Page 76 of The Shadow Prince's Ruin
My eyes sting. Have I really suspected this boy of manipulating me? He’s so desperate to avoid hurting me again that it’s making breathing near-impossible. But both he and I know there’s no running from the two-headed gator, so I meet his eyes and speak as clearly as possible.
“You know we can’t. Even if I faint—”
“You could die,” Sylvan cries, and a tear rolls from his sapphire eye. I want to kiss it away, but who has time for tenderness in the heat of battle?
“I should still have a few lives left. I want you to survive this, baby. Even if the worst happens, we don’t need tobothdie.”
He blinks, squeezing my hands. Time stops, and for a beautiful moment we’re just two men who found one another in the unlikeliest of circumstances, but as the bassal shoots up to the hill, roaring with fury, Sylvan shoves me away.
"We don't need to both die," he repeats. Black goo climbs his form, soon covering his entire body. It makes the beast freeze. Hunger shines in its yellow eyes, and the moment Sylvan leaps off the hill, creating tiny steps out of shadow, the creature charges after him, hungry for more shadowcraft.
He’s making himself bait.
It’s like an ice pick stuck in my brain, and as I drag myself to my knees, terrified by the narrow distance between predator and prey, it’s clear to me that I only have two options. I either run away or follow Sylvan, letting the bassal devour me too.
Suddenly, a new thought pops into my head and radiates life all over my body. Because there is one more choice I can make.
My hands shake when I reach under my clothes and pull out the Sunwolf Crown. I now know magic is real, and that it can warp my body beyond recognition, but I’ve already made up mymind. I was dead serious when I put that ring on Sylvan’s finger, and I’ll either protect him, or die trying.
I hear every detail of my last inhale, but then I slam the mask against my face and scream.
It’s like being drizzled with boiling gold.
Chapter 30
Sylvan
I’m covered in shadow from head to toe, and I materialize levitating platforms in front of my feet in my mad dash toward doom. The power needed for this feat barely skims the surface of Hawk’s darkness, but it’s enough to draw the bassal’s attention to me.
Just three months ago, I was too afraid to face the monster my brother died chasing away. Now I know what it feels like to have someone worth dying for. I might be petrified, but I willnotfalter. I vowed to never take more than Hawk can give, to never hurt him, and I will prove to him that my words were true, even if it means my own demise.
My only regret is that he will be left to fend for himself in the Nightmare Realm, but that gives him a fighting chance. He deserves that much after what he has been through.
The bassal grunts right behind me, and I smell its breath, so my plan of luring it away is working. But if that’s the case, why is Hawk screaming? It tears right through my heart. Could itbe that there are more of these beasts around and my efforts are futile? Or is he insane enough to try attracting the bassal’s attention to himself?
I’m about to yell at him to stop it, but when I look over my shoulder, words die on my lips.
I expect to see the bassal’s yellow eyes right behind me, but a golden creature smashes into the black body of the overgrown lizard. It’s like a shooting star crashing into the surface of the Darkmoon.
I don’t understand what’s happening, but the bassal roars in fury, and any interest it had in me is gone, replaced by the fight for survival.
The two creatures tumble into the shallow water, distorting the perfect reflection of the moon as they spin together like the Yin and Yang symbol Kurt has shown me back in the human realm. Only that the pale half of what I’m seeing isn’t just white. It embodies the very meaning of radiance, shining so bright I have to shield my eyes as I drop onto the branch of a tree. Only when I grab it do I realize how much my shoulder hurts.
The smell of burning meat teases my nostrils as the bassal shrieks, thrashing under the weight of its opponent. Smoke coils into the air when the beasts thrash in a ball of limbs and claws, but when the reptile breaks free and swings both its tails, as if it isn’t sure whether it wants to bolt or fight, I get to see the other creature for what it is.
A crown of several horns shoots out from its head, framing the bare skull. The rest of its agile form is covered with fur so pale it’s difficult to decide whether it’s golden or flecked with sparkling particles. The head is golden polished bone, eyes like volcanic stone, and diamond-sharp teeth reflect the light it radiates with.
No matter how much I want to deny it, I know what this is.
The Sunwolf.
My stomach drops, and the shadow I’m covered with evaporates. I could have a dozen shadow tentacles right now, and the bassal would still only be focused on the Sunwolf, because it’s fighting for its life. I struggle to comprehend the implications of Hawk’s change, too amazed by the sight in front of me.
The golden canine the size of the huts we’ve slept in in the marshland, rips out the bassal’s front leg with a primal growl, blood staining its crystal teeth. It’s like watching the mythical fight between the sun and the moon, only that this time, I have no doubt it’s the sun that will win. Even when the bassal yields, focused on survival, the Sunwolf doesn’t let it go. With its leg still between his teeth, the wolf lowers its skull and slams the horns into the remaining head of the bassal.
With one last piercing screech of agony, the reptile collapses.
The fight is over.
