CHAPTER 5: THE SHADOW’S HUNGER

The North Spire of the Midnight Maw was a place of endless twilight, even when the sun was supposed to be at its zenith, the thick, obsidian-infused stones of the tower seemed to drink the light, leaving only a cool, violet glow that didn't hurt my eyes.

For the first time in eighteen months, the constant, low-grade fever I’d carried, the byproduct of siphoning Kaelen’s excess solar energy had broken, I felt cold, a deep, hollow cold that originated from my womb and radiated outward to my very fingertips.

"He’s awake," a voice rasped from the corner of the room.

I jumped, clutching the silk robe Koran had provided, elder Selene stood there, her milky eyes fixed on a point just three inches below my navel, she held a bowl of dark, viscous liquid that smelled of iron and night-blooming jasmine.

"The child?" I whispered.

"The King," she corrected, her voice like grinding gravel, "He is no longer content with the scraps of magic you left behind at the Zenith Crown, he has tasted the void of the Maw, and now he wants more, if you do not feed him, Vesper, he will start on your marrow by sunset."

She handed me the bowl, "Drink, it is essence of moonshade and distilled shadow, it will give him something to chew on besides your heart."

I took the bowl, the liquid cold against my palms, I drank it in one go, the taste was bitter, like biting into a frozen leaf, but the effect was instantaneous, a wave of numbing relief washed through me, and the frantic, clawing sensation in my stomach subsided into a rhythmic, steady thrum.

"Better," Selene muttered, "Now, stand, we begin your first lesson, if you want to survive the 'Sun' coming for you, you must learn to be the 'Night'."

The training wasn't like the physical drills I’d watched the Zenith Crown Enforcers perform, there were no weights, no combat forms, instead, Selene led me to the center of the room, where a single, guttering candle stood on a black pedestal.

"Put it out," she commanded.

I reached out, expecting to blow it out, but she slapped my hand away with a strength that belied her age.

"Not with your breath, girl! With your mind, reach into that 'void' Kaelen so graciously named you after, find the hunger, give it a path to that flame."

I closed my eyes, I tried to find the darkness I’d felt at the Iron Gate when I dropped Jaxon, I remembered the feeling of being discarded, I remembered the look on Kaelen’s face when he signed that rejection, the casual way he threw away eighteen months of my soul.

The cold in my womb flared, it wasn't a parasite, it was an ally, I felt a thread of obsidian smoke slide down my arm, pooling in my palm, I opened my eyes and looked at the candle.

‘Eat,’ I thought.

The shadow leapt, it didn't just extinguish the flame, it consumed the candle itself, in a heartbeat, the wax, the wick, and the light were gone, replaced by a lingering smudge of black frost on the pedestal.

I gasped, stumbling back.

"Good," a new voice said.

I turned to see Koran leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, he looked impressed, his slate-grey eyes tracking the way the shadows still clung to my fingers like lace.

"You're a natural, Vesper, or perhaps the child is just eager to show off for his new Alpha."

"I am not your weapon, Koran," I said, my voice shaking despite my new power.

"No," Koran said, stepping into the room, the shadows around him seemed to bow, parting for him like a king, "A weapon is a tool, you are a catastrophe, and right now, Kaelen Vane is halfway across the Neutral Zone, heading straight for my borders, he’s not even using his wolves anymore, he’s just flying, a streak of gold in the sky that’s setting the treetops on fire."

My heart hammered against my ribs, "He’s coming? Already?"

"He’s desperate," Koran murmured, coming to stand inches away from me, he smelled like winter and power, he reached out, his thumb grazing my jawline, "He realized too late that you weren't just his servant, you were his sanity, he’s losing his mind, Vesper, the 'Red Rage' has taken hold, he’s a beast in a crown."

"What will you do?" I asked, my gaze locked on his.

"I will do what a Shadow does," Koran whispered, his eyes darkening until they were as black as the Well, "I will let him burn himself out against my walls, but eventually, the gates will open, and when they do, you need to decide if you are going to hide behind me... or if you are going to be the one to extinguish his sun forever."

He looked down at my stomach, his hand hovering just inches away from my belly, as if he could feel the dark pulse of the Eclipse King inside.

"The choice is yours, Vesper, but remember: the world only has room for one Sovereign. And your son is already wearing the crown."

Kaelen’s POV

The air roared in my ears, a screaming whirlwind of gold and heat, I didn't need a horse, I didn't need a wolf, I was the sun, and the forest below me was nothing but kindling.

Vesper.

The name was a mantra, the only thing keeping the white-hot noise in my brain from shattering my skull, for eighteen months, her presence had been the cool cloth on my fevered skin, without her, the world was too bright, too loud, too much.

I saw the jagged peaks of the Obsidian Crags ahead, the Midnight Maw.

"Koran," I snarled, the sound of my own voice cracking the air like thunder.

I felt her, I felt the ripple of her magic, something cold, something dark, something that shouldn't be possible, and beneath it... a second heartbeat, a rhythmic, dark thrum that called to my own blood with a terrifying familiarity.

She was carrying my heir, and she had taken him to a man who lived in the dirt.

"I will tear the mountains down," Kaelen whispered, his golden aura flaring until it was visible for a hundred miles, "I will melt the Maw into glass, but I will have my quiet back."

He accelerated, a falling star aimed directly at the heart of the night.