is now too loud.
“I couldn’t take you, so I’m going to take him,” a too-familiar voice whispers in my mind. “They’ll all die because of you.”
The room grows cold, and I begin to shiver.
It’s found me once more.
“Ignore it,” I tell myself. “Block it out.”
“Open the door,” the voice commands, speaking in my head. “Let me in. Sacrifice yourself, and I’ll leave them be.”
It’s lying—I’m not even sure it’s sentient. Rather, it’s just magic, manipulating my own thoughts, giving the darkness shape. It’s my own voice, parroting back my greatest fears.
But it feels real.
I stand in front of the door, holding strong. No matter what it says, I will resist.
And then I hear Rhys yell from behind the door. It’s a gut-wrenching sound, something I’ve never heard the knight make.
“I’ll kill him, princess,” the voice says. “Open the door.”
Terrified, helpless and alone, I take several steps back, shaking my head. “It’s not real,” I whisper to myself, my voice shaking.
The knight yells again, sounding as if something is torturing him.
Something inside me snaps, and I grip the dagger tighter in my trembling grasp. Suddenly, my fear turns to anger.
I’m tired of being helpless. I’m tired of hiding, of stepping aside while other people fight my battles.
I’m going to slay this beast myself. What is the point of carrying this wretched weapon if I stay locked in this room?
Praying I’m not walking into slaughter, I throw the door open, knife at the ready. I stifle a scream when I see what waits for me on the other side.
The creature is small, like a child, and vaguely human in shape, but everything about it screams of death. It stares at me with its black eyes, smiling.
Water drips on the floor, pooling under its cloak.
“You’re too afraid to kill me,” it whispers in my mind, its thin lips unmoving.
I stumble back, realizing it’s right. I underestimated my courage.
And then I hear it, the pounding of the door that leads to the deck and Rhys hollering on the other side—very alive.
“It was a trick,” I whisper.
The creature moves forward, forcing me into the room.
Suddenly, with the splintering of wood, I hear the door atop the stairs break open.
But it’s too late. The creature has backed me into a corner. The light from the lamp dims as if there isn’t enough air in the room to feed it.
The creature grows before my eyes, doubling in stature until it looms above me. I’m frozen in place, too scared to move—physically and magically paralyzed by my own fear.
The monster cackles as it lifts a cold, wet hand to my neck, blocking my air supply. I choke, unable to claw it back—unable to even move.
I fight against the invisible chains, straining against them with all my might.
I’m going to die.
My vision begins to blur as I gasp for breath.
“AMALIA!” Rhys yells as he breaks into the room, sword drawn and ready.
Just before my world goes black, the creature lets out a scream that echoes deep in my core.
It rears back as if shocked—but no one is more surprised than I am.
Before it can lunge for me, I pull the blade of Rhys’s copper dagger from the monster’s chest, tears running down my cheeks, and stab it again.
It falls to the ground, twitching.
I press against the wall, as far away as possible, but I don’t look away when it begins to dissolve. I need to see with my own eyes that it’s dead.
And then, there is nothing.
No longer oppressed, the lamplight flairs back to life, casting the room in a warm glow.
Rhys stands in the doorway, his mouth slack, staring at the spot on the floor where the monster once stood. Slowly, breathing hard, he turns his eyes on me. His sword arm falls to his side, and he lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Amalia…you killed it.”
“I did,” I say, slumping against the wall. I drop the dagger, and my body begins to shake with relief. “I killed it.”
38
I cross the room and yank Amalia into my arms, beyond grateful she’s alive. I was too late. If she hadn’t…
But she did.
I hold her tightly, needing to assure myself that she’s all right. She cries against my doublet, a belated reaction to the trauma.
“You did well,” I whisper into her hair.
The princess nods, but her shoulders continue to shake. “I thought it was killing you. It tricked me, and I let it in.”
“I’m fine,” I tell her. “And you’re fine. We’re fine.”
She looks up, her eyes red from her tears.