Page 13 of Cursed By the Dawn

I leaned forward on the balcony, trying to clear my head as Erebus built another structure.

He’d been busy while I was unconscious.

It reminded me of seeing him as a boy, skipping around a field of glowing flowers as he formed rolling hills, emerald rivers, and birds with wings of midnight. At his core, he was a dreamer—a visionary with an imaginative heart. Even if he resisted this fate with bared teeth and sharp claws, he was made for this. Leading. Guiding.Creating.He wasn’t a monster in a storybook. He was perfect.

And he was mine.

I frowned, feeling that strange pull underneath my skin again. My palm tingled, thrumming with power.My sword.I willed it to slide from my palm, marveling at its sleek, deadly form. It was a glossy, light-eating black, adorned with an ornate cross guard and a silver jewel embedded in the pommel. A mirror to Erebus’s. I peered at the jewel, noting thatit swirled with small tendrils of shadow. Vaguely, I could feel that the sword wanted something.

But what?

Below, some dreamers began to notice me on the balcony. They peered up at me with haunted, uncertain eyes, still harboring bits of their old selves and the fear they’d felt at Raelion’s intrusion. While they appeared to be human, the way they held themselves—hunched, tight, shaky—and communicated reminded me too keenly of their demonic forms. It was clear that while they were quick to resent Erebus, they didn’t intuitively know what to make of me.

I didn’t blame them.

Erebus was powerful and capable, a talented dreamer who had earned his place over the course of centuries. But who was I? And, more importantly, what could I offer them?

I studied the way they carried themselves. Most seemed weighed down by an invisible pressure on their shoulders, napes, and knees. I frowned, squinting at what I was seeing. Orwasit invisible? Ever so slowly, I began to see—or sense, rather—the shadows that still clung to them, clinging to their hearts and joints like sticky spiderwebs. Instinctively, I began to pull at the shadows, willing them to unravel. Coaxing them up and out, just as I sent a cloud of shadow, much like a refreshing mist, across the balcony and over their heads. As the darkness gravitated away from them, it began to spiral into my sword. The silver jewel shone; the more shadows the sword absorbed, the brighter it became.

Beautiful.

Erebus, held aloft by a magnificent pair of black wings, flew to my side.

“They still have so much darkness in their hearts,” he noted, unsheathing his own sword from his palm and using it to redirect some of the dreamers’ shadows. It was just like what we’d done when we’d unexpectedly freed them from their demonic bodies. The combined power of our shadows clarified their bodies of true darkness andstrengthened us in turn. “We might be exorcising them like this on a daily basis for quite some time.”

“As we should. Look at how much relief it gives them.”

It was all so instinctive—pulling darkness from their hearts and channeling it back into the shadows that fed our domain. Some dreamers sagged in visible relief; others stretched out wide, taking their first true breaths. They certainly showed no signs of adoring us, but they recognized the freedom we offered and the war we were willing to wage alongside them.

“I was worried about you,” Erebus said, changing the subject as he brushed a few strands of hair from my forehead. My skin responded immediately, warming under his touch. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” I said. And it was true; my headache had ebbed, and the hunger under my skin was nearly sated. All I could focus on now was how pleasant his fingers felt against my temple. “Were you the one who carried me to bed?”

“Of course it was me,” he said, bristling. “I wouldn’t let anyone touch you. Especially not after what Raelion tried to do.” He eyed the horizon as if the red-eyed demon could return at any moment. “It was a mistake to call him here. He nearly burned down our castle and us with it.”

I shuddered, remembering how Raelion had taken control. “It was a realistic illusion.”

“Wasit an illusion? Because that was unlike any I’ve ever seen.” Erebus dropped his hand and adjusted his sword, channeling some of the final threads into its blade. “That demon is far too dangerous to trifle with. It would take the combined legions of every single Weaver to stand a chance against him.”

The shadows slowed to a halt around us. For now, the dreamers were lighter and nimbler on their feet. Some meandered to their new dwellings; others remained in the courtyard, happily chatting with one another. I marveled at how the landscape had changed from something lonely and soulless to something magical and alive. It was such a starkcontrast from the demon-infested hell Erebus had lived in for five hundred years that it brought tears to my eyes.

“The buildings you made are beautiful, Erebus. This place looks so different from how it was before.”

“Ceveon and Sorren helped direct me,” he said in a clipped tone. He sheathed his sword quickly, willing it back into his palm with one fluid slam. I followed suit, except with a lot less force. “I’ve lost the ability to conjure comfort, it seems. The feeling is too far gone.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. What you’re capable of creating is breathtaking.”

“‘Breathtaking’?” he asked, arching a brow. True to form, the man was skeptical of my praise. It was maddening.

“Yes, ‘breathtaking,’” I shot back. “Or would you prefer I call it ‘terrifying’?”

His lips quivered, just slightly. He wasveryclose to laughing. “‘Terrifying,’ I could believe.”

“I mean it. You’re incredibly gifted, Erebus. All I can manage to create are bloodthirsty demons, it seems.”

“You won’t have any trouble shaping this domain to your own design,” he said, voice softening. “You will love it, I think. The art of creating. And I cannot wait to see the beauty of your imagination as you do it.”

“I don’t want to interfere,” I said, glancing away. I wanted to help, but what if I only brought more ruin, more destruction? I’d nearly destroyed the castle when I’d imagined Raelion. “You’ve done a fine job without me.”