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He’s still in there, somewhere.
King Njord booms with laughter, making Edward frown as my brother possessively grips me by the elbow. “I’ve waited a long time for your arrival on this island,” he purrs.
“I’m no one,” I insist.
King Njord booms with laughter. “Oh, innocent child. You don’t even know who you are!”
I glance at Edward. “Who does he think I am?”
Edward beams as if he’s quite pleased with himself. “You’re a Rinhold who was promised to Monster Isle. It took a lifetime to get you here.” He shrugs. “Well, maybe more than one lifetime. When we found out you had connected with the death realm at birth, it was my job to help you unlock your potential.”
What the hell?
“At birth?” I reiterate.
He grins at me as if he’s known this secret all along and has waited for the right moment to tell me. “Or should I say, your death?” he adds with a shrug. “A stillbirth is a very special coexistence between life and death, especially when you’re pumped full of antiaging tonics. It had unintended consequences that forced your spirit to cling to your body when it should have moved on.”
Maybe it tried to…
What kind of unintended consequences would that elicit?
Such as… connecting with the realm of death and being forced to live my whole life with that inside my soul?
No wonder I have always felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.
I’m not even supposed to be here.
“The Prince of Death released the revenants long ago, thanks to you,” King Njord explains as if my brother hadn’t just dropped a huge bomb on me.
His voice makes Edward flinch, confirming my suspicions that the king is no puppet at all.
“They’re spirit fragments,” he says with a sense of admiration making his dark eyes sparkle. “They’re rooted in all the grief and sorrow in that marvelous tower, and your pain gives them power.” His tongue flashes out to wet his lips as he swirls his fingers, and shadows break through the soil, stretching over the land. “All they take is a little coaxing to spread. What delicious chaos.” He eyes me. “But to truly control them, I need the Prince of Death to obey me.” He snarls. “I need the thread you carry. And you’re going to give it to me, one way or another.”
My eyes widen. “You knew I was linked to him this whole time.”
He merely grins. He’s doing all this to torment me, and no matter how much I try not to give in, watching my mates struggle pains me.
Which is what is powering the darkness on this isle.
“Knowledge and power aren’t always the same thing,” he snarls. “I need the power you carry.”
My brother carefully watches the exchange but doesn’t panic.
He always has a plan B.
“For what?” I shriek, not interested in games. “What could you possibly desire that you don’t already have?”
King Njord growls, flitting through the air and moving much faster than I would have thought him capable of. I stagger back a step, only to be held in place by Edward’s phantom grip. He might not have the kind of control over King Njord he was led to believe, but he still has me.
Monster Isle’s ruler merely leans in and snarls into my ear. “Do you not realize, stupid girl, I’m a prisoner here? Cain gives me his worst, the monsters he can’t control, and expects me to just sit back and accept rulership over this little isle. No. I want his city. I want everything he took from me and more.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “And how are you going to overtake the Elite City?” I ask, horrified at the prospect of this Undertaker beast invading my old home.
Cain isn’t its only protector. Monster City’s ruler, Queen Helia, would decimate him.
But she’s not here.
Because she is under a blood contract, too.
