Anatole scoffs. “You just want all the glory,” he says and doesn’t even bother to look back at his brother as he slides on a mask meant for breathing underwater and urges his kelpie to dive right in.
Sylvan nods at me and turns away, but I notice him wiping away tears. Of fear or shame? I don’t have time to work it out. Someone this afraid of the monster would only be a hindrance in a fight with Heartbreak.
I focus on Luke and cup his cheeks. I hate that I can already hear some of the screeches coming from the open mouths on Heartbreak’s monumental body, because it means the beast is too close, and I don’t have much more time.
"I'm sending you to my shadowild, so you can be with me and stay safe. You remember how to get out if you need to? You will have to reach the shore. You won’t be able to cross the veil while out at sea."
He nods but the twist of his lips breaks my heart. He’s so brave. And he doesn’t try to convince me that we should flee, though I have no doubt he’s terrified for both our safety.
“I love you. Please stay as safe as you can,” he says, rubbing one eye.
My whole being aches with the need to protect him, even at the cost of many lives, but this is the day I was born for, and by tying his life to mine, Luke agreed to share this burden with me.
This is our destiny.
“I love you too, Dark Companion.” And with that, I let my shadow cover him whole, until he’s merely a dark shape. His material form is safe in the shadowild. I won’t let him be harmed, and now that he too has the gift of shadowcraft, he should be able to free himself if I am no longer there to help him. Just thinking about this being our last goodbye hurts like getting stabbed, but if I am to be the Lord of the Nocturne Court, I need to be worthy of it.
Crab’s salivating and nervously stomping at our side, and I pet his neck as the mountain of mangled flesh comes ever closer. Like the embodiment of death, it obscures even the moon. I mount my kelpie, turn it around, and storm toward the gate of the arena, with Luke’s weightless presence behind me.
While I sense his arms around my waist, a shadow cannot speak, so the touch will have to suffice for reassurance.
I pull on the mask made of the same squid leather as my outfit. It has artificial gills at the cheeks to help me breathe underwater if Crab needs to dive. The glass lenses obscure some of my vision, but it’s better than salt stingingmy eyes.
There’s no time to lose. When we reach the edge of the arena, I slap my mount on the side, and the kelpie dives straight into the sea, unafraid of the beast ready to devour our hearts. Or maybe he just doesn’t yet comprehend the threat.
Anatole is ahead of me, and while no one has spoken about it, it seems obvious that if either of us manages to stop Heartbreak, the title of Lord will be theirs. I have no doubt that is what propels my ratbag of a cousin toward the terror in front of us against all reason.
Crab twitches under me as his hindquarters shift into their true form, but while he attempts to dash to the side at first, almost as if he’s trying to flee from the monster, I pull on the reins and click my tongue to direct him back toward the mass of twitching flesh. The moonlight reveals only so much from afar, but my stomach sinks, and my thighs stiffen as it rolls my way. Every instinct in my body tells me to run as far as I can and leave others to be devoured, but I am better than that, and it doesn’t matter that what I can observe of the creature is as big as a third of my castle. We’re in deep waters, and for all I know, I am only seeing a fraction of its corpulent form on the surface.
We don’t know how many hearts we need to find and stab to make the beast retreat, as a number has never been determined. It will be my job to eviscerate as many as needed, and if I’m lucky, Anatole will help, not hinder my efforts. At this point, I’d even be willing to do the leviathan challenge with him again, if we both survive. It seems like child’s play in comparison to the task ahead.
Luke presses my cheek, making me look to the side in time to notice a massive wave. I urge Crab to duck under it, and my steed couldn’t be happier, as it's in the water that he is most in his element.
As soon as I can see under the waves, I’m struck that the ball of flesh, bone, and blubber reaches so deep I can’t see the end of it. It’s so enormous the farthest parts of it disappear in the darkness beneath us.
We emerge much closer to the creature, and my heart beats unnaturally fast. As if it can sense that if I die here, it will be forever entombed in Heartbreak’s monstrous body.
The despairs now seem like barely dandruff shed by the beast, specks of dust in comparison to the size of this behemoth.
“Cold feet?” Anatole yells, even though he’s surely on the verge of losing his mind as well.
The flesh mountain pulses, as if the countless souls it’s swallowed over millennia are attempting to get out, but I know that the arms, legs, and grotesque tentacles growing out of the misshapen creature wiggle about looking for their next victim, not freedom.
Purple like bruised flesh, it’s so close the proximity is making my head spin, as if I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, but then Crab whinnies, losing balance, and I spot an intestine-like tendril wrapped around my mount’s front leg. Terror crawls up my spine, but Luke’s shadow holds me closer, and I snap out of my stupor, reaching for my sword. I let my own darkness cover the blade, unwilling to waste Luke's shadow for anything but the beast's hearts. I hold on to Crab’s mane as I lean down and sever the tentacle, freeing him.
I don’t bother to acknowledge Anatole’s childish question, too startled by the screech of dozens of mouths opening all over Heartbreak’s flank, and as I pull on Crab’s reins to slow him, eyes open to stare at me. Some are human, some in colors only elves can have, some dilated with fear, others squint at me, full of anger.
When Crab bucks under me and whinnies, I ignore the fear burning in the pit of my stomach, slide my feet out of the stirrups and stand on my steed’s back. Crab’s trembling under me, unsteady as he recoils from the reach of a long arm with skin peeling off to reveal bone. It’s shaped like an elf's but vastly longer, as if it belonged to an ancestor outgrowing me by half.
I don'twantto see more of the beast, but I need unobstructed vision to succeed so I pull my mask off. I regret it when I get a whiff of the pungent stench of Heartbreak's flesh.
But before Crab can shake me off, I leap up, using my shadow to give myself momentum. Luke’s touch is constant, as if his weightless presence is a long-lost limb, not a ghost at my side. I wish us both a good judgment day as I descend onto the huge predator and stab a bloated mound of flesh pulsing in an all-too familiar rhythm.
When pus seeps out of the open wound revealing a tar-black heart, I can no longer push away the inevitable. I need Luke's potent shadow.
I stare up at him, worried he might back out, too afraid now that he's seeing the madness up close, but his expressionless face remains turned toward me. He steps closer, knowing exactly what I have to do.
My Dark Companion spreads his arms in invitation, and I press the tip of my blade to his chest. I dip the Gloomdancer into his shadow, unreasonably worried. Iknowwhat I'm doing, just smothering the sword without hurting my mate in any way, but it still messes with my head to see a blade embedded in his chest.
