The cavern did not simply tremble.
It screamed.
Cracks tore through the stone floor as the Shadow King threw his head back and laughed a sound that no longer sounded human.
“You think you can end me?” he roared.
His body began to distort.
Bones stretched unnaturally. Skin darkened into something like living smoke. His spine arched, lengthening, splitting. Silver light burst from his chest like fractured moonlight.
Rowan forced himself upright despite the blood loss. Ivy stood in front of him, one hand slightly extended behind her as if shielding him without looking.
“Ivy…” he rasped.
Her name trembled with warning.
She did not turn.
“Stay back,” she said quietly.
But her voice was no longer only hers. It layered echoing with something ancient, feminine, and merciless.
The Shado
