Chapter 81: The Shadow

Karina whipped around.

The lantern flickered once and nearly died. Its weak golden light crawled across the shelves, the crates, the dusty linen, and then stopped, as though it were afraid to go any further.

Something stood in the corner of the storeroom.

It was shaped like a man, tall and narrow-shouldered, wrapped in darkness. It had no face. Not a nose, not a mouth, not even the suggestion of eyes. It was simply black, a hole cut out of the room in the shape of a person, and it was looking at her.

She could feel it looking.

"Hello," it said.

The voice was soft and even. It was almost polite.

Karina screamed. What is that?! Nobody said Dorian had another version of himself!

Behind her, Rynan shrieked. Soren wailed. Valen made a choked sound and clutched his brother tighter.

"Cheshire!" she gasped, scrambling backward, her arms flung wide to cover the boys. "CHESHIRE! Get me something! A knife, a sword, a bomb, ANYTHING!"

Host, I am currently in the middle of a panic attack, and also I’m a cat. Best I can do is a frying pan.

"A WHAT?!"

Non-stick. Cast iron core. Very sturdy. Very sorry.

"GIVE IT TO ME!"

Blue pixels swirled in her palm, hardened, and dropped into her grip with a heavy, ridiculous weight. A black cast iron frying pan. Karina clutched it in both hands and charged, screaming like a woman possessed, and swung it at the thing’s head with everything she had.

It caught the pan in one hand.

It didn’t even seem to try. Its arm was just there, fingers curling around the iron, and with a flick of its wrist it flung the pan across the room. It hit the wall with a clang and bounced under a crate.

Its other hand shot out and closed around her throat.

Karina’s feet left the floor.

The world narrowed to a burning pinpoint. She clawed at the fingers, but they were cold, so cold, and they felt like smoke turned solid, and they squeezed.

"MAMA!" Valen’s cry cracked in two. "MAMA, NO!"

"Stay," she tried to say. It came out as a wheeze. "Stay... there..."

She could see him, small at the edge of her vision, taking a step toward her with his fists clenched. Daerys grabbed the back of his shirt. Rynan was sobbing.

The thing tilted its head.

"Hmm," it murmured.

The hand tightened, and Karina’s vision began to go gray.

"Touching you now," it said slowly. "How strange."

Then, to her shock, the fingers opened.

She dropped. She hit the floor on her knees, coughing and gasping, her throat on fire, her eyes streaming. The thing stood over her, and it made no attempt to grab her again.

Karina dragged herself sideways across the floor and threw both arms around her children. Her voice shredded when she spoke.

"Please." She croaked. "Please. You can take me. Do whatever you want to me. Just don’t hurt them. Please. Don’t kill my children."

The thing said nothing.

"Please," she begged, tears spilling over. Her whole body was shaking. "They’re too young for this. They’re babies. Please. Please don’t kill them."

"I will not."

Karina froze, noticing that it’s voice had changed. It sounded quieter now, and more tired.

"I am not here to kill you," it said. "I am not here to kill any of them."

"You are lying."

"I am not." It tilted its head toward her. "Do you know what I am?"

She said nothing. Her arms tightened around the boys.

"I am a facet of Dorian," the shadow said. "A piece of him. He cut me away, years ago, in the ruins of that temple, when the scrolls taught him how. I am the part of him that... feels."

The silence in the storeroom pressed down like a hand.

"The part that was left over when he took everything else. The pity. The grief. The love he once had for a boy named Leonidas, and the old King he served." Its shoulders lifted and fool. "He kept the anger, and the hunger, and the hate. He needed those. I was of no use to him. So he made me into a tool instead."

Karina swallowed.

"I go where he sends me," it said. "I can travel through shadows. I can slip through walls, and past wards, and no one sees me come. He calls, and I answer." It paused. "I bear none of his bloodthirst. I never did. That is why he made a mistake tonight, sending me."

"You tried to choke me."

"I was made to obey him." Its voice dipped, ashamed. "But I could not do it. When I touched you... I felt how frightened you were, for them, and not for yourself." The faceless head turned toward the children. "I have not felt such a thing in a very long time."

It sounded genuine, and that was the worst part about everything it was currently saying.

"I envy you," the shadow whispered. "All of this. What you have built." It gestured, slowly, toward the little huddle of cubs. "A family. A place where people run toward one another when the dark comes. For all his flaws, it is one thing he has always craved."

Valen stared at it over his mother’s shoulder. Daerys was clutching a fistful of her gown. Nobody made a sound.

"So I will not harm you," the thing said. "That is a promise, though I do not expect you to believe it. I would be—"

Crack.

The door blew inward.

Splinters flew. Wood shrieked, and a huge spotted panther burst through the ruined frame. Emerald eyes blazed in the lantern light. He hit the shadow at full speed and slammed it against the shelves with a crash that brought a rain of crates down over both of them.

"Rafael!" Karina cried.

He snarled, jaws snapping at the faceless throat.

"Wait!" She scrambled to her feet, arms outstretched. "Wait, stop! He wasn’t going to kill us!"

You believe that?!

Cheshire’s voice screamed through her skull.

Host! HOST! It’s Dorian’s THING! It choked you two seconds ago! You’re going to trust the creepy shadow man because he said "I envy you"? Get out of there! Hightail it! NOW, NOW, NOW!

"But—"

RUN!

Karina looked at the shadow, pinned beneath Rafael’s claws, its faceless head turned toward her. Without another warning, she grabbed Valen and Soren. "Come on! Come on, everyone! Move!"

They ran, Rynan clinging to her skirt, Daerys stumbling at her side. They burst out of the ruined door into the corridor, and a wall of guards met them at once, spears lowered, armor blazing under the torches. They formed a tight ring around the children, and Karina, half-sobbing, let herself lean against the nearest one as he steadied her.

"Your Imperial Majesty! Thank the gods! We have you!"

She turned back, gasping, to look at the storeroom.

A low groan drifted out.

It was not Rafael’s. It came from the creature on the floor. The shadow arched suddenly, its whole body spasming, and one dark hand clutched at its chest.

"Ahh..."

It sounded like something tearing.

The shadow’s head snapped up, and even without eyes, Karina felt its horror.

"Dorian," it whispered.