Chapter 25 The King of Ashes
The throne room was freezing. It smelled like old paper and cold smoke. I scrambled to my feet, my heart pounding against my ribs. There he was. Solis. But he wasn’t the young boy or the warrior I remembered. He was an old man, his skin as thin as a dried leaf, sitting on a throne made of black glass.
"Solis?" I whispered. My voice cracked. "How are you still alive?"
"The Void is a greedy master, Eara," he rasped. His golden eyes were dim, like a fire about to go out. "It kept me alive for a hundred years just to watch the world rot. I am the battery for this nightmare. Every person cocooned in the street is feeding me so I can feed the dragon."
He raised the dagger to his own throat. The blade was made of jagged silver. "You have to do it. If you don't kill me, the dragon's three heads will fully wake up. Seraphine is already using my life to open the final gate."
"I can't!" I screamed. I ran toward the throne, but an invisible wall of heat slammed me back. "I’ve spent my whole life trying to save you! I broke time for you"
"And look what it cost!" Solis coughed, a cloud of black dust leaving his lungs. "Revenge didn't bring us peace, Eara; it just built a bigger cage. Seraphine isn't the real enemy. The cycle is. As long as there is a Sun King to be eaten, there will be a Shadow to eat him."
"I won't let you die like this," I said, my hands glowing with a desperate silver light. "I’m a Weaver. I can find another thread!"
"There are no more threads!"
Suddenly, the heavy doors of the throne room exploded inward. Seraphine walked in, her red gown trailing behind her like a river of blood. She wasn't alone. She was dragging Kael by a chain around his neck. He was bruised and bleeding, his silver harpoon snapped in half.
"Don't listen to him, Eara." Seraphine smiled. It was a cold, sharp expression. "He’s just tired of living. But I have so much more planned for him. And for your new friend."
She yanked the chain, and Kael fell to his knees, gasping for air.
"Let him go, Seraphine!" I growled. I felt the shadow inside me, the one I had absorbed, start to claw at my chest. It wanted out. It wanted to tear her throat open.
"I’ll let him go when you give me what I want," she said. She held out her hand. "The silver star on your chest. Give me the Weaver’s Heart, and I’ll let the old King die in peace. I’ll even let the Hunter live."
I looked at Solis. He was shaking his head, the dagger still pressed to his skin. I looked at Kael, who was staring at me with a mixture of terror and hope.
If I give her the heart, she wins, I thought. She will have the power to weave the entire world into a giant cocoon. But if I don't, everyone I care about dies right now.
"Eara, don't," Kael choked out. "She’ll... she’ll kill us anyway."
"Quiet, pet," Seraphine hissed. She flicked her hand, and a needle of red light pierced Kael’s shoulder. He screamed, his body arching in pain.
"Stop! " I yelled. "Fine! Just stop hurting him!"
I reached for the silver scar on my chest. It was burning, pulsing with a light that felt like a heartbeat. I felt the Weaver’s power ready to leave me. It was the only thing that made me special. Without it, I was just a girl in a ruined world.
"Give it to me," Seraphine whispered, her eyes wide with greed.
I stepped toward her, my hand glowing. But as I got closer, I saw something in the reflection of her eyes. I saw the Shadow-Eara, the monster I had swallowed, waiting in the dark corner of my mind.
"She wants the light," the shadow whispered. Give her the light... and I will give her the dark.
I didn't pull the heart out. I reached forward and grabbed Seraphine’s wrist.
"You want my power?" I growled. "Take all of it!"
I didn't send silver light into her. I opened the cage in my mind. I let the Shadow-Eara out. A massive wave of black ink flooded from my hand into Seraphine’s arm.
Seraphine’s scream tore through the room. She tried to pull away, but I held on with a strength that wasn't mine. The black glass wings burst from my back again, pinning her against the wall.
"You... you’re insane!" Seraphine shrieked. Her red ghost-form began to turn black, the shadow eating her from the inside out. "You’ll destroy yourself!"
"I don't care!" I shouted.
The room began to shake. The black glass throne cracked down the middle. Solis watched with wide eyes as the shadows filled the chamber.
Suddenly, Kael grabbed a piece of the broken harpoon from the floor. He lunged at Seraphine, driving the silver point into her chest while she was distracted by my shadows.
Seraphine exploded.
The blast threw us all backward. I hit the floor, my wings vanishing, my chest feeling empty and cold. When the smoke cleared, Seraphine was gone. Only a pile of red ash remained.
I looked up at the throne. Solis was gone too.
But then, I heard a sound from the shadows behind the chair. A small, familiar cough.
I crawled over. It wasn't the old man. It wasn't the warrior.
It was a young boy, no older than five. He had golden hair and bright, curious eyes. He was sitting in the dust, looking at his small, unscarred hands.
"Eara?" he asked. His voice was tiny.
My heart nearly stopped. The explosion hadn't just killed Seraphine. It had reset him again. But he wasn't the king. He was just a child.
"I'm here," I whispered, reaching for him.
But before I could touch him, a heavy boot stepped between us. I looked up.
Kael was standing there. But he wasn't looking at me with friendship. He was holding his broken harpoon like a spear, pointing it at the boy’s throat.
"The cycle ends now, Weaver," Kael said, his voice cold and hard. "I’m not letting another King grow up to become a dragon. I’m killing the root before the tree grows."
"Kael, no!" I screamed, lunging for him.
He didn't hesitate. He swung the blade down.