by Sadie Moss
The huge warrior shook his body like a dog, but Willow clung tenaciously. His arms clutching at her thighs, he leapt backward, slamming to the ground on his back. Willow hit first, absorbing more of the impact than he did. Her pained grunt rose above the din of the crowd, and my heart stopped.
But Nikolai was losing strength. Vampires were stronger and faster than humans and possessed shadow magic that no human ever would—but we were not invincible. Our hearts still beat, and we still required oxygen.
And the brutish fighter wrapped in Willow’s legs was running out.
He rolled to his side, dragging the wildcat with him. They were both covered in dust and grime from the arena floor, and Willow’s hair had come free from its binding. It fell over her face, making her look truly wild as she let out a primal scream, nearly crushing Nikolai’s neck between her thighs.
Finally, the vampire’s eyes rolled back in his head. His hands slipped from her legs, falling limp against the packed earth.
The crowd fell silent.
There was no sound as Willow slowly unwound her legs from Nikolai and crawled on hands and knees away from his limp form.
A buzzing reached my ears, and I realized suddenly that the crowd was roaring. They’d never stopped, but my mind had momentarily blocked out their fevered shouts as my focus honed in on Willow like a beacon.
Vaguely, I was aware of Carrick standing and declaring Willow the victor. I felt his gaze on me as he turned to regard me. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the wild, beautiful creature in the arena.
She rose to her feet slowly, bruised and battered, but alive.
Her chest heaved as she stared up at the cheering crowd, taking in the sight around her. Then she looked at me again, and in the depths of her hazel eyes, something glinted like the flash of a blade.
Triumph.
9
Willow
My head broke through the surface of the water, and I pulled in a deep breath. The window was open, and the night air was chilly, but it felt amazing on my warm, flushed skin.
The bruises and lumps that had adorned my body after the fight were already fading. I could barely feel them anymore; in another hour, they’d be gone completely.
Being in the arena had been like having an out of body experience in front of hundreds of people. I could vividly remember standing behind the huge door waiting to enter the large space, wondering what awaited me out there. After that, my memories dissolved into a series of images and sensations. Some moments seemed sped up so fast they rushed by in a blur, and some slowed down like molasses, giving me time to see every detail of the massive vampire’s face, to count every hair in his mohawk.
As soon as the fight was over and I was led back through the large doors into the tunnels that passed under the arena, I’d braced a hand on the wall and heaved until nothing else would come up.
Then, nerves had hit me, making my knees wobble so badly I could hardly walk on my own.
I hadn’t needed to, though. A moment later, all three brothers had appeared in the hallway. Malcolm had dismissed the guards escorting me, and Jerrett and Sol had each taken an elbow, supporting me as I walked back to the castle. Jerrett had murmured profanity laden praise under his breath, and Sol had muttered thankful prayers to Fate. Malcolm had remained silent, but the intense looks he kept shooting me said enough.
I did it. I survived my first trial.
My stomach wobbled with nerves again at the thought. I wasn’t out of the woods yet. More trials awaited me, and if they were anything like that one, the odds of surviving the next weren’t great.
I closed my eyes, breathing in the lavender-scented steam from the bath. That was a problem for another day. Today, I was still alive.
And I was going to enjoy every minute I stayed that way.
After lingering in the bath until the water turned tepid and my fingers turned pruny, I stood and stepped out.
The cool air hit my flushed skin, and I darted across the room to pluck a soft, fluffy towel from the rack. I patted myself down, noticing how the pink flush to my skin made the runes carved on my arms, stomach, and legs stand out in stark relief. They were usually almost unnoticeable, but now they almost seemed to glow.
As I stared at them, a prickly feeling worked its way across the runes, the healed cuts itching like newly formed scars. Dropping the towel, I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing hard at my skin.
I turned to grab the clothes I’d set out near the bath, but before my next footstep hit the stone floor, the world seemed to tilt. Dizziness made my head swim as the floor rose up to meet me. I threw my hands out, hoping to brace my fall—but I never felt myself land. My consciousness left my body, continuing straight through the floor.
Into darkness.
Into empty space.
Into complete nothingness.
Panic wrapped around me like a choking vine, but I forced it back. I knew what this was. It hadn’t happened in a while, but I knew by now what a vision felt like.
What had brought this one on?
And what did my Sight have to show me?
Finally, the obliterating darkness slipped away, replaced by the regular darkness of a moonlit night.
Tall shapes rose all around me, their gnarled, gaunt limbs reaching for the sky. Trees. I was in a forest somewhere.
My consciousness hovered in a small, mossy clearing. Several stones were laid out in a rough circle, and beyond that…
It was the two women from the forest outside the church. Their hoods were thrown back this time, finally allowing me to see their faces clearly.
They were beautiful, and their features were such an exact match it was as if someone had photocopied the original and set her duplicate beside her. Each had a long, delicate nose, high cheekbones, arched brows, and pouty lips. Their skin was like porcelain, pale and smooth, and their white-blonde hair was piled on their heads in matching elaborate styles.
They looked sweet and innocent, completely out of place in this dark, forbidding forest.
Just like the shades had been, they seemed unaware of my presence as they stood shoulder to shoulder, looking down at the mossy stretch of earth before them. Their heads tilted to the side in unison, their hands moving together in such a graceful dance that they looked like a single, four-armed entity.
Light began to glow from a small object resting on the ground in front of them. A moment later, the ground itself seemed to light up, as if someone were shining a bright beam up from below the earth.
A desiccated, withered hand forced its way out of the soft dirt. Another hand followed, and they braced against the soft moss as the creature hauled itself out of the ground. Runes shone from its gray skin, and the skin itself clung to the skeleton underneath like shrink wrap. Its head swiveled slowly, tilting up toward the women, who continued gesturing in synchronicity, muttering under their breath.
Then the creature before them began to fade and dissolve, morphing into one of the shadow creatures I knew all too well. It grew wider and taller, the shadows coalescing around its body, giving it more substance.
The strange sisters stopped speaking. They swept their hands to one side, and the creature floated off to join a small group of shades that hovered at the edge of the clearing behind the women.
I shifted my focus back to the glowing object on the ground. A small wooden carving. The glow it gave off was fading, the beams that had illuminated the women’s faces retreating toward the object as if it were actually pulling light into itself. When the last few rays disappeared, the carving crumbled to dust.
The sisters clucked softly, one starting the sound and the other finishing it, like some sort of strange half-echo.
Crouching down, the one on the right sifted her fingers through the pile of dust at her feet. She looked back up at her sister, cocking her head to one side.
Her sister cocked her head in the other direction and hummed softly to herself.
“Need something stronger.”
Darkness claimed me again.
My body jerked as my consciousness slammed back into it like a meteor striking earth. I gasped and sat up quickly, disoriented, clammy, and cold.
I was also still stark naked, sprawled out on the floor of my bathroom, right where I’d probably fallen when the vision took me. At least I’d been able to put my hands out in time to brace myself, so I hadn’t fallen face-first onto the hard stone. My right wrist ached, and I thought maybe I’d sprained it when I landed—but it was already mostly healed.
How long had I been passed out?
And what had I seen?
I dug through my memories of the vision quickly, trying to sort through and solidify the images I remembered, like pinning down a dream before it evaporated with the fog of sleep.
Well, that settles it. The women I saw at the church are definitely the ones behind the shade attacks.
They were the ones bringing those creatures back from the dead and controlling them. Judging by the number gathered around them, it appeared they’d nearly replaced the ones we killed in our last fight.
Did they have more?
I braced my hand against the wall and stood slowly. Then I staggered over to the bathtub and dipped my fingers in the water. It was cold. I must’ve been out for a while.
The sky outside the window glowed lighter than it’d been before. It was morning, although that was heralded by only a slight brightening of the sky here in the Penumbra.
Quickly, I slipped on the dark green, long-sleeved dress I’d picked out earlier. Most of the castle might be sleeping already, but I needed to tell someone about my vision. I threw on a pair of soft flats and stepped out into the hallway, glancing around nervously.
No one wandered the halls, but I still moved quickly as I darted across to Sol’s room and knocked softly. He opened the door a moment later, his hair slightly sleep-mussed, but his sightless eyes alert.
“Willow? What is it?”
I didn’t bother asking how he knew it was me; he’d probably sensed who it was before he even opened the door. He may be blind, but he was more perceptive than most people with perfect sight.
“I had a vision. Of the two women who are controlling the shades. They’re… well, I don’t know what they are, but they looked human-ish. They’re beautiful and strange looking. And they’re raising the shades from the dead.”
The words poured out of me in a rush, but Sol took them in stride, processing the information quickly and nodding to me. “What else?”
“Well, that was it. I couldn’t tell where they were; I didn’t see any landmarks that would give me a clue like last time. I need to go back, I need to see more!”
I was practically bouncing up and down with jittery excitement. How had I even fallen into a vision this time? Prior to this, the only visions I’d had were preceded by me making out heavily with one of the vampire brothers. A little twinge of disappoint niggled at me as I realized physical contact with them wasn’t the only way to bring on a vision. But my excitement rose at the prospect of being able to control my Sight at will.
Sol’s lips tilted up. “Actually, I may be able to help you with that. I’ve been doing more research on Sight. None of the vampires in the Penumbra have it, although there are still some vampires in other clans who do. I’ve been able to cobble together some ideas of how the strongest seers bring on and control their visions. I can try to talk you through it if you’d like.”
My jaw dropped open. He’d done all that for me? “Yes! Hell yes!”
He chuckled lightly, stepping out of his room and closing the door behind him. “Good. Let’s find a better place to practice. Have you been outside during the daylight hours here yet?”
“No.” I lit up at the prospect. “Can we go?”
“Of course. Come with me.”
He tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow in that gentlemanly way he had before leading me through the long hallways of the castle and down several flights of stairs. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted him not to steer me wrong.
We didn’t talk as we walked, but the silence was comfortable. I liked the feel of his hard bicep muscle under my fingertips, the warmth of his skin radiating through his soft long-sleeved shirt.
With Sol, I felt grounded and taken care of. Malcolm often seemed tormented, and Jerrett seemed cocky, but Sol always seemed so sure. Maybe it was because he put so much faith in Fate. He knew she had a path laid out for him, and he was content to walk it, come what may.
I hoped one day I could be as accepting of the twists and turns life threw at me as he was, but I didn’t see that day coming anytime soon.
Guess it’s a good thing I have Sol in my life then.
My fingers tightened unconsciously around his arm at the thought, and he tilted his head down toward me.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Fate,” I said simply.
The green of his irises sparkled like gems next to the white of his pupils. “I thank her every day for bringing us to you.”
“Me too.”
I could’ve happily walked aimlessly around the castle for hours basking in the warm smile that broke across Sol’s face at those words, but a moment later, we turned down a new corridor. Two guards were stationed near the doorway at the end, and Sol nodded to them as he pushed open the door and led me out into a beautiful garden.
The scents of dozens of different flowers floated on the air, not overpowering or cloying, but pure and sweet. The sun shone low on the horizon, a dull red-orange ball that glowed through the haze of darkness like a hunter’s moon. Stone pathways wended through the perfectly landscaped flowers and hedges.
“Oh, wow,” I breathed. “Sol, this is incredible. How do these flowers even bloom when it’s always night here?”
“Thanks to the same power that grants us eternal night. Magic.”
Magic. I shook my head in wonder.
Jerrett had once casually mentioned that Yuliya conjured a bunch of baking equipment for me. Sol spoke with the same easy tone when he explained how the Penumbra worked. Maybe after a couple hundred years, I wouldn’t think twice about it either. But for now, my brain almost exploded every time I thought too hard about magic.
We wandered through the garden, venturing so deep into its floral bounty that we lost sight of the castle entrance.
Finally, Sol stopped in front of a large, ornate marble fountain. He pulled me down to sit next to him on the fountain’s edge, turning toward me. I hiked my dress up a little and tucked one leg under me so I could face him.
“So you’ve been learning about the Sight?” I asked eagerly.
“I have.” He nodded slowly, seeming to be organizing his thoughts. “As I said, a few vampires here know someone who possesses it, so they’ve been able to tell me more about how it works. Although it maybe be slightly different for you, since your Sight is derived from fae magic.”
I adjusted my position, pulling my other leg up under me too. “That makes sense.”
“To that end, I’ve been doing more research on fae magic in general. I’ve been visiting the library frequently for books that might help me decipher the runes you and the shades wear, so it was easy enough to dig a little deeper and expand my research.”
“Yeah? What have you found out?” I glanced around carefully as we spoke, although I was certain Sol wouldn’t be talking about this if he could sense anyone within hearing distance of us.
“Sight is only one kind of magic possessed by the fae. Other common abilities include glamour—shifting our perception of reality, essentially—and creating portals. Not all fae possess the same types or strength of magic though, so it’s anyone’s guess what you can do.”
My mouth had dropped open slightly as he spok
e, and I closed it quickly, glad he hadn’t been able to see me sitting there slack-jawed.
But what the actual holy hell? I could do magic?
I wanted to ask him a million more questions, but I could feel my brain pulsing against the confines of my skull already. I needed more time to process this new information. If I dug into it too fast, my brain would explode, and Sol looked too damn delicious to be splattered with gray matter.
So instead, I focused on the original purpose for this excursion.
“Do you really think you can help me have visions?”
Sol shrugged his strong shoulders. “I don’t know, Willow tree. I still don’t have firsthand experience with Sight. But I think I understand it better now. I want to try.”
I let out a half-laugh. “I’ll take anything I can get. Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Sol smiled, turning his upper body more fully toward me. His hands came to rest gently on my knees, his thumbs making soft circles that both distracted me and soothed me.
“Have you always had strange dreams, Willow?”
My brow furrowed. “Um, yeah, actually.”
“That’s a side effect of being a seer. Your Sight is constantly reaching out, like feelers you put into the world. It grabs little tidbits of information, and those end up in your dreams.”
“Weird.” I wasn’t sure I liked that idea, but it did explain the odd dreams I’d always had.
“The main point is, your Sight is always extending outward from you, searching. You just need to learn how to go with it whenever you want. So far, you’ve only had visions brought on by intense experiences. But you should be able to enter a trance-like state that will allow you to slip into a vision.”
I cleared my throat. “So… we’re not going to try the… other way?”
Sol laughed. His spicy scent mingled with the flowers around us, a pleasant contrast to the sweetness. “As much as I’d like to, no. Not this time.”
Trying not to let my disappointment show, I followed Sol’s prompts as he directed me to close my eyes and let my breathing become slow and steady. I’d never really been the meditating type—my brain worked too fast and didn’t like to slow down—so I had serious doubts about whether this would work.