Alyson Noel - Horizon

He slaps a hand over my throat, tries to squeeze his fingers around it, but doesn’t get very far before he lets go and approaches the ledge.

“The role you played was minor at best,” Leandro yells. “Now go ahead and do it. Kill the girl, and be done with it!”

Leandro continues to berate him, as Cade paces precariously close to the edge. Twitching and mumbling to himself as I scramble to my feet, retrieve my gun, and take aim.

Just about to shoot when Cade whirls on me and says, “Dammit, Seeker, put that thing down! Do not make me choose!”

Choose?

I hold my breath in my cheeks, delaying the shot. So caught off guard by the words, I’m not sure how to react.

Did he really mean choose between Leandro and me?

“Clock’s ticking, Cade—do it already!” his father shouts, as Cade seems to visibly crumple before me. His shoulders sagging, his head bent, gaze downcast. He digs his knuckles into his eyes. Pinches hard at his cheeks. All the while mumbling a string of unintelligible words under his breath. Making him appear deranged and distorted, like a person gone completely unhinged.

“What the hell have you done to me?” His eyes are shadowed and bloodshot as he glares at me accusingly.

And suddenly, with that one simple question, it all falls into place.

The reflection in his eyes.

His reluctance to kill me.

It all makes sense.

And it proves Dace was right! There’s only one force more powerful than evil—love.

Cade is a perfect example of that.

He’s changed by love. It’s the love in his heart that won’t allow him to kill me.

“I haven’t done anything. You brought this on yourself,” I say, reminded of something Phyre said the day we discovered her in possession of Dace’s soul. When she saw the piece of darkness in Dace, and wondered if Cade contained a piece of his light.

At the time, I was too worried about saving Dace’s soul to pay much notice to her philosophical musings, but now I realize her suspicions were right.

“When you fed off the love Dace and I shared by using it to strengthen yourself, what you failed to understand is that darkness cannot exist in the same space as light. The love you ingested obliterated your darkness, it changed you from the inside.”

A look of pure horror crosses his face, but little does he know, that’s only part of the story. What I fail to voice is my suspicion that when Dace made the soul jump into Cade to steal a chunk of his darkness, he left behind a piece of his light.

Just like the dream, their connection is no longer relegated to the mystical, it’s veered into the physical.

Part light, part dark.

The yin and the yang.

Connected.

Bound.

Each containing a piece of the other.

Leandro continues to rage from across the gorge, which only serves to confuse Cade more.

“Don’t listen to him.” I raise my voice in an effort to drown out Leandro’s. “There’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, it’s pretty miraculous if you think about it. You’re getting a second chance to do the right thing and redeem yourself. Don’t fight it, Cade. Don’t fight me . . .” I lower the blowgun to my side and approach him slowly. He’s so unstable there’s no telling how he’ll react.

“Back off, Seeker!” He swerves out of my reach and looks across the canyon with a face full of longing. “And stop looking at me!”

I do as he says. Holding perfectly still until he relaxes enough for me to chance another step toward him. “Cade, don’t you recognize what’s happening here?” I gesture to the surrounding landscape. “This is just like the dream. I know you had it too. It’s where you came up with the idea for the dress.”

He rakes an agitated hand through his hair. Shuffles his feet uncertainly.

“And look, I’m even wearing the ring.” I lift my hand, urging him to see. Watching his features grow blunted, his eyes glazing at the sight of it. “But it’s not as bad as you think. You’re not in love with me. You’ve just never experienced such a strong emotion before, and you’re so overwhelmed by its power, you’re projecting it onto me. You once claimed that true magick exists only in the darkest of men. And maybe you’re right. But the thing is, you’re no longer that guy. If you allow your light to shine, you’ll be capable of the kind of miracles that’ll make your magick now look like the work of a third-rate birthday-party magician.”

His shoulders soften. His pacing slows. And I breathe a little easier knowing I’ve managed to reach him.

Until Leandro hurls another long stream of insults, and Cade rushes toward me, fully intending to harm—only the light now illuminated inside him won’t allow him to strike.

Won’t allow him to do the only thing required to make his father proud.

It’s Leandro he loves.

It’s Leandro he lives to impress.

He’s spent the last sixteen years in a desperate bid for his father’s approval, only to be eclipsed by the twin they both once despised.

Even when Cade was at his darkest, it was the one bit of humanity that managed to survive.

I could kill him in a second. And yet, knowing what I know, it no longer feels right.

No longer a monster, the light has rendered him human. And like the Bone Keeper said, killing humans is not the Seeker’s game.

From across the canyon, Leandro approaches the ledge. “That’s it, Cade,” he shouts. “You’ve had your chance. I should’ve left it to your brother like I promised. It would’ve been over by now. But since you can’t seem to handle the one thing I’m asking you to do, I’m coming over there to take care of it for you!” He crouches down low, ready to make the leap, when the beast appears by his side, dragging Chepi behind him.

DAIRE

The chasm yawns between us, and I pray I really can nail it. If I’m wrong about Dace, Chepi won’t stand a chance.

I gather my skirts, do as Paloma taught me, and think from the end. The image of myself landing safely on the other side firmly entrenched in my head, when Chepi shouts, “Daire—no! Stay where you are!”

Leandro roars with laughter as though the scene just became greatly amusing, as Chepi turns her focus to the beast. The resigned look on her face telling me she’s not the least bit surprised to see what’s become of her son.

Is that why she tried so hard to shield him from his mystical legacy, along with the horrible truth behind his conception?

Did she suspect all along that this day would come?

Just as I thought, Dace is completely transformed. Far surpassing anything Cade was ever capable of becoming, he’s transcended into something so sinister, so horrific—it’s impossible to turn away.

His towering height, rippling muscles, blazing red eyes, and crown of black feathers circling his head, making for a sight that’s as stunning as it is diabolical. And by the way Leandro stands beside him, beaming with pride, it’s clear he agrees.

Refusing to see him as he is, Chepi insists on appealing to the shred of humanity she’s convinced still exists. And while I was in full agreement just a moment ago, watching her now, so defenseless and vulnerable, reminds me of what Jennika said.

It’s my duty to protect her.

If it turns out I’m wrong, the beast will soon kill her.

“You’ve outlasted your usefulness, old woman,” Leandro taunts. Looking between the beast and Cade. “Do it!” he urges. “Both of you, strike now! You have one last chance to redeem yourself, Cade. Kill the Seeker while Dace kills his mother. Rid the world of these obnoxious do-gooders, and you’ll make me proud beyond measure.”