The Heart of the Darkness

by M. J. Padgett

  “What does it say?”

  “I didn’t think anything of it when I first translated it. I thought it was just old folklore like the rest of the book, but I can’t deny how similar it seems now. I’ll grab my journal where I translated it, and you can see for yourself,” Ava said.

  When she returned, we read over her shoulder with bated breath. There, in my best friend’s perfect, flowing penmanship, was the answer we sought for so long. We finally knew what Cole was... and that we had no hope of stopping him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Annabell

  Somewhere in Das Unbekannte

  “COLE, WHAT ARE YOU doing?” I asked as I wove through the trees, searching for him. It was late, and the sun was nearly tucked behind the horizon, but the early evening chill didn’t bother me. I enjoyed the cold, but I did not enjoy wandering the forest searching for my beloved.

  “I have a surprise for you, Elfriede, if you can catch me,” Cole said, and a thick spread of underbrush shook before a flash of darkness crossed my path and darted south.

  “Oh, I do tire of your games of catch, Cole! Wait for me!” I stomped my foot then decided I had better run if I didn’t want to be left out in the forest all night without my surprise. I darted through the trees again, listening for any rustling and watching for his shadow.

  “Over here,” he teased, then crossed my path again with such speed I hardly saw him.

  I stopped in my tracks and crossed my arms. “I will not be teased,” I said and tilted my chin upward.

  Cole rushed forward and stopped in front of me, strands of his black hair falling into his face. He had grown and filled in quite a bit over the years, and now he was a handsome man whose face occupied far too many of my dreams, not to mention my waking hours.

  “Petulant child, they said. It seems they were right about you,” he taunted.

  I pursed my lips. “What would they know? They hardly knew I disappeared,” I said and dropped my hands to my sides.

  “Petulance will get you nowhere with me, little princess. Now, tuck your lip back in and stop behaving like a spoiled child.”

  Tears sprung in my eyes, so I turned away from him. “That was unkind and unnecessary.”

  Cole turned me back, pulled me into his embrace, and kissed my forehead. “I am sorry, but you must know by now that everything I do is for you. Surely, you cannot believe I would not give you your surprise? As for them, it is their loss, my love, and if they were to see you now, they would fall at your feet and beg for your forgiveness. Come, I will take you to your gift.”

  His hand slid down my arm, where his fingers tangled between mine. I followed him at speed more appropriate for a human, which I knew annoyed him, but he made no complaints. I knew the path well. We were headed to our special place, a hidden field of wildflowers where we often lay together staring at the clouds. But once we left the thick forest, I was taken by surprise. Where there had once been a field now stood a grand castle fit for the wealthiest queen in all the world.

  I gasped and gripped my dress at my chest. “Cole?”

  His smile dipped into a single dimple on the right. “Do you love it?”

  “For me?” I stared up at the sweeping arches and towers.

  “Anything for you, Elfriede.”

  “How did you do this? And so fast?”

  “Never mind all that. Come, let’s explore your castle, shall we?”

  I was startled awake when a chill took me. Cole was gone, but his scent and the warm place in the pine needles where he slept remained. He had not been gone long. It was snowing, and a thick blanket covered the trees. I brushed it from my dress and stood to evaluate my surroundings once again. Nothing felt amiss, but one could never be too sure where Cole was concerned.

  A twig snapped behind me, so I spun on my heel and smashed my face directly into Cole’s chest. He stopped me from falling on my rear, but his touch was not what I expected. I smelled smoke, and not of the campfire sort. He’d been in his dragon form, but why?

  When I finally let my eyes lift to his, his hard jaw and stiff frame eased, and he released me.

  “I was hunting,” he said.

  “For food or for my family?” I asked shivering.

  “Neither. Won’t you let me take you home, Elfriede? You’ll freeze out here,” he begged as he offered me another blanket made of deerskins.

  “Home is not where you’ll take me, and we both know that. The castle is not my home now, nor do I wish for it to be again.” I pulled the skins tight around my shoulders, but they did little to ease the chill.

  Cole clenched his jaw again but said nothing. Instead, he dropped half a deer carcass by the fire, rammed a branch through it, and tossed it on top of the fire where it hissed and spit. He stomped away, fuming.

  “Petulance will get you nowhere with me, little wolf,” I said. I didn’t need to look to know I had stopped him in his tracks. His steady breaths puffed in my ear as the tension rose. I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined Wil and the love we shared—would share—and it kept my heart in its proper place.

  By the time Cole figured out what I was doing, I’d have to kill him just to put him out of his misery. I hated it. I hated pulling him in then pushing him away, a game of tug of war that would confuse him so much he couldn’t tell up from down. I never wanted to use love as a weapon, but if I were to save my family, I had no choice.

  “Ellie?”

  “You haven’t called me Ellie in a long time,” I said, shivering at the name. The softness of his voice lulled me for a moment, so I bit my tongue and let the pain keep me focused.

  “You haven’t been my Ellie in a long time. You’ve been other things—a blasted star, a spirit, a child... You have tortured me for centuries, left me without reason, forsaken our love for another, denied me, and yet my love for you has not changed. You, however, must have fallen and hit your head.”

  I spun on my heel. “Why do you say that?”

  “Little wolf? You’ve not called me that thousands of moons.”

  “I’ve called you plenty of things,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “You have me here. I haven’t tried to leave, and yet you can’t seem to figure it out.”

  Cole laughed a belly rumble that brightened his eyes, if only for a moment. “Oh, I have. It is for your enjoyment as always, but fear not my star before the day is done, you will love me again, as truly and as deeply as you once did.”

  “How can you be sure of that?”

  He stepped forward and let his hands settle on my shoulders. “Because, Ellie, when you loved me before, it was not magic or my abilities holding you here. It was real love, whether you trust it or not, and the love we had doesn’t just disappear. You’ll see. You’ll remember everything soon enough, and you’ll see.”

  I swallowed hard, but the knot in my throat stuck like a stone. What if he was right? What if the love I’d had for him was real and not induced by his ability? What if there was a missing piece of the puzzle I had forgotten or shut away so well I couldn’t retrieve it after all these centuries. I shivered again, but he mistook my discomfort for a chill.

  “Please, Ellie, let me take you to our home. There or here is all the same, so you should be comfortable. We can do the ceremony there, assuming you are amiable by then.”

  “The ceremony? You expect me to unite with you again after all you have done?”

  “You will fight against me?” He released my shoulders and stood, awaiting my reply. If only he were not what he was... If only he had not done the things he had done... If only I had not pushed him to do more... If only. I could think about that until the end of time, but it would change nothing.

  “I won’t,” I said. I closed my eyes and set up my first lie. “I... think some part of me knows you are right. I still...”

  I held down the bile that threatened to spill from my lips, which was also misunderstood by Cole. I felt his hands on my arms, pulling me closer until the smell of smoke and pine filled my senses.

&nbs
p; “I love you, Ellie, and that will remain true until the end of time. You’ve had my heart since that first day in the forest. I know what I am and what I do disgusts you, but you cannot blame a gosling for growing into a goose. As such, how can you blame me for growing into what I am?”

  “Cole, it’s not the same,” I said and pushed away from him.

  “How? Was I not born to hold this evil inside of me? Is my purpose on earth for anything else?” He raised his hands into the air in a sweeping motion before letting them fall to his sides again. “When you found me after my first absorption, it gave me hope. I believed someone might care for me despite what I am and what I must be for all eternity.”

  “Eternity?” I asked, testing him. “You have the ability to pass your curse on to another.”

  His shoulders slumped, but his jaw tensed again. “For all the love I have for you, and it is vast, I cannot contemplate a world in which I ask you to bear my child. I cannot imagine passing this... this thing on to another.”

  “You won’t have children?”

  “I wish that I could, especially when I look upon your face and know how beautiful and wonderful they might be. No, I will not bring life into this world to ease my own curse.”

  I snickered. “But you can manage to maim and murder innocent life just fine. Like my family, for example.”

  “There is nothing innocent about those abominations you love so dearly,” Cole shouted. “Their ancestors ravaged the land once your father died, leaving you with nothing!”

  “Cole, everyone thought I was dead!” I raised my own hands in frustration. “Of course, the neighboring lands fought over the kingdom. Would you have them leave it to go to ruin? For the people to live without a ruler? For Heaven’s sake, Cole, it was the natural progression of things.”

  He pursed his lips. “It doesn’t matter. This forest is yours and—”

  “What if I told you I don’t want it? What if...” I paused, steeling myself. “What if... What if I just realized right now, here with you, that you are the only thing I want?”

  Cole took a single step back, then said, “I would say you are lying. You can’t expect me to believe any of this.”

  “I don’t expect you would understand a woman’s heart, but that doesn’t change anything. Leave my family alone, stay with me, and I swear that I will never leave you again.”

  “Never? You won’t run off a cliff like before when things become too hard to bear? When something happens that insults your sensibilities? Because it will get harder and things will happen that you will not like, at least until I can contain the rest of the Darkness and eliminate...”

  His pause went on for too long, indicating he had no intention of completing his thought.

  “Eliminate what? The Seven Sworn?” I asked with a bitter tongue.

  “You’ll remember when it’s time. You would not believe anything I tell you in earnest anyway. The question stands. Will you stay, or will you eventually run away?”

  “I won’t run away. I will live in the castle with you forever, but you must promise, Cole. Promise me you will not harm them, that you will let them live out their lives in peace.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Ellie. My power is unstable. I could hurt you,” he said. He sat on the log and looked up at me. That look, the one that said he really would rather die than hurt me, was the same one that had pulled me in a thousand times before.

  “You won’t, Cole. I can manage this, and it won’t hurt me. I’m stronger now.”

  “I took your light today, just a small speck, and you were out for hours. You cannot level out my darkness, not every day. I must absorb the power of the Seven Sworn, and if you grant me just that, I swear I will not harm a hair on anyone else’s head. Let me have the power that will steady me to do my work, and the rest are free.”

  For a moment, the slightest fraction, I considered his offer. Hayden, Jack, Dominic, and Wil would be safe. Everyone else in the forest would live on, and Cole would no longer be a problem for them—or so I hoped, but I could not be sure. I squeezed my eyes tight and eliminated the possibility from my mind. I could not sacrifice seven to save the rest. It was not an option, but agreeing to his offer would give me time to plan my next move.

  “Alright, Cole. If you swear it to me, then I will allow you those seven.”

  Cole shifted on the log and stared into the forest. “I don’t want to do this, Ellie. Don’t you remember anything more of me than... than that?”

  I stared at the back of his head, thinking back over the hundreds of years since the day we met in the forest. We shared happy times, of course, though those were more difficult to remember than the sad ones or the ones bathed with blood and the murder of innocent people. Even so, I could not shake the feeling that something was out of place. I felt like a broken clock stuck in one time while the rest of the world moved forward without me.

  “I remember death and misery, Cole. That is all.” I sighed and closed my eyes. I wished there had been more, then perhaps Cole could be persuaded to do good instead of evil, but life was never that easy.

  “You truly believe every memory you have of me was me alone? That every drop of blood spilled and every ounce of darkness I absorbed was by my own choice?” His voice wavered, but he refused to look at me. I could almost see his eyes in my mind, dark and smokey, just a moment from uncontrolled flame that would show how deep his anger and frustration ran.

  He turned to face me, surprising me when I saw nothing but dark brown irises.

  “Ellie?”

  I realized I had not answered him. “I should rest in case you need more,” I said, then turned away from him to go into the cave. Something had changed, but I could not put my finger on it, not with any degree of confidence. Cole’s ever-changing temperament was one thing, but this change was not within him—it was in me. There was something, a hesitation in my heart that had nothing to do with Cole and everything to do with a tickling in my brain that refused to be ignored. Cole was right. I forgot something, and that something might be the key to everything.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sierra

  The Vogel Castle, Goldene Stadt

  STELLA HARDLY HAD ANY personal possessions, so her packing took under ten minutes while Jemma continued to assess what she might need after joining a rebel group. They aren’t even rebels. This is ridiculous.

  Stella shot a glare my way as Jemma sighed, indicating my curse had struck again. When would I learn to keep my thoughts in my head?

  “They were rebels when Snow was in charge, and it is not ridiculous. Think of it as more of a resistance effort against the Darkness now,” Jemma said. “Did you think the villagers would just sit around waiting to be rescued?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Jemma.” I traced the floral pattern on her bed covers while she shoved comfortable clothing into a suitcase. Stella leaned against the bedpost, occasionally making comments that certain clothing would be a disaster in the field. I liked Stella, and I wanted to be as close to her as a sister could be, but Cecily was much better at making friends than I had ever been. That coupled with the fact that Cecily and Jack had been rescued by Stella, it was no wonder Stella gravitated toward them rather than me.

  “I know you didn’t mean it in a negative way, Sierra, but could you please try to understand why I need to do this?” Jemma pursed her lips as she stared at me, her hand paused over her bag with a shirt dangling from it.

  “Have you even told Ross?” I asked, wondering what her brand-new boyfriend thought of her running off to join a resistance group with a Huntress—not just a Huntress, but a butt-kicking scary one.

  “He knows, and he supports me. Once they find a way to help Alorna and the others that are frozen under Kai’s spell, he’ll join me there. I already spoke to Brant about it, and he said it would be fine.”

  “So, is everyone just leaving?” I asked. I knew it was a low blow, but with Cecily obsessing over Felix, who was constantly at his sister’s sid
e, Jemma leaving, and the thought that I might not get to watch my son grow up, I was feeling lost and alone.

  Jemma sat beside me on the bed. “I’m not leaving, Sierra. This is no different than a trip to the Salien or Bastian castles, or even one of our trips to America. We need to end this, and preferably before...” She faded as if she had finally realized what truly bothered me. Stella shifted her weight and pushed off the bedpost to sit across from us.

  “You’re worried about the merge, and what will happen if you don’t succeed?” Stella asked in her usual blunt tone.

  I tried not to bristle when she used that tone. She had saved my sister and the others, and she could have easily killed Calla to ensure the Darkness could not absorb her power before they even left France, but she didn’t. Even so, there was that one thing that I couldn’t let go of no matter how hard I tried, and I had tried considering she was practically my sister—she would kill Calla and me and the other members of the Seven Sworn if necessary, and I wasn’t so sure it would bother her all that much.

  Stella narrowed her eyes. I’d done it again.

  “Someone really should spell you into keeping your mouth shut permanently,” she said, but it was with a grin. “Sierra, I will not take pleasure in killing you, not even a little. I promise I will wait until there is literally no other option to prevent the Darkness from taking you. I don’t want Hans to grow up without you. I wouldn’t gleefully kill someone that I... that I care about.” Stella’s cheeks flushed, and her gaze fell to the floral bed covers.

  I felt my jaw fall open a little. It had only been a few days since we met, but she had been kinder to my family and me than she had been to the others, especially Cecily, as she wallowed in misery. It wasn’t that I blamed my sister. I would do the same, but that didn’t change the fact that I needed Cecily by my side for the hard parts. I needed my sister, but she needed to be elsewhere doing other things for other people who needed her as much as I did.