Page 94 of Crown of Ashes and Desire

Sarp materialized from the darkness. His eyes were narrowed to golden slits—a sign of concern I’d learned to read.

“Perimeter secured,” he reported. “No sign of gold troops. But there’s evidence of recent combat.” He gestured to the scorched earth. “Less than an hour old.”

The dread in my gut crystallized into certainty. “A trap,” I breathed.

Ada stepped forward before I could stop her, her light flaring while she extended her senses. The glow beneath her skin intensified, illuminating the fine bones of her face.

“There’s residual magic everywhere,” she murmured. Her eyes widened suddenly. “And something…corrupt.”

“Fall back,” I ordered, my throat tightening. “Now.”

“Wait—” Ada pointed toward a clearing ahead.

The world exploded in golden light.

The blast came without warning—a sun igniting at ground level. Trees disintegrated. Earth erupted in geysers of dirt and stone. The screams of my shadow warriors cut through the roar of destruction, then silenced with sickening abruptness.

Time slowed. I lunged toward Ada, shadows pouring from my hands, my heart, my very being. They coalesced into a shield around us both a heartbeat before the blast reached us.

The impact hurled us backward. My back slammed against an ancient oak, ribs cracking. Pain exploded along my spine. Ada crashed against my chest, her weight driving out what little air remained from my lungs. My shadows cushioned us, but still the world spun.

Dust filled my nose and mouth. For a moment, all I could do was cling to Ada, her heartbeat frantic against mine, her light pulsing in panicked bursts beneath her skin.

When my vision cleared, the forest had transformed into a hellscape. Burning trees stood as tortured sentinels. Cratered earth. The bodies of my warriors—my friends—strewn across scorched ground, their shadows wisping away as death claimed them.

Through the heat haze and smoke, a figure approached, gleaming with vengeful radiance.

Midas.

He'd changed. This creature striding through destruction moved with predatory grace, each step leaving molten footprints. His armor had fused with his flesh, becoming a second skin of living metal. Veins of gold pulsed beneath the surface in parasitic networks.

His eyes froze my blood—burning with unhinged glow, pupils contracted to pinpoints within irises of molten gold. No humanity remained in that gaze—only hunger, madness, and power gone feral.

"Shadow Lord!" he called, his voice carrying a metallic undertone that raised goosebumps. "So predictable! So easily manipulated!" Golden light cascaded from his fingertips in streams of liquid radiance. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice your spies?"

Beside me, Ada stiffened. Through our binding, I felt her fear—not for herself, but for us.

I pulled her behind me, shadows gathering into a defensive barrier.

Golden soldiers emerged from the smoke—dozens of them, their movements too fluid, too synchronized. Not individual warriors but extensions of Midas’s will.

“You never intended to invade the Light Court,” Ada said, her voice tight with fury. Small flames danced across her fingertips. “This was all to lure us here.”

“Very good, Princess!” Midas clapped, and produced a shower of golden sparks.

He gestured casually. Four of his soldiers collapsed to their knees, golden fire consuming them from within. Their screams tore through the air as armor melted into flesh, flesh into magic. The energy coalesced into a sphere hovering above his palm.

“You see,” he said, as if discussing politics over wine, “I need your binding. The power it will unlock when completed.”

He took a step closer.

“Don’t,” I warned Ada. “His magic is corrupted. Look at his skin.”

“He’s insane,” she whispered.

“Completely,” I agreed. “Which makes him dangerous.”

Without warning, Midas flung the sphere of stolen magic at us. I deflected it with a wall of shadows, but the explosion still threw us apart. Ada was sent sprawling to the left, while I was driven right.

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