The dagger trembled in Sunrei's grip.
Kaelis no, the thing wearing her face stood before him, wreathed in violet fire. The Eclipse Crown pulsed on her brow, its jagged edges digging into her skin like claws. Her eyes flickered between familiar brown and hollow violet, her voice a war between the girl he knew and the monster she'd become.
Do it, Kaelis gasped, her fingers twitching toward his wrist. Before it's too
Her body jerked as the Crown flared, violet light swallowing the last remnants of her. When she spoke again, the voice was layered a chorus of whispers that weren't hers.
Strike me down, Prince, and the Maw consumes us all.
Lithriel laughed from where she knelt in the sand, her silver hair whipping in the unnatural wind. You see? There are no heroes here. Only sacrifices.
Sunrei's brand burned hotter than ever before, its light seeping through his skin, his veins, his bones. The pain should have crippled him. Instead, it cleared his mind.
He remembered.
Everything.
Memory:
A younger Sunrei stood in this same spot, the Maw's shadow looming over him. Not to destroy to bargain.
Lithriel at his side, her hands steady as she pressed the first brand to his wrist.
This will hurt, she whispered.
It's supposed to, he replied.
The memory shifted
The brands weren't chains. They were shields.
The Maw couldn't be killed.
Only contained.
And for that, it needed a king.
Sunrei gasped back to the present as the Eclipse Crown pulsed again, its light spreading through Kaelis like poison.
Lithriel's smile was triumphant. You understand now. She's the vessel. The Crown is the lock. And you
Sunrei moved.
Not toward Kaelis.
Toward Lithriel.
His dagger found her heart before she could react.
Lithriel gasped, her perfect face twisting in shock as black blood bubbled from her lips. Wha?
Sunrei twisted the blade. You lied to me then. You're lying now.
The sand beneath them shifted.
The Maw screamed.
Kaelis collapsed as the Crown's light flickered, her body convulsing.
Lithriel grabbed Sunrei's wrist, her nails digging into his brand. Fool. Without her, the Maw wakes. Without the Crown, it feasts.
Sunrei leaned closer. Then I'll give it something better.
He yanked the dagger free
And plunged it into his own chest.
Agony.
White-hot and all-consuming.
Sunrei's blood black now, thick with brand-light splashed across Lithriel's face, her neck, her brand. She shrieked as it burned through her, the marks on her skin writhing like living things.
No! NO!
The Eclipse Crown shattered.
Violet light erupted from Kaelis's brow as the Crown dissolved, its fragments scattering like ash. She gasped, her eyes snapping back to brown just for a heartbeat before rolling back in her head.
The Maw's voice shook the world:
MINE.
Sunrei fell to his knees, his lifeblood pouring into the sand.
AT LAST.
Darkness crept at the edges of his vision.
The last thing he saw was Kaelis's hand reaching for him.
Then
Nothing.
Silence.
Sunrei opened his eyes.
White flowers stretched endlessly in every direction, their petals drifting on a wind that didn't exist. The sky was a perfect, endless blue.
Lina sat beside him, weaving a crown of black blossoms.
Hello, brother.
Sunrei's chest ached. Am I dead?
Lina smiled. Not yet.
She placed the crown on his head.
The flowers burned.
Sunrei gasped back to life on the shore, his wound sealing as black veins spread from his brand, covering his skin like armor.
The Maw loomed above him, its vast form trembling.
KING.
Sunrei rose.
The brands answered.
Every marked one, living or dead, turned as one as the power shifted. The Maw's essence poured into Sunrei, through him, its hunger becoming his, its rage his rage.
Kaelis stirred at his feet, her brands darkening as the Crown's hold broke.
Lithriel writhed in the sand, her own marks consuming her. You fool, she rasped. You've doomed us all.
Sunrei looked down at her.
No, he said softly.
I've set us free.
Then
He pulled.
The Maw screamed.
Its vast form collapsed inward, drawn into Sunrei's brand like water down a drain. The violet storm shattered, its fragments dissolving into light.
The brands on every marked one flared once, twice
Then splintered.
The power didn't vanish.
It changed.
Sunrei fell to his knees as the last of the Maw's essence settled inside him, its voice now his, its hunger his to control.
Kaelis's hand found his.
Her brands were gone.
So were Lithriel's.
So were all of them.
Except one.
Sunrei's brand pulsed, its light no longer violet.
Gold.