Page 24 of Crowned By the Shadow
Thorn cursed softly. “It’s a trap, then.”
“Yes, but not just for us.” I looked up at him, the horror of what I’d witnessed settling into my bones. “He’s planning something bigger. Something about a convergence, a binding, and the Empress. Eldric showed Wyn something. He gave her a vision, and he implied that Van or Volker knew the last Eclipse Child. Someone named Fiona.”
The name hung in the air between us, heavy with unspoken significance. Thorn’s expression shifted from confusion to shock.
“That’s impossible,” he said. “The last Eclipse Child lived centuries ago.”
“How old is Van? Or Volker for that matter?” I asked.
Thorn opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I... don’t know. They have both been around the courts for as long as I can remember, but fae lifespans are long. Still, centuries...”
The pendant pulsed in my hand, drawing my attention back to it. Without conscious thought, I wrapped my fingers around it, closing my eyes.
A meadow bathed in twilight. Two moons hung in the sky: one silver, one blood red. A solar eclipse in progress.
A woman stood at the center of the meadow, her skin adorned with silver markings identical to mine. Her hair was darker, her features sharper, but the resemblance was unmistakable.
Fiona.
Beside her stood a younger man. His face was less lined, his eyes were brighter, and though I knew the face, I couldn’t seem to connect it to a name, as though there was something actively blocking me. As soon as I looked away from him the memory ofhis face vanished from my mind, but when I looked back it was as clear as day.
The two of them faced a tear in the fabric of reality, a vertical slash of darkness that writhed and pulsed. It didn’t just look evil; it exuded it, to the point that if I hadn’t known this was a vision, I’d swear I could feel it crawling over my skin.
“It’s too late,” the man said, his voice thick with desperation. “The binding has failed. She’s breaking through.” It wasn’t just desperation in his voice, though, but disappointment.
Fiona shook her head, determination etched into every line of her body. “Then we fight.”
“You can’t fight her, Fiona! No one can!”
“Watch me.” She stepped forward, raising her hands. The markings on her skin blazed with silver light. But everywhere my gaze scanned, I couldn’t see the tinge of gold that I associated with my own markings. “I am the child of the eclipse, born of sun and moon. My power is that of balance, of harmony. I reject your chaos, Empress of the Void!”
The tear widened. Darkness spilled out, coalescing into a form both beautiful and terrible, a woman with scales like obsidian, eyes like dying stars, wings that blotted out the moons.
“Little halfling,” the Empress crooned, her voice resonating on multiple planes. “Your light is nothing against my darkness.”
She reached out with clawed hands. Fiona screamed as shadows wrapped around her, consuming the silver light of her marks.
“No!” The man lunged forward, but was thrown back by an invisible force.
The Empress laughed as Fiona’s body crumpled; the light fading from her eyes. “The Eclipse Child falls, as she always must. The cycle continues.”
The nameless male crawled to Fiona’s side, cradling her broken form. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I failed you. I should have found another way.”
Fiona’s hand trembled as she touched his face. “Not your fault,” she gasped. “Next time... tell her... everything together... the key... the mirror and the pendant…”
Her hand fell. The markings on her skin dimmed to ashen gray.
The Empress stepped fully through the tear, surveying the world before her with ancient hunger. “Now begins my reign.”
The figure looked up, tears streaming down his face, hatred burning in his eyes. “I will stop you. If it takes a thousand years, I will find a way.”
“You are nothing,” she said dismissively. “Less than nothing.”
With a casual gesture, she sent a wave of darkness toward him. But before it struck, a pulse of silver light erupted from Fiona’s body—her last gift, her last protection.
He vanished. The Empress howled in rage.
And in pain, I realized belatedly.
