Page 122 of The Last Remaining Light

It gave way with a deafening crack.

People were still on it. They plunged into the darkness far below.

“Stars preserve us…” Elowynn gasped.

They needed to get out of the tower. Now.

Caelyn staggered to his feet, one hand slamming against the stone beside the window and the other pulling her up with him.

But the moment he did, frost exploded outward beneath his palm.

“Elowynn,” he ground out through clenched teeth, pushing her away from him in an attempt to keep her from danger.

She stumbled and spun toward him, eyes filled with hurt… until she realized why he had done such.

He knew his eyes had changed; he’d seen it happen before.

Darkness bled through the forest green like ink spreading beneath glass, swallowing the color little by little until his gaze resembled the starless sky above them.

Fear entered her expression then. Not fear of what he might do to her.

Fear of him.

Rage twisted through him in vicious knots at the sight of it. At the world. At himself. At whatever terrible thing lived beneath his skin waiting for moments like this to emerge.

He didn't want Elowynn afraid of him.

But bloody hell! Even he was afraid of himself right now.

“Caelyn—” she said, her voice quaking.

“I need…” His jaw clenched. The tendons in his neck stood out with the effort of forcing the words through gritted teeth. “…you to listen. Carefully.”

Outside, the sky continued darkening. The stars were entirely gone now.

Worse, the horizon remained black where dawn should have been.

Another Blackwake had fully arrived in Aetheris.

The resonance pulse slammed upward through the city again. This time, Caelyn doubled over hard enough to catch himself against the wall. A broken sound escaped him, low and ragged.

Frost exploded across the chamber floor, the edges sickly black. Elowynn stepped away from it as darkness swallowed the room.

“Elowynn,” he said again, rougher now. “You need. To go—to get… away from me.”

He heard her scampering around the room as he clawed at the stone wall. The sounds of glass or… crystal. Then light. She held a crystal in her hand, her veins and eyes beginning to glow as she manipulated the resonance and brought him into view. He wished he’d thrown himself from the tower before she’d had the chance to witness this.

But it was too late. He knew what she saw.

Pale, grayish skin. Black eyes. Something that didn’t look entirely human anymore.

The resonance flickered through his veins in erratic patterns.

“No, please,” she begged. “Tell me what to do!”

She was crying. Sobbing. Gods, she cried for him, and that broke Caelyn further.

“You don’t understand…what this does. T-to people like… me.”