Page 4 of Bright Soul

My forehead was level with her mouth, which leaked the carrion smell of her last meal. “Any last words, Phaeron?” Her words boomed, her presence all-consuming.

She returned my voice to me and I wasted little of my limited time left. “You are a foul, narcissistic shade. To tell me ofyoursuffering, as if you have no concept of the damage you have wrought. I wish you had agonized further, for you deserve so much worse. You would be doing innumerable worlds a favor by feasting upon the last of yourself and leaving the rest of us in peace—”

Myuna made a pinching noise, suffocating the last of my words before I could utter them. She seemed to roll her eyes while I coughed off the choking sensation. “I should have known better,” she remarked.

She unsheathed one of my swords between three of her fingers, drawing it out to inspect it. They’d been sheathed in a hurry, so the weapon was dirty. Of course, she had to lick her way up the side, cleaning off the dimensional language etched into it. I began to sweat as the moments passed. If she was going to consume me, she would’ve gone ahead and done it. Her intentions had to be far more sinister.

“Hmm, half of Soiluire, half of this planet. You must value this weapon very much,” she stated. “It is fortunate you have two. One for each of my most loyal servants.”

She slid my weapon out of sight, toward Garroway. I stared at her in defiance, unable to do more when caught in the trap of her light and will. So it would be death by a thousand cuts, with the first bleeding wound from one of my last physical links to my home planet.

Myuna wove magic between her fingers just like she’d made threads formed of light. She wrapped me in a potent spell thatsank into my mind. This, I could still fight with a jerk of my head. I closed my eyes tight against her intrusion until she was skimming only the surface of my thoughts and memories.

“So bitter,” she whispered, no more than another voice in my head. I saw what she did, as it played over the back of my eyelids in vivid detail.

She watched me wake in Moongrove Library, disoriented and slow.

I pushed her away with effort, but her will returned. She combed through the faces of the humans I’d grown fond of and the knowledge of who they were. We pushed and pulled our way closer to my memories of Cress, and I heard her utter an “ahh” when she finally won this contest of wills and beheld my bright soul in all her glory.

Cress was unique amongst librarian witches, with a soul that haloed her in a glow. She dazzled me constantly with the power of her presence. I fought and twisted to jerk the memories of her out of Myuna’s sight, but she quickly learned she was looking at my True Light, that it was my duty to protect and cherish Cress, to make her my mate.

The goddess viewed her from all the angles she could wring from me. She saw the surprised and uncertain Cress who first freed me from Moongrove Library. The heartbroken Cress who’d caught me standing over her friend’s body. Tired Cress, angry Cress, silly Cress…coy Cress, her lips around my cock as I rode the feverish lust induced by a manipulative cupid.

I shoved Myuna back again, feeling further violated by the way she lingered on that memory. She obliged by switching to rest on a moment before a mirror, my fangs pressed to Cress’s neck. So close to claiming her as my mate…yet the awful hunger born of the goddess had been there, urging me to consume some of her radiant soul instead and taste its sweetness.

Myuna laughed, releasing her hold on my memories. “You have grown weak, Phaeron. Leaving your mate without your protection or even your mark.”

My eyes opened. Little had changed around us, except that I was drenched in sweat under my armor. My chest heaved for air and leaked dribbles of blood.

Myuna set me down from the bubble of light. The only reason I didn’t collapse was her control, which steered me to stand back in my original spot.

“Endaeron,” she breathed, a toothless grin spanning the empty void of her mouth. “Go forth from this place and bring me a purple-haired human named Cressida Rollins Darkmore. Her life and soul are mine to take.”

Garroway bowed, but under his breath, he muttered, “Heragain?”

3

BEN

We weren’t the only group that’d come to this hospital upon being stranded in Cerris City. The waiting room for emergencies was overflowing when we arrived, alive with energy in a city that’d seemed dead on the outside. Luckily—if you could count anything that’d happened to us lately as “lucky”—Lucas had been jumped to the top of the list of priorities for the medical staff.

I sat in a quiet room with him on the third floor. My brother was hooked to several machines, so pale and still in the sea of white sheets he’d been buried in. They’d just allowed me in the room after a doctor had cast a hurried set of spells before rushing off to the next patient.

An equally harried nurse had told me not to touch anything, then left me with Lucas. I’d withstood the silence afterward for only a few minutes before jittering in place, all my excess energy and worries spilling over. I could barely look at the state the Hungering Darkness had left my brother’s body in, but I had to.The sight had to be permanent in my mind. This was the evil we faced…the evil I hadn’t protected him from.

I sat alone for a while, until there was a tentative knock on the door, followed by Cress peeking inside. I gestured for her to come in, sweeping her into a hug and a quick, delicate kiss. It was a relief to have her here, to touch anam cara marks with her and feel the spark of wholeness between us. She wore a couple butterfly bandages over the cuts on her face and had the bulk of wrapped wounds peeking through her torn sleeves.

“My mom told me where they put Lucas. Is he…?” She bit her lip, looking over at the bed.

“The doctor called it a magically-induced coma,” I answered quietly, weighed down by worry. “There’s not enough healing magic to go around for everyone right now, so they… He’s on life support.”

“Oh, Ben, I’m sorry.” She gave me a squeeze around my middle, still standing in the circle of my arms.

I tried to give one of my usual carefree shrugs. “Hey, it could be worse, right? The Hunger could’ve gobbled him up…or…” I wracked my brain for how this moment could be worse. It was like having my brother alive but unresponsive and sickly was somehow more severe than if he’d simply died.

There was no guarantee he’d wake up or if he’d be the same person after carrying the Hungering Darkness within him for months. The brother I knew may be long gone.

I choked on the burning sensation of tears. Out of long habit, they lingered at the corners of my vision half formed. Cress gathered me closer all the same, holding the back of my neck. We stayed that way for a few long minutes. I was glad to have her with me, warm and whole. She smelled of antiseptic and the musky staleness of the tunnel we’d come through. At some point, she’d scrubbed the blood from her clothes and skin…something I still needed to do.

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