30. Finn

THIRTY

Finn

W e are almost at the castle. Energy and power swells behind me. The Shadowkind and, behind them, the Gloomweavers, who of course joined us without a second thought.

The chance to fight back against Eldrion and allow their most base and disgusting desires to surge to the surface?

They were practically salivating when I offered it to them.

"There is only one condition," I warned them as we left their putrid settlement to the east of Luminael and began our march on Eldrion's city. "No Shadowkind is to be harmed. If you see a Shadowkind fae, you leave them be. Or better yet, you bow and curtsey like the good boys and girls you are."

The Gloomweavers did not appreciate my tone, but they bit their tongues and did not object. The promise of blood is too much for them.

"And what of the Sunborne?" one asked, saliva dribbling onto his bulbous chin.

"Do what you like with them but remember they are powerful. You should use your strength and the element of surprise if you want to overpower them."

"They're powerful," Yarrow says now as we approach the city, "but they're out of practice, Finn. They haven't fought or really used their magic in centuries. They've been sitting pretty, content to let Eldrion fight their battles for them."

"Then let's hope they have forgotten how to fight." I raise my eyebrows at him and grin. He bears the same swirling tattoos of smoke on his skin, but there are fewer of them. He is bigger than me, possibly stronger, but my markings make it clear I am their leader.

And if there is one thing Shadowkind are, it is loyal to one another.

We are not elves or Leafborne. We do not double-cross those who are our kin.

Closing my eyes, I think of Alana.

I cannot wait for her to see what I have built for her. The beauty of the army I am going to lay at her feet. I cannot wait for her to taste the power I am offering her. Because I know she wants it.

Deep down in the basement of her soul, there is a darkness that longs to be in control. She has never had that. I saw it when I let her bind my wings and take me the way she did – the flicker of arousal in her eyes, the joy she felt at being the one to have complete power over another.

I will draw that out of her once more. I will make her see that, by my side, she can have everything she ever dreamed of. I have already killed all those who disrespected her. The Leafborne who pretended to allow her to be one of them but who secretly hated her. Made her feel unworthy. Not good enough.

I will give her the gift of knowing herself, and owning herself. I will set her free, and she will love me for it.

In that moment, I realise that I love her more than I thought I did.

Because now, with every decision I make, I am thinking of her.

In the beginning, I intended to use her. I built up my walls and I delighted in how easily I tricked her into trusting me. But as she trusted me, and I saw who she really was, and how alike we really are, I realised she was the woman I was destined to be with.

My Queen of Shadows.

A smile parts my lips, and Yarrow asks what I'm so happy about.

"The future, my friend. I am happy about the future." I clap his shoulder and he puts his arm around me. His wings beat out behind him, and the look on his face tells me it makes him feel just as jubilant as it makes me feel to finally be able to fly. To be what we were always meant to be.

We have reached the river. I would prefer to be travelling by air, but for stealth, we decided to travel by foot.

At the front of the group, one of the Gloomweavers I asked to scout for us turns and runs back in our direction. He is waving his hands in the air.

"What is it?" My eyes flash and my body coils, ready to fight.

"The river," he pants.

"The river? We're not on a fishing expedition, boy." I push past him and stretch out my wings. I reach the river in seconds, closing the space between the rest of the group and the riverbank.

When I look down, I realise what has made him panic; the water is moving faster than I've ever seen it, and it is so high it looks as though it's about to burst the banks themselves.

Then I see something else.

An arm.

A foot.

A face.

Wings. Tattered, pale wings.

Shadowkind wings.

Yarrow is at my side. He sees what I have seen and he lets out an almighty cry that rattles the trees on either side of the water. "Who did this? Eldrion? He did this?"

I look towards the castle. "This was water magic," I mutter. "This was her."

"Who?"

I meet Yarrow's eyes. "Alana."

Yarrow's voice rises in volume as he draws up in front of me. "Your empath did this? She slaughtered our kind?"

My thoughts are tumbling over one another. They make no sense. None of it makes sense. She wouldn't do that. Yes, she has darkness inside her, but it has not yet been coaxed free, and when it was... this was not supposed to happen.

She was supposed to be by my side, not opposite me in battle.

I jump into the water. It rages around my thighs, almost knocking me over, and claws at my wings with its strength. I start to drag the Shadowkind fae from the river.

Yarrow stares down at me.

The others have gathered on the bank, their eyes glowing in the dim evening light.

The Gloomweavers stare, almost bored, completely unaffected. But as I continue to rescue the dead bodies of our kin from the racing water, Yarrow jumps down to help me.

The others do too.

We stand there, as the debris of the city slams into us, trying to knock us from our feet, trying to drag us away with it, and we haul them from their murky fates.

The last body I throw over my shoulder and carry to dry land feels lighter than most of the others. A female.

I lower her to the ground. She has dark hair. It has fallen over her face. I push it free, my heart hammering because I already know who I will see in front of me.

"Briony . . ."

Her eyes are wide and glassy, staring up at the sky. Unblinking.

Her clothes are sodden. Her skin pale.

I lower myself to my knees and try to listen for any signs of breath, even though I know it is futile. Beneath her, her pale wings look almost invisible now they are drenched with river water.

"She's dead, Finn. They are all dead." Yarrow puts a firm hand on my shoulder. I stand up and pace away from the body of my dead friend. I roar and jump up into the sky. Shadows swirl around me. Storm clouds gather. Like the ones over the castle, only darker and more menacing now.

When I return to the ground, I instruct the Gloomweavers to make a funeral pyre and lift the dead Shadowkind onto it. "All except her." I lift Briony into my arms.

Yarrow frowns at me.

"She is a gift. For Alana Leafborne."