And all that sorrow
Was meant to take me here
“Sarah,” Sean murmured, gazing into Sarah’s face as if he’d seen the very first dawn on Earth. She was beside him at once and they held each other, rejoicing in each other, not quite believing they were both alive.
The King of Shadows was burning, burning, still and rigid, his limbs twisted and tight as he leaked Blackwater into the soil. He was silent through it all.
Neither of them asked themselves what was going to happen next – if the sky would fall, if the Shadow World would collapse on itself as its King died. They were alive, they were together; they wanted this instant to last an eternity.
“How are you alive?” Sarah asked. “I saw you on the ground, dead. You were bleeding.”
“I . . . I don’t know, but I am. And I should ask you the same question! How are you here?” His heart raced. His fingers traced her skin, refusing to believe she was so close. “Elodie. Was it her . . . she poisoned you!” Sean said in her ear, not wanting to release her from his embrace.
“She had to! The King of Shadows took my body. I was him, Sean! The power . . . it was incredible. And terrible at the same time. I was lost, I was dead. Nicholas and Elodie thought it was the only way to kill him . . . to kill me when he was inside me. He had begun to transform my body . . . into something stronger. But he wasn’t quite done. That’s why Elodie kissed me.”
“Elodie knew about Nicholas’ plan?”
Sarah nodded. “She knew everything. And then the King of Shadows took over, he was about to kill Elodie . . . but Lucrezia Vendramin made me remember. She told me who I was.”
Sean took Sarah by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Lucrezia?”
“She spoke to me. Twice. I don’t know how, but it was her. The first time the King of Shadows was too strong, I couldn’t resist . . . but the second time I held on to myself. Lucrezia’s words saved me. And Elodie too, in a way. She poisoned me to the extent that I was knocked out, but she didn’t kill me.”
“Thank God. Thank God,” Sean whispered and held her tighter. Then he released her again and looked deeply into her eyes. Her lips weren’t black any more, but they were still dark; the poison still swam through her blood.
“What about the others? Elodie? Niall? Alvise and Mi—”
Her words were obliterated by a low, roaring sound coming from the sky. They looked up, expecting to see more Surari, or the King of Shadows resurrecting for a second time, but it was a plane. A plane flying in the ancient sky of the Shadow World.
Sean and Sarah watched in astonishment as shapes and shadows began to appear around them, flickering and dissolving and then reappearing – pavements, and cars and houses.
“It’s beginning,” Nicholas said. He had been standing still and silent throughout his father’s agony and Sean’s and Sarah’s embrace.
“What’s beginning?” Sarah whispered, looking from left and right. The ground she was standing on was shifting between grass and a wooden floor. Beside her, the shadow of a table. A few yards away, a lamp post and a shop window materialised . . .
“Do you not remember, Sarah?” Nicholas answered. “My father told me when he was inside your body that the King of Shadows exists to keep the worlds apart. Niall and Winter’s discovery in your grandmother’s library was true. Since the splitting of the worlds, any King of Shadows is bound to the Shadow World, keeping all in it at bay. Since he was a chimera, he was used to changing shapes, but the only way to truly exit the Shadow World was if he could take on a powerful human’s body. That’s why he needed you. The only way he could get out was by inhabiting your body, the most powerful Dreamer’s body. He wanted to take over the world, both worlds. But without a King of Shadows bound to the shadows, the worlds will fuse. And it’s happening now.”
Silhouettes of men, women and children were appearing all around them, and they were looking up, falling on the ground, raising their arms over their heads in alarm.
“What are they doing?” Sarah asked.
“I think they can see the worlds melding together. They can see . . . things. Surari.”
“How do we stop this, Nicholas? How?” Sean shouted, and then clutched his side, the effort making him double over in pain. Sarah shivered. In the human world, were they seeing trees sprout from the streets, and streams flow out of doors and windows? What creatures were seeping through already? How many people were losing their lives as the Surari materialised?
“There is a way to stop it,” Sarah said, her eyes never leaving Nicholas’ face.
Sean’s eyes darted between Sarah and Nicholas. “How? How, Sarah? Nicholas? How do you stop this?”
“It’s up to me,” Nicholas said. In his voice, there was despair so deep that even Sean’s heart tightened. “I need take my father’s place. It’s up to me to be the King of Shadows now.” Then he gazed at Sarah, his black eyes never leaving hers. He buried his hand into his pocket and took out a white, opaque stone. Something scarlet was whirling inside.
Suspicion wormed its way into Sean’s mind. He didn’t trust Nicholas; he never would. “What is that?” he said, putting a protective arm around Sarah.
And then he saw the way Nicholas was gazing into Sarah’s eyes, and his heart began to pound.
Sarah’s gaze left Nicholas’. It locked onto the stone and could not leave. “The King of Shadows needs a bride,” she whispered.
“Sarah,” Sean called, but Sarah didn’t reply or look at him.
She extended her hand and took Nicholas’, and then they rose together. The open chasm lay before them, black smoke rising from it, heat rippling the air like a mirage.
“No!” Sean cried and leapt towards them, the wound on his side spurting scarlet once more – but Sarah’s eyes sparked green. The Midnight gaze paralysed him, and he fell on his knees, the green blade cutting between his eyes. “Don’t do it, Sarah! No!” he screamed, trying to get up, but Sarah’s gaze kept him pinned to the ground.
“Sean. Together, Nicholas and I can stop all this. And I can make amends for my family . . . You saw what I was becoming, didn’t you? The way I killed Tancredi. The King of Shadows. Now it’s my chance to make everything all right. I’m sorry . . .”
“Sarah, please.” Sean was now sobbing without restraint, like an abandoned child. “Don’t go. Don’t go into the shadows. Don’t go.”
“Listen to me, and remember my words.” Her eyes softened, fingers reaching out for him. “I’ll love you forever.”
Another burst of the Midnight gaze, and Sean’s muscles gave up. He lay on the ground, his head turned to helplessly watch Sarah and Nicholas walk towards the abyss.
Sarah gazed into the black ravine. It was so dark, mist and smoke seeping off it like serpents scurrying in for a kill. She could hear Sean screaming, but he was so far away, like another life, like he was calling somebody else. She took a step, holding on to Nicholas’ hand. The blackness was open in front of her. A memory hit her – dancing leaves, a black-eyed boy about to kiss her – the first dream she’d ever had of Nicholas. The sweetness he had evoked in her, and then the revulsion, and finally, acceptance of what she felt was her destiny. All that happened had led her here, to the final sacrifice. She’d be the bride of Shadows – not through Nicholas’ deceit or through his mind-moulding, but by her own choice.
Sarah caught a glimpse of Nicholas’ face as they stood before the chasm. His eyes were full of despair, and at the same time, determination. There was no way back.
They stepped forward, clinging to each other’s hands.
“No! Sarah!” Sean’s screams were further and further away as she left her old life behind.
Sarah closed her eyes as she took a step forward, and readied herself to fall . . .
But she didn’t. Something light and fast sent her tumbling backwards, her back hitting the ground painfully. The fall knocked the breath out of her lungs, and the pain in her bones made her see stars. When she recovered herself and managed to sit up, she saw that someone else was standing with Nicholas.
Someone dark-haired and amber-skinned, an orange light all around her.
Martyna.