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A low moan traveled through the Dying Woods. I wheeled around, catching glimpses of deep gray slipping in and out between the crooked limbs as if coming from the dead ground and trees.
“Gods,” I muttered. “I really don’t have time for this.”
I turned to the closest one, wondering exactly how in the hell they got bitey when they appeared to be smoke and shadows. I cursed as the Shade darted to my left. Another flew across the ground, slithering like a large, shadowy serpent—because, of course, it would. Shooting forward, I slammed the dagger into what I assumed was its back as it began to rise. The blade sank into something, causing the Shade to screech and hit the ground. My eyes went wide as the Shade suddenly shattered into thousands of tiny filaments. Okay. I’d definitely hit something vital. Lifting the dagger, I noticed black splatter, some kind of oily substance, along the curve of my hand. A stale scent hit me, turning my stomach.
A teeny-tiny part of me felt bad as I wheeled around, thrusting the dagger into the widest part of the Shade. These things had been mortals once. They may have committed terrible sins or were simply individuals whose fear of consequence was greater than whatever indiscretions they may have committed. I had a feeling that when they broke apart into nothing, as the one before me did while I turned to another, it meant the destruction of their soul. There was no coming back from that.
I plunged the dagger into the next creature’s chest without hesitation because the guilt was fleeting. I didn’t want to become some wayward soul’s late-night snack.
A Shade swooped down, much as the hawk had earlier. I leapt sideways, and something snagged my cloak, tearing it.
Claws. Right. Apparently, Shades had claws you couldn’t see. I twisted, throwing up my forearm to block the Shade in front of me. My elbow co
“No biting,” I grunted, pushing the creature back as I thrust out with the dagger.
Suddenly, something jerked my head back with such force that pain shot down my neck and back. My feet went out from under me as the hawk let out another staggering series of chirps. I hit the ground hard, knocking the air from my lungs.
The Shade came down over me, the thick wisps and tendrils of shadow flowing around it, clouding the entire realm. Icy shadow fingers encircled my wrist, pi
And several things happened all at once.
The hawk swooped down over us, dragging its talons across the Shade’s back. The creature shrieked, spasming as the hawk flew up into the trees. My chest suddenly throbbed, heating and humming. Static erupted over my skin—my arms and hands. There was no will, no demand, but I felt the eather in my blood building and building. I tried to stop it, but a silvery glow spilled out from my palm, beating back the Shade’s shadows, peeling back the layers of dull gray, stripping away the wispy shroud until I saw the white of actual bones. A rib cage and a spine and dry, withered organs—a wrinkled heart that was a flat, gray color.
A heart that suddenly beat.
The color deepened to a bright red as pinkish-white tendons and muscles rapidly formed around the ribs and bones. Veins appeared throughout where nothing but gray had once been. A skull took shape, tendons wrapping around a jawbone, straightening a mouth full of crooked, broken teeth.
Oh, gods. Oh, gods. I was never going to unsee this. This would haunt me for however long I lived.
Lips began to take shape, turning a pale pink as they moved, and a throat that was barely put together vibrated with sound. “Meyaah,” it rasped. “Liessa…”
“What in the actual fuck?” I gasped as a milky white substance filled the eye sockets. As—
My chest warmed once more and hummed, the eather inside me—the embers of life—vibrating in response to the wave of pure, unfettered power. A silver, crackling light suddenly filled the woods, so bright and iridescent that, for the briefest second, I saw the swirling, circling Shades above me. And then they were simply…gone.
That kind of power was unthinkable.
Spitting, hissing energy swept over the Shade above me, filling the newly formed veins with burning white light as it threw the Shade into the air, and it shattered into utterly nothing.
I lay there, hand still raised as the intense, silvery light receded and faded, and the world turned gray and almost lifeless once more.
Above and among the warped branches, the silver hawk called out softly and then lifted into the air. My heart thundering, I watched it spread its wings and disappear from view.
Not even the fierce predator wanted to hang around.
“Seraphena.”
My chest seized at the hard, cold voice that had to be conjured from the darkest hours of the night. What I’d done to the Shade fell to the wayside, replaced by the knowledge that I should’ve seen this coming. He had my blood in him—lots of it now. He would’ve felt the extreme burst of fear, even if it had been brief—just as he had in the courtyard earlier. Maybe it wasn’t even the blood as much as the Primal ember inside me that had once belonged to him. Who knew? None of that mattered at the moment. What did was the fact that I couldn’t just lay here, wishing I could sink into the ground. My heart still hammering away, I slowly rose to my feet. Pressure clamped down on my chest as I faced him.
Nyktos stood several feet from me, appearing every bit the Primal ruler of the Shadowlands he was. He cut a striking figure in a deep gray tunic, his hair swept back. The lines of his face were harder and colder than I’d ever seen them.
And his skin…it was thin.
The longer I stared, the more I saw the shadows gathering beneath his flesh. His eyes were swirling, silver orbs. I didn’t need his talent to read emotions to know that he was beyond furious.
The reality hit me with the speed of an out-of-control wagon. I wasn’t going anywhere. My true destiny wouldn’t be fulfilled. Nyktos would never let me out of his sight now. I would be trapped here, with all the people who would likely die because of me. The pressure on my chest and in my throat ramped up. The tightening became unbearable, and I did something I had never done before.
I turned and ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could, racing through the twisted and bent trees, ignoring the sharp slices of pain as bare, low-hanging branches reached toward me like bony fingers, snagging my cloak and hair and nicking my skin.
The pressure in my chest was cool and thick, leaving little room for control or rationale. Like when Tavius had pi
He would burn through the Shadowlands.
Damp, clammy sweat broke out across my forehead as the wound left behind by the Shade ached. The gray, bare limbs of the trees were a blurred maze of twisted, gnarled, bone-like branches. My boots pounded over rocks and uneven ground as I kept ru