Except now he cares more for himself, for his love of darkness, than he does for her. A Kiss of Infinity is a powerful thing. Whatever David did has interfered with a force I’m not sure even he understands.
I swallow hard, biting back the choice words I ought to sling. I drive patience into my bones, into every muscle and tendon that throbs in anticipation of pummeling him. He wants to wait, we’ll wait.
At last he ceases and says, “You and I both know we do not have the time to sit here at your leisure.” His eyes are downcast, head hanging between his knees. “I divulged as much as I could the first time you came down here. I’ve no clue as to Gage’s current whereabouts, and as far as Isabeau is concerned, it seems the others are prepared to leave at first light.”
He jerks his chin toward the low ceiling. “I shall be left behind to live out my days as a prisoner, just as our grandfather Rafaj before me. Makai Archer will sweep his darling Elizabeth as far away from the Fairy Queen as possible. And you.” His glare tightens. There’s no mistaking the malice in his gaze. “You will search for my true love, only to come up short. Eliyana will never know you as she once did. Sure, she’ll recognize you. She will even gain back her memories of you piece by broken piece. But the love she held for you? The bond you two shared?” He shakes his head. “I am afraid that, dear brother, is broken forever.”
He’s been too helpful. Too much of an open book. He’s trying to distract me from something. Doing his best to give me everything so I won’t notice I’m missing the only detail I need.
“What’s your name, Shadowalker? Josh, was it?”
He grunts.
He must gather I’m on to him. We all are. Even his voice is off, different from before. It lacks warmth, life. When he introduced himself as Josh yesterday, I knew he had more than a mere alter ego going on. “I suspect Joshua David is still in there somewhere. I’ll deal with him if and when he chooses to surface.” I lean forward. “But you and me?” I gesture between us. “We can’t come to any sort of arrangement unless you help me out here.”
His shoulders sink like a weight in the water. He cocks his head.
Now I’ve commanded his attention.
“You think you’re clever, don’t you, Kyaphus?” He places the emphasis on my full name, anticipating it will faze me, no doubt.
Though it lights a smoldering fume deep inside, I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing the effect he has. “Kyaphus is the name of the lesser man within.” The name my farce of a father, Tiernan Archer, called me when he was beating me black and blue for not living up to his impossible expectations. “It’s just Ky.” The shortened name my mother bestowed. She said it meant “strait of water.”
“You are destined for greatness, my son,” she would explain as she tucked me in at night, Khloe propped on her hip. “One boy intended for a much larger purpose. You may see yourself as small now, but one day the grand picture will come into focus. Then you will see. You are designed to join oceans. You will change the Reflections as we know them.”
Every mother holds high hopes for her child. But mine wasn’t even my real mother. I didn’t know at first, but she was always aware of it. And she treated me as her own anyway.
“That’s real love,” I mutter.
“Come again?” David who is not David watches me now. “What are you rambling on about?”
I smile to myself. Another thing Em and I have in common is getting lost in our own heads. Which, I’ll admit, was much more fun when I was actually in her head, and when she was in mine. All the more reason we’re perfect for each other.
“As I was saying, it’s Ky.” I scratch at the Void snaking around my right bicep. Clench and unclench my left fist. Kyaphus will not surface. I won’t allow it. The last time he showed up, he nearly got us both killed. “Now then.” My fingers intertwine in my lap. “Explain what you did, and we can go from there.”
He shrugs and leans back. His hands are bound and attached to a vertical pipe beside him. If he’s uncomfortable he doesn’t show it.
This guy really is a piece of work. David kept his own darkness suppressed for so long, when he finally let it loose, an egotistical monster arose. “You haven’t fooled anyone, you know. You may think you can pass as a jaded version of yourself, but I smelled Shadowalker the moment your sword ran through my baby sister.”
The reminder makes me question my own sanity. How am I this calm?
“Are you so weak you can’t invoke justice on the man who almost killed Khloe?” Kyaphus chimes in, ever the pest.
Ah yes, that’s right. I’m attempting to keep my personal issues with him out of this. Otherwise there’s no telling what I, or Kyaphus, might do to him.
I fight the umpteenth urge to rearrange Josh’s face. “The others are aware of what you’ve become. Wren is the only one who isn’t convinced, but even she must realize”—I rub my chin—“you’re a Shadowalker. You bow to the very darkness trapped inside these bones.” I twist my arms, palms up.
His forehead creases. “Believe what you like, but Shadowalkers are a myth. A story created to keep children from hitting their siblings or running away from home.” The lie rolls off his tongue.
I shift and bring one knee up, clasping it against my chest. “Josh.” My upper lip curls. Man, I wish Em were here. Aside from the fact this guy is basically her ex, we’d make a great interrogation team. Like one of those good cop–bad cop scenarios on the Third’s TV shows. “I know your secret. If Shadowalkers are a myth, then I’m looking at a legend.”
He scowls.
I lift one eyebrow, a talent of mine. “Anyway.” I rise, dusting off my rear, and retrieve my knife and sheath. “Now that your identity is cleared up, tell me what you did to her and we can begin to undo your mistake.”
He laughs again. The sound echoes. “It can’t be undone, you fool. The break is permanent.”
The break. Indeed. “‘Nothing is permanent . . .’”
He winces at my words, the start of a phrase my mother used to quote. I wish I could remember the rest of it. I’ll have to skim through the book of fables Countess Ambrose gave me at the nearest opportunity. Volume 1 of Once Upon a Reflection is teeming with useful information for those who know where to look. Not really a book of fables at all. The Scrib’s Fate was based upon what happened when the Verity created the Void. What other stories might be events in history rather than mere parables?
“That’s where you’re wrong, Brother.” And this would count as the second time he’s acknowledged our relationship. “The Elixir destroyed your soul bond. It’s nearly impossible to restore.”
“Nearly isn’t completely.” The hope I already contained continues to grow, grabbing on to my heart, guarding it from the Void.
“It doesn’t matter,” he spits. He’s coming off 99 percent confident. But I see that 1 percent. And it’s telling me exactly what I need to know. “The likelihood of you sharing the antidote is one chance in a million. A splinter in a pile of ruins.”
It won’t be easy, but it is possible. And possible is all I need.
“Here’s something you haven’t considered.” This time I’m the one diverging. “And perhaps this will enlighten us as to why the Callings seem to be returning, but why the Thresholds—at least the one behind this cottage—continue to drain. Em—Eliyana—doesn’t remember me, or more accurately, she has forgotten us. I’m afraid you have the upper hand there. But a connection remains. When I touched her, she knew me, and not just me but the love we shared. Just as the Kiss of Infinity is more than a physical act, our touch raises something deeper. Something much more lasting than even your Elixir could alter. The Void enters the one who cares most for the Verity’s vessel. As long as that’s me, I will not stop fighting until she and I are together again. Heart and soul.”