Page 171 of The Last Syphon

It was the first time it had ever said something like that to her before—something negative. That there was something…someone stronger than her.

Swallowing thickly, Inara pushed all those thoughts out of her head. She wasn’t going to think about it. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.

“How far did the darkness spread?” she whispered.

She didn’t think it was possible, but his expression turned even more bleak. “Over half the Borderlands has succumbed."

“What?” No. “Half?” she uttered in shock.

“Yes.”

All those people. All those fucking people…Gone. Most would have had no idea what happened, and in truth, they were the lucky ones. The ones who saw it coming…They would have suffered.

Fraener stirred, but his eyes did not open. He must have been really out of it not to wake from the emotions pounding inside her.

Even though she feared the answer, Inara had to ask. “What do we do now?”

Prince Walder’s face hardened. There was no fear like what was coursing through her veins. No self-doubt. Just pure power and strength. “We stop him by any means necessary.”

The Dark Voice chuckled.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Inara tried not to let her mind run rampant, but it was a little hard with the, you know, impending doom hanging over her fucking head.

Negative emotions weighed heavily on her soul, spiralling her into a deep, dark abyss to which she feared she would never come out of.

Venerable Cias’s face when she told him what had happened in Tolanaa flashed in her mind, over and over and over again. His wide, horrified eyes. The quivering of his lower lip. It was all Inara could see as she and Prince Walder flew through the sky, heading back to Arelia.

Surprisingly, he had taken less convincing than Prince Walder, believing Inara almost instantly.

And that terrified her.

It meant her theory wasn’t so absurd.

That there was a significant chance the man responsible for the death of an entire kingdom, the nightmare of the fucking realm, was now walking the very land he destroyed, and would eventually be coming for the rest of it.

A blood-curdling notion.

Inara had given the order to flee. The villagers of Deadhaven needed slightly more convincing that they were in danger, which was to be expected, but they eventually relented, agreeing to pack up and run.

Venerable Cias agreed to take them into Arelia, where they would be safe, and try to convince as many others as he could from the neighbouring villages to join them along the way. Inara didn’t have much faith in that. They wouldn’t believe it until they saw it with their own eyes, and by that point, it would be too late.

The only hope they all had was to stop the Cursed King. To kill him.

A feat she was not sure was even possible.

It’s not. The Dark Voice mocked. He’s stronger than you. Has more experience than you. Is less moral than you. You cannot win.

The Dark Voice had been annoyingly chatty of late. Inara felt as though she was going mad with its constant taunts ringing inside her head.

She banished it to the back of her mind and poured all her focus into Fraener.

Her Guardian’s strength flooded her, a sense of warmth and light washing over her. She inhaled deeply, letting it fill every cell within.

A strong calm took over, and she revealed in it.

There was no plan yet. They had not had the chance to form one. Prince Walder had to report what happened to the High Council, and from there a plan would be devised.