. The law states that the people choose their king upon your death if you cannot pass it down to your blood or have someone else in the line of succession. If Kieran can prove he will protect your people, why would he not seize that opportunity?”

“Sending an assassin instead of doing it himself protects him from treason or retaliation,” Janelle added. “I cannot be traced back to him. No one would believe elves and fairies live among the Newick witches.” She glanced at her brother. “He will use whatever power he has to send that monster back to where it came from or destroy it; he doesn’t care who dies in the crossfire.”

Elijah thought of the pirate crew and their newest crew member, Nola. He had entrusted the Kroneon to her and she now held the ability to send that creature back to its own world. He would need her help. It wasn’t just the Zemirans who were in danger; it was also the crew of the Sybil Curse—his other family.

“You seem so certain it was the crew who did this,” Aiden said. “We are not blind to the fact that creatures from other worlds have crossed over into ours throughout the centuries on this planet. That shadow could have been here for who knows how long.”

“Their Oracle saw it happen three weeks ago,” she said. “It was then that Kieran realized the Kroneon had never been destroyed after Matthias died. The Oracle saw the portal open and the crew jumping out of it, leaving the Realm of Shadows. The crew thought they had repelled the creature after it attacked them, but it fooled them by attaching itself to the shadow of the ship that waited on the other side, passing through undetected and seeking out easier prey. The pirates don’t even know they did it. Regardless of it being an accident, Kieran will not forgive what they have done. Too many of his people have died in the last few weeks, and who knows how many more since I’ve been here.”

“The Newick witches have Oracles?” Elijah said. A bitter frown pulled at his lips. Even he realized his words were far from the point.

Elijah pressed back the guilt sweeping over him as his shame was drowned out by the nerves rattling violently inside his stomach. He rotated his shoulders backward, trying to ease the tension built up since he saw inside her dream.

“I should not have given Nola the Kroneon. I was a fool.”

Aiden stood from the chair. “You couldn’t have known—”

“No?” Elijah clicked his tongue. “I have never trusted anyone but myself my entire life. But no, I hand off the most powerful weapon on this planet to a siren and a crew of unpredictable pirates.” His face hardened. “Now a country of witches holds me responsible for the deaths of their people and for ripping them from their power.” Elijah turned and folded his arms across his chest. “If that happened to my people, I probably would have sent an assassin to those responsible too.” He ran his hand through his dark hair. “It is only a matter of time before that creature I saw in Janelle’s dream comes for us on our own soil once it has finished with Myloria.”

The Kroneon was a delicate and powerful weapon he foolishly let a crew of pirates sail out to the sea with, instead of returning it to the rightful creators—the Newick witches. Every single drop of blood shed by the shadow was his fault.

Elijah traced his fingers along the edges of his jaw, thinking about everything the elf woman had told him so far. Being kept in the dark the last three weeks since the creature arrived at Myloria had agitated him. It wasn’t his country, but the honorable thing would have been to send out a warning to neighboring lands. Janelle explained that once the witches learned about the creature, the Newick coven used their magic to draw it toward their land, hoping they could kill it themselves before it wreaked havoc on the surrounding towns.

By then, it was too late. It stayed, leaving bodies in the streets each night, and hiding within their forests, just waiting for someone to wander out alone.

They foolishly gave that creature a taste of their power, and now it needed more.

“Janelle,” he called. Her eyes turned up to look back at him. “Why did you agree to do this? Kill me, that is? Those are not your people. What does Kieran have on you?”

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