The room still smelled of iron and spent magic. The intruder lay unconscious on the floor, his arms marked where the shadows had gripped him. Kaelis stood watch, sword ready, while Selene tried to calm my ragged breathing.
The doll floated a few paces from me, its violet eyes fixed, its crooked smile as if it had just won some invisible battle.
"I saved you," it murmured, voice sweet and cracked. "Why do you doubt me?"
A knot tightened in my stomach. My body still shook from the fight, but more than fear it was anger that ran through me—anger at its control, its whispers, the way it forced me to react against my will.
I pushed myself to my feet, clenching my fists."I'm sick of you."
The doll's eyes blinked, startled."What…?"
"I don't want your whispers. I don't want your chains," my voice trembled, but I did not step back. "Since you arrived, my life has become a different kind of prison. You don't protect me… you steal me."
The porcelain smile vanished. A creak ran through its cracked body."No… you cannot want that. Without me you will be weak. Without me you will be… nothing."
The shadows around it writhed, as if desperate to reach for me.
Kaelis stepped forward, a spark of approval in her eyes."Yes… destroy it now, Nyx. Do it before it's too late!"
Selene bit her lip instead, her gaze full of conflict."Nyx… if you do this, make sure it's truly what you want. Remember: there may be a soul inside. We don't know if breaking it would save it… or condemn it forever."
Their voices clashed in my head, but the loudest was the doll's—its desperate whisper inside my mind:"Don't break me… don't abandon me… I am you."
The pain in my chest flared, as if the bond between us burned with fury. My shadows writhed, wavering between moving toward it or crushing it.
I stepped forward, the doll just a hand's breadth from my palms. I could feel the chill of its porcelain, the impossible beating inside it.
"I want to break you," I whispered.
The doll screamed—a metallic, piercing shriek that made the room's panes vibrate. Its violet eyes darkened, and a deeper, older voice threaded through its cry:"If you destroy me, I will take part of you with me!"
The floor cracked beneath our feet. Every candle guttered out at once.
Selene seized my arm, desperate."Nyx, think!"
Kaelis raised her sword."Do it now!"
I lifted the doll with both hands, feeling the fissures in its body widen under my force. The echo of the trapped girl mingled with an ancestral roar, and for the first time I understood that what dwelt inside was not only an innocent soul… but something darker, far larger.
And still—I squeezed harder.