The Eminence In Shadow Novels & Stories

“What do you mean by that?” “It means what it means, Emery. Lady Serena will stop at nothing. She is desperate and you know too well how desperation could drive someone far. Besides, even if you have the emperor’s favor, he still has no control over the Shadow Assassins since they only serve the empress. No one else.” Their conversation was cut off when they heard several heavy footsteps coming in their direction. Jadeite immediately knew that they were after her so she faced Emery and tightly held her arms.

Like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine. “She sees through the veil,” Ember continued. “She’s speaking to the other side.” I blinked. “What does that mean?” Link stepped behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist protectively. Logan stood near the edge of the circle, watching the trees. Always watching. “It means she’s reaching beyond what even Logan touched,” Ember whispered. “Fire can burn. But shadow? Shadow remembers.” Link I wanted to burn the entire forest down just to give her light. This darkness—it wasn’t natural. It moved like it had intention. Like it breathed.

“I built this empire with blood, discipline, and control. I will not let one obsessed coward threaten what I’ve built. And I sure as hell won’t let him touch Alessia.” I paused in front of Emil. “You were on watch the night the note was delivered.” “Yes, sir.” His voice barely rose above a whisper. “What happened?” He swallowed hard. “We had a blackout for approximately seven minutes. Someone jammed the signal. We rebooted, and when it came back on, everything looked normal.” “Seven minutes is all it took,” I muttered. Zayn stood now too, tension building in his jaw. “We’ll fix it. I’ll personally lead the tracking. We’ll find him.”

Then I saw them. The Shadowborn. Their formation stretched through the forest, precise and silent. Their armor was not forged, but grown, metal fused with flesh, their veins glowing faint red beneath the skin. The split wolf sigil burned across their chests like an open wound. And at their center, walking with deliberate calm, was Emory. My son. His hair was longer now, streaked with soot and silver. His face sharper, colder, shaped by something that had forgotten humanity. One eye glowed gold, the other black, swirling faintly like smoke behind glass.

I offer him the courtesy of an ending equal to his craft. Dennise shadows him along a lower seam, her heat signature a cooled thread. Luca ghosts the high lines. Yelena kisses locks open with a filament and a sigh. Emir’s van hums where I told it to hum. The sisters are not visible yet, but their work is, a small switchbox face-down, a wire bridge over a blind, the absence of trash where a human would have left a receipt for the city to read. At 3:17, Dennise’s voice barely touches the channel: “He favors the north lip. He caught our first shadow shift. He didn’t trust it. He wants proof he was right.”

The device’s pulse resonated with the final node, sending shockwaves through the building and the city itself. Emma felt a surge of power, a connection to the network of shadows. She could feel their movements, anticipate them, bend them—not completely, but enough to fight back. The final figure lunged, desperate, trying to regain control. Emma focused, channeling the pulse, and the shadows surged against the mastermind. A scream of distorted metal and static filled the room, then silence. The monitors went dark. The shadows outside dissipated, melting into mist that vanished into the storm clouds.

“The cell, it’s warded.” Susan’s expression hardened. “Of course it is.” Emma clenched her jaw. “I can’t reach outside.” My chest tightened. “Try again.” She nodded, determination settling in her expression. She closed her eyes. The shadows gathered again, darker this time, swirling around her feet. They stretched outward, crawling up the walls, reaching for cracks, gaps— Then they shattered again. Emma inhaled sharply, stumbling back. Her shadows vanished completely this time. Silence fell. She exhaled slowly.

​I looked at the Emperor’s gold-tiled floor and felt the Wolf's-Tongue beginning to wear off, replaced by a cold, surgical clarity. ​Solas thought he had brought home a bride to secure his immortality. He didn't realize he had just invited the Shadow into his garden. And shadows are always darkest when the sun is at its brightest. ​

’Emma quizzed in astonishment Stricken by guilt, Trish was silent for a moment deciding on something convincing to say. Emma was not as naïve as Connie, she was able to put two and two together. Right now she was feeling uncomfortable, it was too early for anyone to find out her quest. She had no idea how to pull out of this one without raising suspicion.

They were unaware of my identity, their memories and mine diverging as swiftly as a river branching into separate tributaries. Emilio Vargas, the leader of the Black Shadow, exuded authority as he entered first. His piercing eyes were like twin obsidian orbs that took in every detail of the room. I knew him as the puppeteer, the mastermind behind the cartel's operations. I had fantasized about taking him down, but nothing seemed to stick on them; they had paid puppets in every step.