Chapter 71 Chapter Seventy One

Chapter 71 Chapter Seventy One
WALTER’S POV

The golden light that bled through the high windows of the great hall was so bright it turned the stone walls white, burning my eyes even through my closed lids. 
Lila’s voice echoed in my head, “the leader looks exactly like YOU” making every muscle in my body tensed so hard I thought they’d tear through my skin.

“Form ranks at the east corridor!” I roared, pushing past Caelum even as my leg buckled under me.
I caught myself on the edge of a heavy oak table, splintering the wood under my weight, and forced myself upright. 
“Every man that's able to hold a weapon, move now! Protect the private wing! Do NOT let anything reach her!”

The warriors surged forward, their boots thundering against the stone floor in a wave. But I stood frozen for a heartbeat, staring at the light pouring from above, feeling something I hadn’t felt in two years, the pull of my wolf, sharp and urgent, clawing at the walls of my mind like a caged beast that's desperate to be free.

That isn’t me, my wolf snarled, his voice raw with fury. It’s a trick, a dark magic shaped to break her, to make her turn on us. She won’t know the difference. She’ll fight the shadow and destroy the real thing by mistake.

I started moving again, each step a battle against pain that felt like molten silver coursing through my bones. 
The golden light from Lila’s room was making it worse, the pain was searing through my leg, my hip and every inch of my body where Nora had fed me poison. Sweat poured off me and soaking through my clothes until they clung to my skin like a second layer.

I rounded the corner into the private corridor, and the air itself felt wrong, it's thick, heavy and smelling of ash and cold iron. 
Shadows writhed along the walls, twisting and coiling like living things, and every torch in the hallway flickered with violet flame that cast monstrous shapes across the ceiling.

Then I saw them.

Wolves made of smoke and shadow, their eyes were glowing with the same sickly violet light as the torches. Dozens of them, maybe hundreds are pouring from under doors, through keyholes and even seeping through the stone itself. 
They moved without sound, their bodies shifting and wavering like a heat haze, but their teeth, gods above, their teeth were solid silver, sharp enough to cut through steel.

And at their head, standing tall and proud in the middle of the corridor, was a perfect copy of me. Same dark hair streaked with silver, same broad shoulders, same cold blue eyes. Even the cane in his hand looked exactly like the one Draven had stolen, the carved ironwood, bound with silver wire and every detail was precise down to the very notch I’d put in the handle the day I broke my leg.

The shadow-Walter looked at me, and a cruel smile spread across his face... my face.
His voice was mine too, but it sounded twisted, hollow and dripping with malice.

“Look at you,” he purred, his form wavering like smoke in the golden light spilling from Lila’s door. 
“Broken. Weak. Can’t even stand without leaning on something and she thinks you’re the one who can protect her? She thinks you’re worth saving?”

He took a step forward, and the shadow-wolves fell in behind him, their silver teeth bared in silent snarls.

“I’m what she needs,” the shadow continued, his eyes gleaming with dark magic.
“Strong and whole. Able to shift, to fight, and give her the power she deserves. I’m the Alpha you never were and soon, she’ll believe it too. She’ll let me take her power, let me make her mine, and when she realizes her mistake… it’ll be too late.”

I drew my sword, the iron blade shining as it cleared the sheath. My hand shook, it's not from fear, but from the searing pain that was now spreading from my leg to my chest, my arms and every part of me where silver had settled.
The golden light from Lila’s room was getting brighter, and with each pulse, the burn intensified.

“You’re not me,” I ground out, planting my good foot firm and holding my ground. “You’re nothing but smoke and lies. She’ll know the difference.”

The shadow laughed, it's a terrible sound that made my skin crawl, because it was my laugh twisted into something evil. 
“Will she? She barely remembers who you are. All she knows is pain, betrayal, and a man who hated her for two years. I’m everything she wished you were and when she comes out that door… she’ll choose me.”

From behind the heavy oak door of Lila’s chambers came a crash of splintering wood, followed by Mirabel’s sharp shout and Caelum’s roar of fury. 
The golden light flared so bright it turned the corridor white, and I heard Lila scream in raw, untamed power.

The shadow-Walter’s smile widened. “See? She’s already fighting them. Fighting us. Soon, she’ll turn that light on the real threat and you’ll burn where you stand.”

He raised his cane, and the shadow-wolves tensed, ready to spring.
“Or… you could let me take her. Let me give her what she needs. Save yourself the pain of watching her destroy you with her own hands.”

I took a step forward, ignoring the way my leg buckled, ignoring the fire that was now consuming my arm up to the elbow. 
My sword was steady in my grip, my eyes locked on the monster wearing my face.

“Never,” I said, my voice low and deadly. “She’s mine. Every part of her and if I have to burn to prove it… so be it.”

The shadow-Walter’s eyes flashed with rage. He raised his hand, and the shadow-wolves lunged forward, their silver teeth glinting in the violet light.

But as they leaped, the door to Lila’s chambers burst open with a deafening crash. Golden light poured out like a tidal wave, washing over the corridor, over the shadow-wolves and over me.

And in that blinding light, I saw her standing there, Lila, her golden hair floating around her like a halo, her blue eyes glowing with pure starlight. 
The veins in her arms and neck were bright gold, like rivers of light under her skin. She held her hands out in front of her, and golden fire danced between her fingers.

She looked straight at the shadow-Walter, then at me. For a heartbeat, her gaze was confused and uncertain, like she couldn’t tell us apart.

Then the shadow moved, lunging toward her with a snarl. “Lila! It’s me—he’s the imposter! Kill him!”

I charged forward too, my sword raised, screaming her name even as the golden light seared through my body like acid. “Lila! Don’t listen to him.
I’m the real one!”

She raised her hands, and the golden fire blazed brighter. Her eyes flickered between us, torn, terrified.

And then she spoke, her voice ringing with power that shook the very stones under our feet:

“Which one of you saved me in the rain?”

The shadow-Walter hesitated for half a second... just long enough.

I did. “You fell off the road, I pulled you down the embankment! Your head hit a rock, and you whispered ‘the stars are falling’ right before you blacked out!”

The shadow snarled and lunged, but Lila moved faster than I’d ever seen. She threw out one hand, and golden chains shot forward, wrapping around the shadow-Walter’s throat and chest. 
He howled and struggled, his form wavering and dissolving under the light.

But as the shadow burned away, he laughed one last time, his voice echoing even as he vanished:

“Good choice, Star Born. But remember, every time you use that light… you’re burning him alive from the inside out!”

Lila’s head snapped toward me, her eyes wide with horror. I felt the golden light intensify around me, and the pain hit me like a hammer blow, it's so sharp and so searing I dropped to one knee, my sword clattering to the stone floor.

She took a step toward me, her hands trembling, the golden fire sputtering and dying in her palms.
“Walter… I didn’t know… I didn’t mean to...”

A deafening crash shook the estate, and the ceiling above us cracked open. Dark violet smoke poured in, and Draven Harlan’s voice boomed through the hall like thunder:

“ONE DAY LEFT, STAR BORN! TOMORROW, YOU CHOOSE—ME… OR WATCH EVERYONE YOU LOVE BURN!”

And through the hole in the ceiling, I saw him standing on the roof, holding something small and white in his hand. Something that looked exactly like Elara’s face, pale and terrified, her eyes wide with pain.

“Your little bird isn’t dead yet,” Draven laughed, holding the shape up to the moon.
“But she will be… unless you come to me at sunrise.”

Lila stared up at him, then down at me, at my twisted leg, at the sweat pouring off my face, at the way my skin was starting to blister and peel under the lingering golden light.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the starlight still glowing in her eyes. “I’m killing you,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
“Every time I try to help… I’m killing you.”

I reached out for her, my hand shaking, even as the pain threatened to pull me under.
“No… you’re saving me… just let me...”

The estate shook again, and more stones rained down from the ceiling. The shadow-wolves, though weakened by the light, were starting to reform with their silver teeth glinting in the darkness.

Lila looked from me to the hole in the ceiling, her face hardening with a resolve I’d never seen before.

“I’ll go to him,” she said, her voice quiet but steady. 
“Tomorrow at sunrise. I’ll give myself up so he’ll leave you all alone.”

Before I could stop her, before I could even speak, she turned and ran toward the back of the estate, where the old tunnels led out into the woods.

I tried to follow, pushing myself up with my sword, but my leg gave out completely.
I crashed to the floor, the pain blacking out everything but the sound of her footsteps fading into the distance and Draven’s triumphant laughter echoing through the halls.

And on the stone floor beside me, written in the ash that had fallen from the ceiling, were words that made my blood run cold:

SHE’S COMING TO ME BECAUSE SHE THINKS YOU’RE NOT WORTH SAVING.