Shadow Empire is the sequel to 'Ice & Fire, and the final book in the "Fate Of The Crown" duology.
If you haven't read the first book yet, please read do read it before proceeding to this book.
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She had been through hell for so many times now...
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Hurt.
It is what's reflecting in her eyes as she looked straight at him. Heavy is what the air seemed to feel like the moment he saw the tears roll down her cheeks. So heavy that he couldn't breathe, couldn't move as if that heaviness is pushing him down the very ground he stands until it crumbles beneath his feet. Pushing and pushing until he falls into that oblivion waiting to devour him in the most agonizing way.
This is what he was terrified of, to see her looking at him the way she is looking at him now. And at this moment he wished this was another one of his nightmares. At least that way nightmare disappears once he wakes up.
But he realizes that this is a different kind of nightmare. It is one that is real—one that he cannot escape.
"It is you..." she barely managed to whisper.
There was a lot of thoughts running through her head, lot of emotion filling her and he could hear and feel all of it at once.
"It's me..." he whispered back, his voice breaking in the process.
And as he gave her the confirmation, solidifying her familiarity and certitude, Lisa watched as the glamour shrouding his identity dissipate away like a glittering dust—revealing the face she only sees in her dreams.
Lisa let out silent sobs, putting her shaky hands over her lips. It was almost like she couldn't breathe as she choked on gasped air.
It was overwhelming.
Jake watched Lisa tear her gaze away as though she cannot bear to look at him any longer than she was. Her eyes landed towards Christian with a questioning gaze.
"You knew?" she asked, though it sounded more like a statement laced with disappointment.
Christian shook his head instantaneously.
"Just like you. I had my suspicions..." he explained.
But Lisa shook her head, frowning and holding her head as if to steady it from all the thoughts that are surging in all at once.
"Y-you asked me...when I told you...that it might be him... You said 'what if it's not him?'" Lisa whispered to herself.
"I did. But that's because I didn't want you to be disappointed as I was when he denied it to me."
Lisa's head shot up, "Denied?"
"That day when he woke up after I found you both. I talked to him alone then...I wanted to confirm what I saw." Christian heaved a deep sigh, as if he was trying to gather his thoughts, voice hurried and unsteady from the tension in the room.
