Lucero by Maya Motayne

Author:Maya Motayne [Motayne, Maya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

26

The Stranger in the Window

Dezmin didn’t know how much more he could take, how much more he could watch.

But he had no choice.

A man stood before Sombra, his eyes still white at the edges, shadow quivering at his feet. Urine soaked his trousers, pooling around his shoes. Much like the victims who had come before him, Dezmin could see he was too afraid to speak, too afraid to move.

Frustrated that Dezmin’s body became depleted, almost to the brink of death, whenever the god used his magic, Sombra had decided to feed to keep the body from collapsing. And Dezmin would be a witness to it all.

“Come now, don’t be afraid,” Sombra said gently, gripping the man by the shoulder, like a father soothing a child. The man looked up at Sombra hopefully, his shadow calming slightly. Dezmin wanted to tell him this was Sombra’s favorite part—stoking his victim’s hope before snuffing it out. “This world will end regardless. I will give your death righteous purpose.”

The man tried to step back, but the god’s fingers curled tight over his shoulder, holding him in place. Dezmin could feel the excitement welling up in Sombra. Their fear whetted his appetite, seasoned the meat.

Sombra could not feed on the shadowless—they were extensions of him, the equivalent of gnawing on his own arm. So he’d demanded that the shadowless bring him any Castallanos with propios. This man was not the first and Dezmin feared he would not be the last either.

The man began to panic, his nose running as he begged. “Please, please, no! I—”

Sombra took in a deep breath and the man’s voice faded into a croak. Ribbons of light flowed out of him, turning black as they poured down Sombra’s throat. He fed off the corruption of the light. Nothing else could sate him. The man’s body began to gray, drying out until it was only a husk. When Sombra pulled his hand back, the man collapsed into gray dust.

The throne room floor, once as white as the clouds it was made of, was now gray with dried flakes of flesh and bone.

Sombra gave a satisfied sigh. “Much better.”

The god had found a way to fortify himself, to stave off destruction until he secured all the relics and assumed his immortal form. Now there was no hope of Sombra destroying himself and Dezmin from the strain of it all. Nothing to stop him from hunting Alfie.

Dezmin wondered how his brother was faring. Was he still alive? Dezmin wanted to try to reach out again, but if Sombra wasn’t sufficiently distracted he’d be caught. And then he’d have no chance of warning Alfie.

The sound of heavy footsteps rang out from the hall beyond the throne room. Two shadowless strode through the doors, dragging someone by the shoulders. Dezmin was surprised to see long hair so blond it was nearly white. The woman wore the winter kingdom’s dueño robes, white as the snow they loved so much. How—and where—had they found an Uppskalan dueña? The woman raised her head and Dezmin’s heart froze.

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