Page 56 of The Stolen Throne
I tug away, and this time the power that surges from me makes the sand underneath me ripple outward. The Devourer before me freezes completely. After a shocked beat, the closest Wanderers move in for the kill. They know an opportunity when they see one. Not that I’m sure they could kill it. How do you kill something made of sand?
“Stop!” I yell and surge out of my hiding place, surprising Reven, whose shout follows me.
I stumble as I keep my glowing hands up and try not to lose my hold on the Elimination because I can feel the thing fighting me, straining against my control. At the same time, the amulet is searing my skin, but I can’t pull it away. I can’t drop my hands yet. I catch sight of Vos as he raises his own hands A glow similar to mine ignites, I assume so he can blast the thing with ice.
“No, stop!” I yell and sprint out into the battlefield.
An otherworldly sound I’ve never heard in my entire life—somewhere between a roar and a scream—blasts through the camp from behind me, and everything around me goes from chaos to silent and still, terror etched on the Wanderers’ battle-hardened faces all around me.
I skid to a stop, clinging to my power’s hold on the Devourer. The beast has already stopped fighting, though. I know because the strain lessens.
Slowly, I peer over my shoulder.
Reven.
He’s on his hands and knees in the sand. Darkness ripples out of him, but this is unlike any darkness I’ve seen from him before. It’s like the shadows are tar, stringy and thick, pouring over him and through him and out of him, writhing and wriggling. Darkness slithers from the hidden places among the camp and the dunes, drawn to whatever is happening to him.
In tiny, jerking motions, like he’s being held down, Reven manages to lift his head, and those seafoam eyes focus on me. He crawls closer.
No. He doesn’t. The shadow monster does, still Reven in shape but leaving Reven’s body behind.
His face twists in agony. “Meren.”
Suddenly Cain is on top of him, foot in his back and an arrow nocked and pressing into the back of Reven’s skull. Not the shadow monster’s—Reven’s.
Some of the shadows turn on him, crawling up Cain’s leg, but he doesn’t move by so much as a twitch. “Give the word.”
Reven’s gaze meets mine.
“I’m okay,” I say just to him. “I have it. The Devourer can’t hurt me.”
And I do. Maybe because it’s not fighting me as we all deal with a different monster in our midst. But still…
Cain presses harder, and a dribble of blood drips down the side of Reven’s neck. I take a step forward.
“No!” The word bursts from Reven.
He grits his teeth, eyes focused on me, unwavering, and a guttural yell punches from him. The shadow monster rears back, its mouth opening in a silent cry as it’s drawn back to Reven. The way it moves—oozing and twitching at the same time, its black eyes never leaving me—makes my stomach twist in revulsion. This is what everyone was warning me about?
Reven’s face contorts, his entire body spasming with pain or effort or maybe both as he reabsorbs that…thing.
Then he collapses, chest heaving, the shadow monster gone.
“I’m…good,” he says finally.
Cain doesn’t move, arrow still trained and ready to release. “You sure?”
“Get the fuck off me.”
Cain does. Reven doesn’t get up, but they both look at me.
Right.
I am still bodily between the Elimination and the fighters, my hands up, trained on the Devourer, standing my ground and holding it immobile. Everyone stares at me slack-jawed, with varying reactions of shock, anger, and disbelief. All they can see is that I’m stopping them from killing something that, as far as they know, devours humans.
The thing is, I know why I am able to hold the Elimination in my power. Because it’s not entirely me. I promised a goddess who might be trapped in my amulet that I wouldn’t kill him, and I think her power is bolstering mine. She’s done it before, too. I’m more sure of that now.
Hells. That ghost story was true.
