Chapter 7 THE CHOICE

The chamber held its breath.

Ngozi floated like a puppet in silence, her sewn mouth weeping blood. The Betrayer stood before Ejike....his face, his voice, his shadow made flesh.

"All I ask," it whispered, "is your truth. Give it to me. Let me be you. And she lives."

Ejike dropped to his knees.

He saw it now.

The skin-wearers...

The cursed mirror...

The vanishing memory...

It was never just sorcery. It was grief twisted into ritual.

He had begged to forget.

Years ago.

When his father died. When Ngozi spurned his proposal. When he wished the pain would just go away.

And the dark had answered.

It had taken his grief.

And left him hollow.

Now, the hollow part wanted everything else.

"I'm not a monster," Ejike said, trembling.

The Betrayer leaned in. "You asked to forget. That was the betrayal. Of her. Of yourself."

Behind him, Ngozi's eyes dimmed.

One more breath..... maybe her last.

Ejike looked at the blade in his hand.

Then at the shadow wearing his smile.

"I won't trade places with you," he said.

"But I'll take you back."

He stabbed the blade into his own chest.

Light exploded.

The Betrayer screamed....not in pain, but in fury, in returning.

His form melted into smoke.

Ngozi fell..... into Ejike's arms.

Her eyes opened.

"E...Ejike?"

He smiled, blood on his lips. "I remembered you