The Heart of the Darkness

by M. J. Padgett

“Yeah. I know you only had my best interest at heart and given everything I’ve seen since Kai abducted me, I can understand why you did what you did.”

  “Wait, what? Kai abducted you?” Brant’s jaw tensed again.

  “Uh... maybe we don’t tell any more stories,” Ari said, tugging on my arm. I agreed, but something tickled my brain and distracted me. It started as a chill, then grew more intense as I stood there staring at the ground. A dull headache set in, then I heard it.

  Stella... are you there?

  I gasped—surprised but also pleased Annabell’s mind invasion didn’t hurt nearly as much this time. “Yeah, I’m here. Can you hear me?”

  I can. I’m glad it doesn’t hurt this time. I need your help.

  “What do you need?” I asked, much to the dismay of those around me.

  “Stella? What’s happening?” Ari asked.

  “I’m okay, just let me listen. It’s Annabell again.” I held up a finger and licked my lips, then focused on Annabell.

  Sorry to intrude. I need you to let the others know Jack and Hayden are safe. They are helping me prepare for the next phase. Cole is coming. He will take the Seven. Don’t fight him, not too much. He has promised to spare everyone else.

  I blinked, trying to focus. “You... you’re letting him take the Seven? I thought the plan was to stop him from taking them. I told you they will die if—”

  It’s a trick, Stella. Please trust me. I won’t let them die, and I won’t let him absorb them, I swear.

  “It’s sort of hard to trust you when I can’t even be sure it’s you. How do I know you’re not Cole tricking me?”

  What can I do to prove to you that it’s me?

  I thought for a moment, hoping something would come to mind that only Annabell would know. “When I arrived in the forest, and you dragged me away, you asked me something. What was it?”

  I asked if you were a good hunter.

  “And what did you tell your father when he found us talking?”

  We were having a tea party.

  I relaxed, but not enough to let my guard down entirely. “Okay. I’ll let everyone know. And, um, thanks for not making my head explode this time.”

  An unfortunate circumstance of the first contact. It shouldn’t hurt anymore since you willingly let me in. Please tell my family not to fight. Cole is restrained, but I cannot say that will last if he is provoked too far. He might lash out and harm someone if attacked.

  I felt Annabell exit my mind the way she came, with a small amount of discomfort followed by a chill that left me feeling a little more violated than I cared to admit. Everyone stared at me with bated breath, anticipating what Annabell had to say.

  “He’s coming for the Seven. Come on, we need to talk,” I said and urged them back to the bunker. Annabell didn’t want us to fight Cole, but she had forgotten one thing—we didn’t know any other way. Fighting was all we had.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Annabell

  Elfriede’s Castle, Das Unbekannte

  COMMUNICATING WITH Stella had gone much smoother, but it still drained a lot of my energy. I hoped she trusted me because if she didn’t, there was no doubt all chaos would break loose once Cole made his move. For a moment, I thought I should contact her again to remind her that fighting was a bad idea, but I did not have the energy. All I could do was hope she would assess the situation, see that I was right, and contain herself and the other hunters.

  I stood and stretched, then crossed the room to the bed. Jack and Hayden were asleep, so I covered them with another blanket and made my way downstairs to the gardens. I needed time to process, and the cold weather would help me cleanse my mind.

  I had only taken one step into the garden when I saw Cole’s shadow. I’d know it anywhere, the way it moved and melded with the darkness, how it morphed from one shape to another, and how the light seemed to shy away from it. I needed to speak with him, if only to confirm our agreement that he would not harm anyone in his attempt to retrieve the Seven Sworn.

  I trudged through the new-fallen snow, now calf-deep. When I approached, his hand moved swiftly across his face, and he stood with his back to me.

  “Cole?”

  He turned to face me, but it was too dark to see his face clearly. Even so, his ragged breathing and his constant swiping said all that need be said. Cole’s tears hit me hard, like a thousand-pound boulder that crushed my heart until there was nothing recognizable that remained. One would think it impossible for anything to cause such pain for an instrument of death and destruction, yet it seemed I always found a way to break him. I was his only weakness, and I hated it.

  “I will take the Seven when day breaks. I thought you should know,” he said curtly.

  “And you will honor our agreement?” I asked.

  He snickered. “Yes, I will honor our agreement. It is the only thing you truly care for, after all.”

  “That’s not true, Cole,” I said. I sat on the bench he’d just vacated and stared into the night. All I could see were stars, but I felt his presence not only beside me but deep in my heart and in my soul.

  “I wish you had never found me back then. Maybe then my life wouldn’t seem so meaningless, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much now,” he admitted.

  I grasped his hand and pulled him to sit beside me. “No, then the darkness would have taken you completely. This is your redemption, Cole, this ability to care about what you must do. I know you must do it and that some part of you enjoys it, but I also know that there is another part that despises all you are. That part loves me, and that you are capable of love is the reason you deserve so much more than life has given you.”

  “I cannot have more. I can never have more,” he said, finally relaxing on the bench beside me. “I cannot even refuse the evil if I wanted to, and as such, I will always be what I am.”

  “You are sure there is no other way?” I asked, testing one last time to see if there was something I had forgotten.

  “No. I cannot let the Darkness win. If I am to take back my control, then I must have the power necessary to harness the evil I absorb. The Seven will make me stronger so that I will regain my stability and then some. It’s coming, and I can only pray I will be strong enough to take in the vast amount I intend to—”

  “What? Cole, what are you talking about? What is coming?”

  His hand squeezed mine. “Ellie... Have you truly forgotten everything? Can you remember nothing more than you and me from your first life?”

  “There was no one else, Cole. Why do you do this? Why do you test my mind and try to push me to the brink of insanity?”

  “That is not what I am trying to do, my love. I only want you to...” He sighed and sat nearer to me. “I wish that you would remember so you might not hate me so much for what I must do. I have accepted that you adore those abomin... those people with all your heart and do not wish to reclaim your land, but I cannot bear the thought of you hating me for what I must do. Something is coming, Ellie. Someone. And she is closer to you than you realize. I had hoped you were playing a long game, so to speak, but now it is clear to me that you do not remember your past, not enough.”

  “So, tell me!” I squealed, my voice choked as tears threatened to spill.

  “Why? So that you can tell me I am lying to you? So you can deny it and hate me more than you already do? No. I’d rather do what I must to destroy what’s coming to ensure your safety than to have you attempt to stop me.”

  My head ached as I tried to decipher his words. It was clear he would not tell me the truth, but if I could push myself to remember, would it matter? Would it change what he had to do?

  “Enough of this. I only wanted to inform you of my plan to take the Seven, as we agreed. I will harm no one else, as promised.” He made a motion to stand, but I held tight to his hand. He might not be willing to tell me the truth, but our conversation was not finished.

  I swallowed, choosing the truth over the lies. If he were to die, then I wanted him to ha
ve something, anything that might bring happiness to the small part of him that deserved more than the life he was born into. That little light might be his only thread to a happier afterlife.

  “I do love you, Cole. Even with everything that has happened between us, I loved you then, and I still do now.”

  “You love him more,” he whispered. “And you should. He is everything I cannot be for you. I saw it in your eyes the night he died. Your light died alongside him, and it killed me.”

  “My love for him does not change what I felt for you or what I feel now.” I snickered. “I wish it did in some way, but truly, I cannot say I do not love you because it would be a lie.”

  “They say love and hate can feel the same.” I knew he turned his head to look at me, though I could hardly see him. The moon glistened in his eyes and cast a slight glow over his nose and cheeks, but nothing more.

  His hand was still in mine, so I pressed it against my chest just over my heart. “I want you to feel my heartbeat so that you will know I tell you the truth. I wish, with all my heart, that I could find some way to change your fate. You were the only person who ever cared about me back then, and I have not forgotten that. I do love you. I do. If anyone had told me it was possible to love two people so powerfully, I would have thought them crazy. But I do. The only difference between you and Wil is my ability to save you. I can save him, but you...”

  He squeezed my free hand in his and leaned his forehead against mine. “You didn’t mean what you said before, did you? That you would stay if I promised not to hurt those you love?”

  My heart started to race, betraying me. I shook my head slightly. “No, not then, but... but if there is some way... if there is something that I can do to change this for you... Surely, there must be some way to—”

  “There is not, Ellie. I am what I am, and that cannot change. What is coming will come no matter what you do, and I must be what I was born to be.” I felt his nose brush against mine and the warmth of his breath over my lips. “You will kill me, won’t you?”

  I choked on a sob, not even realizing how close the tears were. “I do not want to. With all my heart, I want to change this, but... if I cannot, then I must, Cole.”

  “You can’t kill an immortal being,” he whispered.

  “I must try, though it will be the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.” Tears fell over my cheeks and onto his hand.

  He closed the last centimeters and kissed me as delicately as one might a fragile flower. An aching spread through my chest, a longing for something I could never have with the one person who had seen me at both my best and worst and loved me all the same. I tried to remind myself of all the horrible things he had done, how unforgivable it all was, but all I could see was the man he wanted to be. It was a curse, and it was killing me slowly.

  He released me and cupped my cheeks in his palms. “I will not harm anyone you love, save those Seven. If you should choose to follow through with your plan to kill me, I will not fight you. I haven’t the will to.”

  Cole stood and released my cheeks. “I know who all Seven are. When next we meet, it will be on separate sides of this war. I love you, Ellie, and I will until the last moment.”

  A breeze tousled my hair, and he was gone.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Calla

  The Salien Castle, Schwarzwald

  “WHAT DID SHE SAY EXACTLY?” I asked, still confused. I had thought Stella and I had grown close enough that I could trust her, but what she said made no sense. Days ago, she was adamant that we had no idea what we were doing and should train to fight the hardest fight of our lives, and now...

  “She said you shouldn’t put up too much fight, just enough for Cole to think he’s gotten you of his own power, and he won’t harm anyone else. Meanwhile, she and Brant are preparing the resistance forces,” Marcus said.

  His entire statement felt more like a question given the nonsensical nature, but as much as I hated to admit, if there was a plan to defeat Cole, then keeping the others safe was probably the best thing to do. We already knew Cole could destroy our kingdom with very little effort, then make it back home just in time for a little afternoon tea.

  “She says Annabell speaks to her? Can we be sure it’s Annabell?” Ava asked.

  After discovering Cole’s true identity, we broke into a group that didn’t include Snow. There was just something about her that bugged us—probably her condescending attitude—and we didn’t want to be near her. We had spent considerable time discussing what we might do, but in the end, all we could do was sleep. Now that morning had come, things looked even bleaker.

  “She seemed pretty convinced.” Marcus moved in his chair and stared into the fire. “I don’t think she would take this lightly, so we should probably do as she said.”

  “What if it’s a trap?” Julianna asked. “What if Stella, as a hunter, doesn’t care what happens to us as long as—”

  “No,” I said. “No, she had every opportunity to take us all out many times over the past few days, especially once the Organization members were free of Cole’s influence. She’s not the sort to play the long game if the short game is just as efficient.”

  Caleb chuckled a bit, then said, “Ah, I don’t even know who to trust anymore. Honestly, I’m down to just the people in this room.”

  “Hey, we know Ely and the Vogels are still on our side. So are the Bastians and... Ugh, I’m beginning to understand what you mean,” Seline said. “Even so, I think we can trust our family.”

  “Technically, Stella is family to the Vogels,” Henry reminded. “But I must say she has changed significantly since her arrival. I do trust she wants what is best for the forest.”

  “Which means she might kill the Seven herself if necessary,” I admitted.

  “True, but she did swear she would not until the last possible moment,” Elizabeth added.

  Most of my siblings and their spouses, plus Brody and Heidi, were crammed into my personal chambers. I longed for it to be a happy moment, but none of us slept much during the night. By the time the sun peeked over the trees, everyone was in my room.

  Julianna and Caleb reclined against the wall, snuggled under a heavy blanket while Henry toyed with Seline’s hair across the room. Heidi paced while Brody followed, if only to lend his support in any way he could. Ava, wishing she had not been the harbinger of gloom and doom, sat in the chair across from Marcus. Elizabeth, having a brief moment away from her new son, knitted, to ease her anxiety while Jay regularly untangled her yarn. Ely was missing, of course, since he resided in Goldene Stadt with his wife and son, but Wil made up for the absence of Ely’s brooding by being extra broody.

  “I often wonder if we had never returned, might we all have fruitful lives in America?” Wil asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “Then the people would suffer. We have a duty to them, even if it means we sacrifice our own happiness,” Marcus said, ever the dutiful king. “Mother wishes to see us before breakfast. I nearly forgot.”

  “I saw Mother on a walk with David this morning. He came from Goldene Stadt last night,” Elizabeth said. Hayden’s father was likely distraught after Cole’s abduction of his daughter, and I realized how much suffering everyone endured daily.

  “This whole thing is so screwed up. Stella is probably right. We shouldn’t put anyone else through... I mean, it’s not fair to keep exposing people who aren’t...”

  “Easier to think than to say, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked, glancing up from her work to address me. “I’ve thought the same many times, but it is so hard to walk away from my son, as I am sure you understand.”

  “I do, but there are other children to think of as well. We must be sure everyone stays safe,” I said, but I no sooner finished my statement, and I heard the guard yelling outside. Something had happened, but I had a good idea I knew what it was.

  Shadows flickered on the wall but not from my measly fire. My breath caught as I followed Elizabeth’s gaze. My pulse raced like
it never had before, throbbing in my veins until I was sure anyone who looked at me would see them hopping under my skin. Henry ran to the balcony, gazed over the railing, then stepped back into the room... followed by Cole.

  The man, who appeared far younger than he could possibly be, entered through a cloud of thick smoke. He stretched his neck and looked around the room. Were he not the vessel of doom, I might have thought he belonged with us. In many ways, he resembled our family, but his eyes were of another world. They flamed with fire before dulling into a brown so dark they may as well have been black.

  “Katharine, it is time,” Cole said, his voice gravelly and cold. My throat caught as he extended his hand to me. The plan was to go without a fight. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, least of all my siblings or their beloved spouses, but I couldn’t make my feet move.

  Wil stood between us, his hands trembling. I knew that stance. He was ready to strike, to protect me with every ounce of his being, and that brought me back to my senses.

  “No, Wil!” I yelled just as my husband leaped at the monster. Cole deflected his attack with ease, tossing him aside. “Please,” I begged. “Please don’t hurt him!”

  “I promised my love I would not, and so it is a promise I will keep. Though he would be wise to stay where he sits,” Cole said, his eyes focused on Wil with such intensity they pinned my husband to the wall.

  Elizabeth stood, her knitting falling to the floor. Her fingers trembled as she stretched her hand out toward Cole. Jay tugged on her arm, but she only kissed his cheek and walked toward Cole, giving him her hand. My sister, braver than me in so many ways, accepted her fate to keep her family safe. And so, I had to do the same. I kissed Wil and rose to my feet, and threw a glance over my shoulder at my family, all standing huddled in position, ready to pounce.

  “I love you. Protect my son, please,” I said, then Cole snatched me up.

  Before I could register any movement, he had whipped through the balcony entry and leaped into the sky with Elizabeth and me in each arm. He shifted mid-air, dropping us both for a moment. Elizabeth screamed, but mine was locked in my throat. Before we came too close to the ground, Cole swooped down and caught us each in his long talons. We were caught in his grip on our way to certain death... but no one else got the memo they should not fight him.