Lux, Val doesn’t need to know—
Read it, Lia. I felt a headache form between my eyes as my hands balled into tight fists against my legs. I’m done with hiding things.
Lia continued reading, her voice trembling. “‘It was the cadaver of a Yorian city guard, apparently killed by an escaping prisoner from the dungeons. The guard, once named Jack, had been killed by a single, self-inflicted cut across his throat. A rather boring affair under normal circumstances, but these are no normal circumstances. This man has Shadelines! Beautiful black marks, originating from the center of his chest. I have barely earned my own Shadelines after years of research and practice, yet some unknown prisoner was able to leave such marks from what appears to be a single point of contact! Incredible! King Yorrell has assured me that the man will be found and collected so that I may soon speak with him. I just pray that Master Gullen’s abilities have not grown weak with disuse before their meeting.’”
I stood stock-still as I fought down my rage. I wasn’t just a prisoner to be dealt with, I was some sort of experiment to them. Everything that’s happened to me, and to Lia, and Val, and everybody else...it’s been in the name of some project. It’s been Virram at every turn. Sacrificing life after life, just so...what? They could watch me? So they could see my power?
“Lux,” Val asked softly, “what do you know of this?” She turned and leaned her elbows on the display case behind me, watching me carefully.
“Nothing!” I snapped, hurt by the accusation I felt in the question. “I don’t know what the fuck any of this is talking about, with Shadebinders and essences.” I spun towards her and jabbed a finger in her direction. “This is all on the shoulders of your King! Your King, and you.”
“Lux, you know that’s not true!” Lia cried from across the room, jogging towards us. “Val had nothing to do with this, and you know it!”
“Do I? Every time I think I finally have this figured out, there’s another layer of shit hidden underneath!” I poked Val roughly in the chest. “So, was it all a lie? Is this where I find out you were leading me here to Shadowmine this whole time? That you’re in on this whole plot after all?”
“I swear to you, I have no knowledge of this place or of Virram’s plans,” she answered calmly. “I am not accusing you of anything, Lux. We have all been pawns in Virram’s game. But there are many things you have yet to tell me.”
“I’m not hiding anything!” I shouted in her face. “I only found out about this fucking cult when we found the journals, so how could I know anything about it?!”
She took a step back and held up her hands in a slow, calming motion. “I just want to understand. You knew how to stop the Serathids, and you control powers I have never seen. Is this somehow related to the Shade—”
“I DON’T KNOW!” I bellowed, slamming my fist on the display case between us. There was a sharp pain in my hand as the glass shattered, and I looked down to find rivulets of blood dripping from my fingers onto an old shortsword amidst the broken glass.
A wave of golden energy swarmed around me as Lia hugged me tightly from behind. “Lux, please! Don’t let your anger take control again. We’re safe here, there’s no danger!”
Her words fell on deaf ears. The entire world froze in place around me as I reached down to pluck the rusted blade from the cabinet. No. This is...no. No. I wiped a splatter of blood from the base of the sword and held it up to my eye. My blacksmith’s stamp. And Ashedown’s, too. The sigil I had practiced a thousand times adorned the metal just above the hilt, immediately adjacent to a similar symbol I had seen on the forge’s sign every day for five years. This is the first sword I ever forged. My body went completely numb as I stared at the impossible blade. This is from Alderea.
HE WILL PAY FOR WHAT HE’S DONE.
Lia yelped as the voice boomed through my head, instantly dissociating my mind from my body. No, I thought feebly. This can’t be right.
HE TOOK HER AWAY FROM YOU.
My vision faded to shades of gray as the thought consumed me. Alderea is still out there. Amaya is still waiting for me. Because of him. I felt my body being tugged in multiple directions, but the sensation was far away, as if it were happening to someone else.
WE WILL HAVE JUSTICE.
The dark presence consumed my mind, routing me from the hidden bastion in my head. My body screamed with emptiness as Lia’s presence was ripped away from me, but the sensation lasted only a single moment; the burning embrace of the void filled the empty part of me and made me whole again. I was flooded with an overwhelming wave of power, and I reached out willingly into the darkness. The room turned black as my stomach flipped, and I disappeared from the physical world.
TONIGHT, WE SHALL INFLICT OUR RETRIBUTION.
***
22. RETRIBUTION
The darkness whipped past me as I spun headlong through the void, every inch of my body ablaze with a familiar, disassembling pain. I paid it no mind. My consciousness held a single, immutable focus that guided me through the unending blackness.
VIRRAM YORRELL WILL SUFFER.
I felt a sudden softness beneath my outstretched hand, and I grasped it tightly to anchor myself against the storm. There was a final roar of the gale around me as I slipped out of the void, and then the assault on my senses was gone, replaced with the gentle sensations of the physical world: warm lamplight glowing in dark, plush carpet against my hand, and the sounds of gentle music, clattering silverware, and casual conversation somewhere nearby. I rose from my kneeling position and found myself standing
