Malice (Malice Duology #1)(105)

“Kal.” I go to him, wishing that I could make him understand. “I am utterly grateful for what you’ve done. I would never have discovered the depth of my power without you. But—”

“Then come with me.” He grasps my elbows, and I swear I can feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat through his palms. After the frost I’ve grown accustomed to, it’s unsettling. “Together we can go anywhere. Be anything.”

    He wants this so much. I can almost smell his desire, like crushed nightshade berries—bittersweet and smoky. Part of me wants to give in. Kal deserves my loyalty. But so does Aurora. “No, Kal. I am staying.”

“In a realm that despises you? What do you think they will do, even if your precious princess survives?” His grip turns harsh. “Do you think they will welcome you with open arms? Put a crown on your head?” He bends close. “They will burn you. Tear you limb from limb. You will always be a monster. A mongrel.”

Instinct taking over, I grind my heel into his toe and shove him back. He stumbles. Anger builds in my chest, its hot coals stoked with each breath.

“It is no business of yours.” I rub the sore spots on my arms. “I trust Aurora. And I choose her. If you will not stand with us, then leave. But you will not speak to me that way. You will not hurt me.”

A slow, languid smile stretches over Kal’s face. A wave smashes into the base of the cliff, its spray like chips of ice. Warning bells clang through my mind.

“I had hoped you would come to me willingly. But I see you will not listen to reason.”

The roots of my hair stand on end. I know this feeling well.

Run.

Obeying that primal impulse, I bolt for the entrance of the tower. But I don’t manage two bounding leaps before a wall of shadow slams into me. I back away, dizzy and stunned. Are those the same shadows I’d just cleaved from Kal’s body? But they can’t be. Panic beats out a frenzied rhythm at my breastbone, sending me tripping over my feet.

    “I just want you to listen.” Kal’s voice is too calm. “To hear me.”

Darkness undulates in every corner, writhing like snakes. Kal snaps his fingers and strips of shadow peel themselves free and cut through the air. My mind spins. Kal is controlling the shadows. But how?

I don’t stay to guess. Adrenaline thundering through me, I sprint up the stairs, scrambling for a plan. Kal’s even, measured footsteps thud behind me. There’s nowhere to go where he can’t follow. Dragon’s teeth, I don’t understand. Kal is my ally. My friend.

You don’t have friends, that awful voice seethes.

“I will not hurt you,” Kal calls.

The blood searing through my veins says otherwise. I throw myself into my room and bolt the door, but the wood is rotten and I know it won’t hold up beyond a few good kicks. Kal’s steps are nearing. I scan the chamber, terror sinking its claws deep into me.

A gull cries, jerking my attention to the window, where the spinning wheel waits. The spindle. Weapon, my mind registers.

But I don’t want to hurt Kal. He’s confused, as I had been. He needs time.

The sleeping curse.

The thought lands in my brain like a drop of water on parched earth.

Yes. I could curse him. Just for a little while. Long enough for me to settle things in Briar. When he wakes, he’ll see that Aurora isn’t like other humans. He’ll understand.

    Wood pummels against wood and the hinges rattle. “Let me in, Alyce. I want to talk.”

As the next blow lands, I pry the spindle free of its moorings.

Sleep, I push through my mind, harnessing my intent. Not death. Only sleep.

Guilt churns through me. I don’t want to do this. But there’s a crunch and the door buckles. Another kick splits the paneling in two. I hardly feel the stab of pain as the tip of the spindle pierces my skin.

Kal stoops through the wreckage, shadows at his heels like loyal dogs. I hide the spindle in the folds of my skirts.

“That isn’t Shifter magic.” I nod to the darkness, struggling to keep my voice level.

“A funny thing about magic.” He knocks aside a section of the door with his boot. “Sometimes, when you live with an enchantment long enough, you absorb its power.” A tendril of soot curls around his ankle. “And we have been so long acquainted.”

The hand holding the spindle begins to shake. This is not the Kal I know. “Please. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Nor I you.” He steps closer. “Which is why I cannot let you return to Briar. We leave now. Let the mortals tear their realm to bits. Then the land will be ours for the taking. A new Malterre.”

I blink in confusion. “You want to…to turn Briar into Malterre?”

“Should I not?” He sneers, betraying an ugliness I don’t recognize. My instinct thrums, urging me to act before it’s too late. “The humans razed my lands while I watched. Seizing theirs is only fair. And after that”—greed flashes bright in his eyes—“Etheria itself.”

    Dragon’s teeth, he’s lost his senses. I grip the spindle harder, searching for the best place to strike. “That’s exactly the kind of logic that will get the Briar King killed.”

“Ah, but we are not the Briar King.” He laughs and it mingles with a roll of thunder. “We are Shifter and Vila. And we will seek revenge for those who have fallen.” He extends a hand to me. “You must know this is right, Alyce. Avenge your mother’s death. Take justice for all the wrong this realm has dealt you. I know you want to bathe in their blood.”