It wasn’t Myrin. It didn’t even look like him. It was some random man, some Dark who smiled nervously and—
“You are a curious creature, Sam of Dragons.”
I jerked my head to the left. Myrin stood just out of reach, his long red robes flowing around him. There came that discordant feeling again, a sense of blurred edges, of one image placed atop another, because Myrin looked so much like Morgan. The same beard and build. The same face. But it was the eyes that caused the dissonance, the eyes that felt just a step off. Morgan’s had always been warm and kind, tinged with exasperation and mirth. Myrin’s were cold and calculating, unnerving, as he didn’t seem to blink.
And here, at last, was the beginning of the end of my story.
Chapter 18: Death Comes for Thee
“YOU KNOW,” Myrin said, voice soft, “it takes a lot to surprise me.”
I said nothing. Just watched. And waited.
He smiled, a perverse version of the same one Morgan had whenever he’d seen me. “This world doesn’t harbor very many secrets from me. Not anymore. I have studied it far longer than you could even possibly imagine. And even when I was… away, I could still hear its whispers, though I was covered in shadow.”
He was already monologuing. Fun. Since he looked like he was waiting for me to say something, I said, “That sounds nice.”
His smile didn’t falter. “Nice,” he repeated. “Yes, a curious creature. There’s no doubt about that. As I said, it takes much to surprise me. I have seen things that defy logic. I have felt things that would stretch the boundaries of your imagination. The pain. And agony. The death and destruction. Betrayal. Yes, Sam, even betrayal. But not in the way you might think. It is true that from the way it’s been told, it was I who betrayed Morgan. It was I who betrayed Randall.” He shook his head ruefully. “But what about when they betrayed me?”
“Because they didn’t understand what you were going through,” I said. “What you had experienced. The knowledge you had.”
He looked a little startled at that before he laughed. It wasn’t even necessarily an evil laugh, but it still grated along my nerves. “There it is again. Surprising me. Now, and when I felt you approaching the City of Lockes, your magic just sloughing off of you. I felt the dragon too, yes, but only the one. I told myself that surely even you couldn’t be so stupid as to knock on my door and attempt to face me head-on, knowing what you do about me. What I’m capable of. So I admit to being interested in the why of it all. You confound me, Sam. You always have, even when you were nothing but a thought.”
“Yeah, not the first time I’ve heard that, dude. Usually it’s said with a little more irritation, but I just roll with it, you know? It’s easier that way.”
“Do you?” he asked. “I suppose if that’s what works for you.”
I shrugged. “It’s gotten me this far.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t have the evidence right in front of me. Why are you here?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been listening the entire time. You know why.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “You say you’re a villain.”
“Like, the villainest. Just accepted it, you know? It’s easier that way.”
He took a step away from the crowd of Darks. If I couldn’t see them all, I would have thought Myrin and me alone, given how quiet it was. It was as if all of them held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next. I hoped they wouldn’t be disappointed.
“What changed?” he asked.
“A desire for power.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted it.”
“You were supposed to be the force for good.”
“Boring, right? I mean, come on. The whole chosen-one trope is overplayed, don’t you think?” I winked at him. “
Who would expect the good guy to go bad instead? I think it makes for a more interesting story.”
He cocked his head at me. “And just how do you see this story playing out?”
“I’ve been inside Camp HaveHeart. I know everything about it. The people. The knights. The guards. The location of the Prince and the King.”
“The King you helped to escape.”