Page 72 of Soul of Thorns
“I do not hate you. I am disappointed. I was certainly angry. But I do understand how it is an unfair choice.”
My eyelids flutter closed. My mind is more at ease now, my heart rate has settled, but my body is still worn and tired. I feel... numb. I feel nothing.
“How are you, child?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper. I force my body upright and look down at my hands. I watch the ash fall and land on my skin. We are so very close to the center, where rumors told us a living being couldn’t survive for more than a few hours. Does that mean the air is already poisoning me? Shouldn’t the ash be burning?
I look down at my arm again. There are red dots where the flakes have struck. My skin is peeling off, grey like ash. I pick at it gently and a thick slice pulls pack, exposing red flesh. I gasp and drop it back.
What is happening to me? This acid rain is burning, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything anymore.
And how did I know the ash would burn? Did I read that somewhere? I don’t remember reading or hearing about it.
But I do remember dreaming about it.
I remember a dream that I was running through the center of the Schorchedlands to reach Rev, to save him. He was in trouble.
I remember my wraith being with me, telling me to let him die. Telling me that the Night Bringer would take over my soul if I wasn’t careful.
“Where is Rev?” I ask again.
Was it really a dream, him healing me here? He... I swallow. He said he’d been trapped by the Night Terror. I whip my head to the wraith.
“Where is Rev,” I demand this time, heart hammering in my chest. Something is wrong. I know it deep in my soul.
“How should I know?”
“You do,” I say, eyes harsh. He’s supported me, helped me, but all I can feel is anger. Because he knows. He knows where Rev is. I reach to grip the wraith by the throat, but my hand falls right through his black smokey magic.
“What are you doing?”
Something is wrong... that dream. I had a dream. I was running to Rev. He was in trouble. And the wraith was telling me to leave him behind.
“If you stay,” the wraith whispered, “the Night Bringer will take away more of you, piece by piece until it’s only his magic that remains. Then, he will free himself with ease. It will be his soul inside your body, reigning over the Shadow Court. On that day, Caelynn, Princess of the Shadow Court, you’ll lose everything you ever dared to hope for.”
That’s what the wraith wants.
Fuck.
“You’re working with him,” I whisper.
“What are you on about, child?”
My hand can’t touch him. But my iron blade can. I grip the blade and have it pressed against his heart before he can even blink. “What did you do?”
The wraith freezes. Fear flickers over his expression, but then his lips spread into an eerie grin and he rumbles with a low chuckle. “You’re going to kill me, are you?”
“Why is that funny?”
“I am your last ally, child. How ironic it would be for you to end me, leaving you entirely alone.”
“Allies don’t betray you. What did you do to Rev? I know you did something.” I press harder over his magic which sizzles against the iron.
He winces but continues his sick grin.“Have you become as weak as we? Have you become like us?” the wraith whispers. “Perhaps you are less special than I thought. You’re just like the rest of them.”
“No, I’m the only one foolish enough to trust a wraith!”
“Then, end me. Kill me now. Relieve me of the despair I will feel when I watch you die and all my hopes end.”
