Pain flooded all of my senses.
And then, there was a shadow. It emerged slowly from the Void, as if it was fighting an unseen force. I stared at it in awe. I knew that shadow.
Zaros shouted loudly, and the shadow was thrown to the body on the dais. I fell forward as the Void closed, and the shadow melded with the body below the sheet.
“No,” I whispered as Zaros shot forward, jamming the same knife we’d been cut with into the sheet.
There was an agonizing scream from beneath it. I stared in horror as the sheet fell from the body, and it rose to its feet.
Calix stared down at me, his eyes no longer the beautiful brown color they’d once been. Instead, there was nothing but black eyes. Endless black.
Chapter 53
Calix pulled the dagger from his bare abdomen and stepped slowly toward me with a stuttering gait. I shrank back as the snake tattoo on his torso began to move, to slither, until it separated from his body and fell silently to the ground beside him. Its ruby red eyes focused on me. I remained shaking on my knees, gazing up in terror at Calix, making sure to keep the large snake in my line of vision.
This was not the man I remembered. He was something else entirely. The darkness had taken him.
Calix stopped just before reaching me, and I peered up at him, waiting for the pain. He reached down and pulled me to my feet and stared me in the eyes.
“Ana,” he rasped, his face something I’d been dreaming about for months.
My heart ached as I yearned to touch him, hug him, love him. There was a loud bang outside the room, and Zaros snapped his head in that direction as his guards went to the door. They didn’t make it there before it burst open, and Tarek came into view. He slashed at them mercilessly. They fell dead at his feet.
“No,” Zaros shouted, rushing at Tarek who readied his sword.
“Ana,” Calix called again, pulling my attention away from the fight at the edge of the large room. “I-I cannot control it. I cannot win. It’s too strong.”
“Calix? Please. Fight it,” I begged him, reaching up and touching his face. “I love you, Calix. Me. Ana. Please remember us.”
He smiled through his sadness and closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. When he opened them again, they were that beautiful shade of brown I loved so much.
“I won’t win, Ana. I won’t. You must go. You must fight. Kill me. Please. Kill me.” He thrust the dagger into my hands, and I stared up at him, frightened. “I can only die by your will, Ana. Please. End it. End me.”
I wrapped my hand around the hilt. His hand closed around my own, guiding the blade to the place where I’d find his heart. The wound Zaros had inflicted on his body had already healed.
The clash of swords rang out as Zaros and Tarek fought one another. The thunder of heavy footsteps rushed toward us. More guards. We didn’t have much time. The ground shook around us, and I knew Tarek was going to tear the palace to the ground.
I pressed the dagger to Calix’s chest, my hand shaking, but he held it firmly with his own. He helped me push the blade forward, the skin tearing as it entered him. I cried as we pushed it further into his chest.
“Be happy for me, Ana. I want you to ... be ... ha-happy. I-I love y-you ...”
“I love you, Calix. I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
Then his hand stopped moving. I looked up at him and saw that his eyes had changed back to black, the chocolate brown erased.
“As am I,” he replied darkly, my Calix gone. The Mortae now standing in his place pulled the dagger from his chest.
With lightning quick reflexes, he spun the blade around and rammed it into the center of my abdomen. I stood stunned, staring up at him, and his lips curved up into a wicked smile.
“Do unto others before they do unto you,” he whispered, kissing me on the lips.
I fell to my knees, and Mortae walked away. He snatched a sword and charged at Tarek. Tarek fought both Zaros and Calix while I lay on the ground bleeding.
That hadn’t been Calix. It was the Mortae. Calix was trapped, but he lived. It was part of Zaros’s control. Either way, he’d stabbed me, and I could barely breathe. My body was in so