Page 4 of Shadow Master
He had a point. I looked to Lloyd.
“No,” a gravelly, deep voice said from behind us. “Henrich decided before.”
All eyes went to Harmon, who was sitting up now. The cadets backed up, noticing him for the first time. I guess when he was lying down, his gray body must have blended with the rubble, but now…
“Whoa!” The second-year fell into a defensive stance, which in any other circumstance would have been comical.
The clink and clank of swords being drawn filled the air.
“Drop them!” Aidan ordered, his voice an authoritative snap. “He’s one of us.”
“Like fuck,” the second-year cadet said. “That thing isn’t one of us. It’s one of them.”
It was true in a sense; Harmon was more fomorian than moonkissed now, but he was still one of us.
I stepped in front of my friend. “Heisone of us. The fomorians altered his DNA, but he’s still Harmon. He’s still a cadet.”
Hesitation skimmed the cadet’s features, but in the next instant, his jaw clenched in determination. “Nah. He’s one of them now. Look at him.”
I drew my sword, allowing the rage to peer out from my burning eyes. “Touch him, and you die.”
An excuse was all I needed. Just one tiny excuse to unleash the monster that wanted to pound and stab.
“What the fuck, Justice?” the cadet said. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“Yeah, you do,” Aidan said. “Henrich gave her the seal. He handed her the title.”
“A first-year,” the cadet sneered. “I don’t think so.”
“A shadow caster,” Aidan countered.
“He wanted her to have it,” Harmon said.
His voice was like the rumble of thunder. It stalled all conversation and pulled all attention to his hulking form. The air rippled with tension as he rose to his feet. I shot him a quick glance, biting back my shock at the size of him, the seven-foot height of him. I stood in his shadow, my blade ready to defend him. Yeah, that sounded pathetic now.
“What do you mean, Harmon?” Lloyd asked.
“Henrich tried give me seal to give to Justice,” Harmon said. His words were slow, his speech almost painful, as if he was forcing out the words from a throat not built for speech. “Henrich with me when explosion. He hurt. He give me seal, tell me take to Justice. Tell me to make Justice lead. Make her Shadow Master. He set me free to carry message.”
“But you brought him out with you,” Lloyd finished for Harmon.
Harmon nodded. “He choose Justice.”
There was a deep silence in which the only sound was the howl of the wind. I stared at the seal in my hand. The seal Henrich had chosen to give me.
Shadow Master.
Lead with your head,he’d said. Both now and once before in the dungeon when he’d shown me Harmon. He’d said I had potential, that maybe one day I could rule with my head and not just my heart.
But that day couldn’t be today.
I wasn’t ready.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want it. I wanted to gather supplies and go into the mist, into fomorian territory after Brady. I wanted to get him back.
“Justice…” Lloyd touched my elbow lightly. “Henrich chose you. He saw something in you, and he believed you could lead us.” Lloyd looked up at the cadets. “He believed you could rally us and stop the threat.”
The cadet who’d been arguing against my unwanted promotion lowered his blade. “They’re all dead.” He said the words softly, achingly, as if he’d only just realized it. “Fucking hell. It’s just us now.”
