Chapter 34

34

DECLAN

T he Underworld is hell—literally.

The second I step through the portal, everything about my body rebels. My skin tingles, my chest tightens like I’m breathing through a straw, and every step I take feels like walking through quicksand. The air is thick, suffocating, and wrong in a way I can’t even put into words. It’s like being underwater for too long—my body just knows I don’t belong here, and it’s doing everything it can to make me feel it.

I push forward, ignoring the pain gnawing at my lungs, trying to keep my head clear. But the place doesn’t make it easy. The caverns twist and stretch, like the walls themselves are alive. I glance around, trying to get my bearings, but every turn looks the same. Dim light seeps out of cracks in the stone, casting long, eerie shadows that flicker and shift, making everything seem like it’s moving just out of the corner of my eye.

My heart pounds in my chest, every instinct screaming at me to get out of here. But I can’t. I won’t. Carolina is somewhere in this godforsaken place, and I’ll be damned if I leave her here. I just have to find her .

I don’t have to go far before the air in front of me ripples—like the shadows themselves are bending—and then, suddenly, two figures shimmer into existence, right in front of me.

What the hell?

Before I can even react, the figures—tall, gaunt, and definitely not human—grab me by the arms. They don’t say anything. They don’t need to. Their grip is iron, and no amount of struggling is going to break me free.

I try to fight them off, but it’s like hitting a brick wall. They don’t even flinch. My head’s spinning from the stifling air and the weight of whatever power holds me in place. They drag me through the twisting caverns, deeper and deeper into the Underworld, and I have no idea where they’re taking me, but every step feels like it’s pulling me further away from the world I know.

The chamber they take me to is massive; there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling— only a sea of darkness. The way it moves as if it’s alive almost distracts me from the two iron cages in the room.

I see Camila first, who looks petrified at my kneeling on the ground between the two demonic lackeys sent to retrieve me.

Carolina, on the other side of me, doesn’t look petrified; she looks destroyed and defeated, slumped against the bars, head tilted up at the top of the cage.

“Carolina!” I shout, my voice hoarse.

She looks over at me, her face filling with anguish. “Why did you come?” Her voice is a broken, hollow sound that fills me with my own sense of anguish.

“Luna said she couldn’t feel you anymore. That something terrible must have happened to you,” I tell her, my eyes darting across her face, looking for any sign of injury.

“Not yet,” a voice from further into the chamber says, but I can’t see where it came from until someone else steps forward from the darkness.

He’s tall—unnaturally tall—with a translucent face that seems almost too perfect, like he’s carved from marble. But his eyes…there’s nothing human in them. Shadows swirl around him, twisting and coiling like they’re part of him, extensions of his body.

“Ah,” he says smoothly, his voice like cold silk. “The mirror soul. I was wondering when you’d arrive.”

I yank against the two figures holding me, glaring at the shadowy figure. “Who the hell are you?” I demand, my voice rough, my body aching under the strain of this place.

He smiles, a cruel, mocking grin that makes my skin crawl. “I go by many names,” he says, his voice dripping with amusement. “The Dark One. The Shadow Lord. The Devourer of Souls. But you may call me…Mal.”

My gut twists. The power radiating off him, the way the shadows move around him—it’s enough to tell me that this guy is bad news.

“Let her go,” I say, my voice shaking with fury.

Mal laughs, low and chilling. “Oh, but where’s the fun in that?”

Before I can react, one of the shadows around him lashes out, wrapping around my neck. It’s cold—unnaturally cold—and it tightens in an instant, cutting off my air. I gasp, clawing at the dark tendrils, but my hands pass through them like smoke. I fall to my knees, choking, my vision going dark around the edges.

“You’ve made this far too easy, Detective,” Mal says, his voice calm, almost bored. “I knew muting Carolina’s familiar bond would get you down here. Mortals are so predictable. You just walked right in. How convenient.”

I struggle against the shadow wrapped around my throat, but it’s no use. It squeezes tighter, and I can feel myself slipping. I’m losing air fast. I can barely hear Carolina’s frantic voice from the cage. My chest burns, my mind racing. I can’t die here. Not like this. Not when she needs me.

“I’ll…do it,” I manage to choke out, my voice barely audible. “Whatever you want, whatever you brought me down here for. Just…let her go.”

Carolina’s shout echoes through the chamber. “No! Declan, don’t!”

Mal’s cold eyes shift to her, and his smile widens. “So noble, aren’t you?” His gaze flicks back to me. “You’ll complete the summoning then? You’ll give yourself up for her?”

I nod, or at least I try to. The shadow around my neck loosens just enough for me to breathe, but I can feel its icy grip still pressing against my skin, reminding me just how little control I have here.

“Only if you let her go,” I repeat, my voice firmer this time.

“No!” Carolina shouts, her voice raw. “Take me instead. I’ll offer my soul in exchange for Declan’s. You don’t need him.”

My heart slams against my ribs.

What the hell is she doing? She and Camila are the only chance at stopping him. She needs to stay alive.

“Carolina, no!” I yell, struggling again, but the shadow tightens around me once more, silencing me.

Mal tilts his head, considering her offer. “Your soul?” he murmurs, his voice full of intrigue. “Now that is tempting.”

“No!” I manage to shout, my throat burning from the strain. “Don’t listen to her. Take me.”

Mal seems to be enjoying this, his eyes gleaming with dark satisfaction. “Hmm,” he muses, his shadows swirling around him. “Perhaps…a compromise.”

Before I can react, the shadow around my neck releases me, and I collapse to the ground, gasping for air. But then, before I can even get to my feet, the shadows shift again. They move with lightning speed, wrapping around Carolina’s throat and lifting her from the cage.

For a moment, she becomes a literal shadow as her body seems to pass through the iron bars.

I scramble to my feet, panic surging through me as I watch her struggle, her face pale, her hands clawing at the dark tendrils wrapped around her neck.

“No!” I scream, but before I can do anything, Mal flicks his hand, and I’m suddenly yanked back—thrown into the same cage that Carolina had just occupied. The iron bars are shut, trapping me inside.

I grab the bars, shaking them violently, but they don’t budge. My heart is pounding in my chest, fear clawing at my insides as I watch Mal lift Carolina higher, his shadows holding her like a puppet.

“Let her go!” I shout, my voice cracking. “Take me! I’ll do whatever you want. Just let her go!”

Mal laughs, the sound echoing through the chamber. This whole exchange entertains him, like Carolina and I are just pieces on a chessboard he can move around however he wants.

Carolina’s eyes lock onto mine, wide with fear and desperation. But behind that fear, I see something else—something fierce. She’s not giving up. She’s fighting.

And so will I.

“Don’t touch her,” I growl, my voice low and dangerous.

Mal’s cold smile widens. “Oh, I plan on doing much more than that.”