Elias stopped her.
She stared.
“He murdered your mother.”
“I know.”
Aldric looked at Elias.
“What are you waiting for?”
The boy understood.
The king expected execution.
Maybe wanted it.
“No.”
Aldric frowned.
“No?”
“You don’t get to make me become you.”
The king closed his eyes.
Corvin stared at Elias.
Something between the brothers changed.
“Where is the Gate?” Elias asked.
Aldric opened a hidden passage beneath the throne.
They descended.
The air became colder.
Old stone replaced palace marble.
Symbols glowed black along walls.
At the bottom waited a cavern.
Queen Selene hung suspended above a circular abyss, bound in chains.
Malrec stood beneath her.
He no longer looked human.
Shadow poured from his eyes.
Tal had been right.
The Chancellor belonged to the old enemy.
“Welcome,” Malrec said.
Elias stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“Why?”
Corvin raised his sword.
“Because I’ll kill you.”
Malrec smiled.
“Your father said similar things once.”
Aldric flinched.
Malrec turned toward Elias.
“The Gate needs blood.”
Black lines spread across the floor.
“Old royal blood.”
Elias understood.
“He doesn’t need her.”
Malrec smiled.
“Not anymore.”
The chains around Selene released.
She fell.
Corvin ran and caught her.
Malrec looked only at Elias.
“You came willingly.”
Too late, everyone understood.
The cavern doors slammed shut.
Black stone erupted from the floor.
Serah was thrown against a wall.
Aldric fell.
Mira screamed Elias’s name.
Malrec extended both hands.
Shadow wrapped around the boy.
Elias lifted from the ground.
Pain exploded through his body.
Blood ran from his nose.
The Gate opened.
Below him, something enormous moved.
Not a creature.
Darkness with intention.
The First Shadow.
Outside, every Forgotten soldier stopped fighting.
Then turned toward the palace.
Waiting.
Varkas roared in triumph.
Aurion looked toward the ground.
He felt Elias’s pain.
The Shadow whispered into the boy.
You have been unwanted your entire life.
Elias could not breathe.
I can make them kneel.
Images filled his mind.
King Aldric begging.
Crowds cheering.
Food.
Warm rooms.
A crown.
Power enough that nobody could ever ignore him.
You deserve everything they denied you.
Elias saw himself on the throne.
Older.
Strong.
Feared.
For one second, he wanted it.
That frightened him more than the monster.
Then another memory.
The Guardian kneeling.
Elias telling him not to.
Freedom includes refusal.
The Shadow continued.
Command them.
Elias whispered, “No.”
Malrec frowned.