Kaelan was gone.
Eira dug her fingers into the scorched earth where he'd stood, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The crater smelled of burnt ozone and something worse—rotten magic, like fruit left to ferment in the sun.
He couldn't be dead.
(But she'd seen the shadows tear him apart from the inside.)
(She'd felt it.)
A wet cough behind her.
Eira whirled, her starlight flaring—only to freeze.
Veyl's upper half dragged itself toward her, his entrails painting the grass black. The Shadow King's face was gray with death, but his eyes burned with manic urgency.
"The—Heart—" he gurgled. "Not—destroyed. Transferred."
Eira recoiled. "What?"
"You're the vessel now." His bloody hand seized her wrist, her mark pulsing under his touch. "They put a piece of themselves in your ancestor. It's been waiting—growing—inside your bloodline."
The voice in her head purred:
"He's not wrong."
Veyl's grip tightened. "Kaelan knew. That's why he—" A shudder. "The explosion wasn't to kill the Forgotten. It was to cage them. In you."
Then his eyes rolled back, and the last Shadow King went still.
Eira stumbled to her feet.
The wind carried laughter.
---
The Cracks in the Mirror
She ran until her lungs screamed.
The forest blurred around her, branches whipping at her arms like skeletal fingers. Every shadow seemed to whisper Kaelan's name. Every glint of moonlight looked like his smirk.
He sacrificed himself. For me.
(But that wasn't the worst part.)
(The worst part was the warmth spreading through her veins.)
Eira collapsed by a frozen stream, her reflection staring back from the ice.
Silver veins now threaded under her skin, glowing faintly. Her pupils had sharpened to slits.
And her teeth—
She gagged.
They were *pointed*.
"Don't fight it," crooned the voice—her voice, but not. "This was always your destiny."
Eira smashed the ice with her fist. "Get out of my head!"
Silence.
Then—
"Make me."
The First Hunt
The Forgotten found her at dusk.
Not the monstrous vyrth, but something worse: people.
Or what had once been people.
Their eyes were hollow, their skin stretched too tight over bones. They moved in perfect unison, circling her like wolves.
"Our queen,"they rasped. "You've come home."
Eira's starlight flickered—but this time, it hurt to summon, like dragging knives through her marrow.
The lead worshiper smiled. "The more you resist, the faster it consumes you."
She lunged.
Her magic didn't come as light this time.
It came as teeth.
Silver fangs erupted from her shadow, sinking into the worshiper's throat. His blood tasted like nectar and nightmares.
Eira wrenched back, horrified—
—but the voice sighed in pleasure.
"See how easy it is?"
---
The Bargain
By dawn, she'd killed them all.
Their bodies lay in a circle around her, their blood steaming in the snow. Her hands shook.
Her mouth watered.
"You can't outrun what you are,"whispered the voice. "But I can make it hurt less."
Eira squeezed her eyes shut. "What do you want?"
"Let me in. Just a little. I'll give you the power to avenge him."
(Kaelan's laugh echoed in her memory.)
(His blood on the wind.)
Eira opened her eyes.
"Fine."
The voice laughed—and the world twisted.
---
Teaser for Chapter 9 : The Crown of Teeth
Eira surrendered to the voice.
But the Forgotten weren't the only ones listening.
Eira's turning into something TERRIFYING. Is the voice truly evil? And is Kaelan REALLY gone? (I'm not answering that.)