I touched the lumen stone at my neck, focusing on the room’s interior. Pure blackness, shadows thick as velvet. And yet, by the echoing sounds of my footfalls, I had the sense I was in an enormous hall—one with high ceilings. Just a bit more light would have come in useful right now.
I shadow-leapt farther into the hall, and the overpowering scent of roses hit me. I wanted to throw up. I reached out in front of me to feel for Baleros, certain I’d touch the rough wool of his clothes.
Instead, my fingers touched flowers, their petals soft and wilted.
Actual roses.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. That had been the scent we’d followed? A little less darkness would be helpful, but I couldn’t communicate that to Ruadan now.
A footfall behind me turned my head, and my heart leapt into my throat. I cut my sword through the darkness, swinging for the sound of the movement. A grunt and a gargle as the blade went through flesh, through bone. I just had no idea who I was fighting. Another creak of the floor, and I pivoted, my blade hacking into someone’s neck. Blood sprayed on my skin.
Who was I fighting? Around me, I could hear the sounds of more footsteps, more guards moving.
Either my eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness or Ruadan was letting up on the shadows, because now I could just about make out the contours of the furniture around me.
Unfortunately, I could also make out the glinting of metal on the people surrounding me.
My stomach leapt. Guards crowded this room, closing in on me. I whirled and ducked, fighting off my attackers. I had to shadow-leap away from them.
Gods below. Was Baleros even in here, or had I simply been lured in by the scent of damn flowers?
Ruadan pulled back a bit more of the darkness. Silver light beamed into the room from stained-glass windows high above us, and I got a better view of the fae around me.
Battle fury thrummed through my blood, and I whirled into action. I drove my sword into a guard, plunging it right into his heart. Magic tickled my shoulder-blades, my power threatening to erupt. Adrenaline surged, blood pounding.
I am the blackening of your skin. I am the silence of a closed throat.
I was a maelstrom of fury, blade meeting flesh, over and over; carving, hacking, destroying….
Bow before me.
Until not a single guard remained.
I stood, catching my breath.
I needed to shadow-leap out of here, to keep moving. Except—I wasn’t sure where I needed to go.
I sniffed the air again. Roses. Myrrh.
Dad?
They were here, I was sure of it. Baleros and Adonis.
My heart stuttered at the sight of a large, male form in the corner of the room.
“Dad?” I whispered.
I took a step closer, but a shrill singing rooted me in place. The singing of a bean nighe. I clamped my hands over my ears.
A wall of black, pressing down on my mind. This was the third scent in the room. The chalky scent of calcium, human bones—the stench of death and riverbeds. The bean nighe.
I forced my hands away from my ears, gripping my sword. I was ready to kill.
“Arianna.” Baleros’s voice, familiar as a lover’s touch.
He was here. My heart stopped. Where was he?
Channeling the magic of the lumen-stone, I shadow-leapt to the silhouette I’d seen. But I found no one there—just an empty corner of the room.
As I got ready to leap again, one of the bean nighe shrieked louder. Someone was about to die.
I whirled, searching the contours of the room for Baleros. Where was he? That stupid vase of roses was confusing me.
I tuned into the sound of the bean nighe instead. Then, I shadow-leapt, touching down behind one of them. She screamed, and I silenced her with a blade through her throat. Why had he brought the bean nighe here?
“Arianna,” Baleros said again, this time in a singsong voice that melded with the bean nighe’s wild song. “Not your real name, is it?”
Something dark and dangerous was stirring inside me. “No,” I said.
I leapt again, landing behind a second bean nighe near the center of the hall. I carved through her with the blade.
“I’m Liora.”
Chapter 97
Three minutes left.
“Angel of death,” said Baleros. “If you were as powerful as your father, I might actually be frightened.”
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“Who?”
“Adonis. I can smell him.”
A dark chuckle from the shadows. “Miss him, did you? Even after what he did to your family?”
The bean nighe’s wails grew louder, echoing off the high ceiling. How many of them were there? At last, the screeching erupted into wild shrieks. Death on the horizon, all around us.
Just like it had in the sewers, a wall of darkness slammed into my skull.
The memory claimed my mind, and I stared at my mother’s hair, spread out over the soil. My father, Horseman of Death, had killed them all.
Except … that wasn’t what happened….
I fought against the cage of this vision, desperate to break free.
My fingers shook, legs trembled. I wasn’t in the palace anymore. Now, I was back home, crouching behind a mulberry bush. Heart thundering, I stared at the fae invaders. My father had told me to run, but I couldn’t tear myself away yet. I pulled my cap lower over my head, shielding my eyes. I could hardly breathe. I didn’t know how to fight. My father had told me to hide here, not to move. I wasn’t sure I could move if I wanted to, not with fear freezing my muscles.
The invaders rode enormous horses, hair flowing behind them. Darkness pulsed around their powerful bodies. They’d come here to kill us all. They were only a few hundred yards away, now.
My father stood in the clearing, his sword drawn. He didn’t look scared at all. Why did he seem so calm? Why wasn’t he afraid of dying?
From my hiding spot, I caught a glimpse of red hair—my mother taking cover behind an oak across the clearing. She nocked an arrow, then loosed it. With perfect aim, it struck one of the fae invaders. One after another, she let the arrows fly. I’d seen her kill a deer before, but nothing like this, each arrow finding its mark perfectly.
But there were too many invaders, racing closer, swords drawn.
My father turned to me, spotting me. He shouted at me to run.
They were going to kill us all.
Shimmering midnight wings sprouted from my father’s back, each shot through with silver.
My world tilted.
I’d never seen the wings before, and their otherworldly beauty almost shocked me out of the horror of what was happening, almost robbed me of the realization that my father was an angel of death.
That’s why they’d come for us—to rid the earth of angels.
The invaders were upon us, now, blades gleaming in the sunlight. My shoulder blades tingled, a dark power threatening to unleash itself. Shadows clouded my mind. I closed my eyes.
This time, I remembered it all—the dark truth I’d been running from for years.
From deep within me, a hurricane of dark magic ripped through the forest, our home. This time, I felt it come from me, wilting the plants around me, stealing breath.
I’m the toxins in your blood, the red drop on your lips. I make your fingers curl, black as mold. I’m a mother eating her young, the skull in the soil. All fall before me.
Dark magic erupted from my ribs, from my gut, a maelstrom of death—suffocating, poisoning all life around me.
I opened my eyes again.
All the fae around us were falling to the earth like autumn leaves. Blood dripped from my mother’s mouth onto the soil. Her skin had turned purple, fingers blackening….
It had been me. The plague.
I ran from the clearing. Death sang its dirge around me as I sprinted, crunching over the soil.
I am the stalker that creeps up behind you. I will steal your food and your breath
.
I ran until my legs were ready to give way, until I my lungs ached for air. I ran until I found the glimmering, star-flecked portal.
My own screams rang in my ears as I snapped free from the memory. I wanted blood.
I am the stalker that creeps up behind you. I will steal your food and your breath.
At last, I understood.
My father hadn’t killed everyone that day. It had been me. A sharp hollowness pierced me from the inside out. I’d killed my mother. I was as powerful as Adonis, and my magic had slaughtered the whole village.
Had my father been able to bring her back? I had to—
I blinked, looking around. The survivor in me needed me to focus on the present. Take stock of your surroundings. Stay in the moment. Don’t let Baleros distract you.
I caught my breath, surveying the dark hall around me. Silver light streamed in from the stained-glass windows, washing over the tapestries and the piles of guards I’d killed. Moonlight bathed the roses wilting on all the banquet tables and silvered the two dead bean nighe bleeding on the wood floor.
Adonis wasn’t in here. No one living was in here.
While I’d been reliving the worst day of my life, Baleros had slipped away, leaving me distracted.
I wasn’t his target. Ruadan was the real target.
A deep voice boomed from outside. “I am Ruadan, Prince of Emain, son of Queen Macha.”
My toes curled. You idiot.
He was giving up, trying to turn himself in.
With a ragged breath, I gripped my sword, racing down the stone steps.
When I flung open the door to the courtyard, I found Ruadan surrounded by Baleros’s entire army—the mist soldiers, the jackdaws in their cloaks. Distantly, I heard the sound of someone chanting an Angelic spell.
My father was an expert in Angelic.
I sniffed the air. Roses—and myrrh.
Fog curled around the darkened courtyard. In the center of the mist army, shadows pooled around Ruadan. He was creating darkness—for me, so I could get away. I wasn’t leaving him.
Tendrils of magic snaked through the air around him. His power seemed to be weakening, the star-flecked shimmer of his magic dulling. Why?
The sound of Angelic grew louder. With a jolt of horror, I understood what was happening. Ruadan had said one of the only ways to kill him was to use an Angelic spell—and Baleros, it seemed, knew the exact spell. Baleros was trying to make him mortal.
Panic punched me in the gut.
I sniffed the air, homing in on the roses until I found him. There. Baleros stood all the way on the other side of the courtyard—in the archway, holding a sword. He held something else, as well. Something that gleamed in the moonlight.
A lumen stone glowed around his neck. I couldn’t give him the chance to leap away by letting him know I was coming.
I touched my lumen stone, then leapt into the air just before him. Fast as a hummingbird’s breath, I swung the sword for his neck as I landed.
A precise arc, a hair’s breadth away from his skin. I cut the lumen stone off him, and it fell to the brick.
He stared at me, the corner of his lip twitching. He was gripping a sword, but he couldn’t move it. Not with me threatening to slice his jugular.
I steal your food and your breath, draw your ribs out from under your skin….
I pointed my sword at his throat. “Hi, Baleros.”
He didn’t look concerned. “Tick tock, Liora. I gave you a time limit. Three minutes till nine. I’ll need the iron on Ruadan when he gives himself up. I’m sure you understand.”
“Where is Adonis?” I asked through gritted teeth. The air smelled heavy with the scent of myrrh.
“I think he’ll be disappointed with you.”
With a jolt of horror, I realized that the rhythmic cadences of Angelic were still floating through the air, the spell carrying on where Baleros had left off. Dozens of voices chanted in unison. With the tip of my sword trained on Baleros’s throat, I stole a quick look behind me. The jackdaws had simply picked up where Baleros had left off. They all knew the spell. They were going to kill Ruadan right here.
“Stop them,” I said.
With a movement so fast I could hardly track it, he brought his sword to my neck. That look I’d stolen had cost me.
Godsdamn it. I should have just killed him instead of asking about Adonis.
I stared into his eyes, which were lightly crinkled at the corners. The death angel in me longed for release, and my father’s magic surrounded us. Where was he?
My heart boomed against my ribs, heavy footfalls of a dark beast.
I am the stalker that creeps up behind you when you’re trying to find the right words.
A vision flashed in my mind—Ruadan threading flowers together for me.
I couldn’t stand here while they killed Ruadan. I had to stop this.
I’m here when you’re searching to fill the silence, fleeing the dark truth.
A voice in my mind. A thousand voices, mingling together, high and low, dissonant. Magic raced down my back, my shoulder blades blazing with power. The wind whipped around me, cold and unforgiving.
You hold up a landscape you painted; you grin at your gold; you buy a house on the hill overlooking the lake. You smile proudly. See this? you think. It will last forever. You don’t see me looming behind you. I’m a long twilight shadow over cemetery grass. I enshroud your body from the toes up.
Dark ecstasy claimed my mind as wings erupted from my back. I lifted off the earth.
Sweet release, an embrace of the dark truth.
My midnight wings—streaked with gold—lifted me into the air, night wind racing over my skin, tearing at my hair.
I read the shock on Baleros’s face.
Bow before me.
From above, I drove my sword into him, impaling him from the skull down, splitting him in two. For just a moment, blood poured out of him. Then, his body erupted into flames, the hot blast knocking me back.
His sword fell to the ground with a clang. And something else, too—a gleaming chalice.
What was that? The cup called to me with its own dark magic, and I yearned to pick it up. But it wasn’t the time, and I needed to stay in the air. Baleros wasn’t truly dead. The Fire Goddess would revive him. But I had his mist army, now, and it was time to deploy them.
My powerful wings lifted me higher over the crowd of jackdaws, and they still chanted.
I raised my sword, shouting my first command to my mist soldiers: “Attack the humans!”
A smiled curled my lips, relief washing over me. Fog curled into the air as the mist soldiers whirled into action. Their swords began carving into the black cloaks.
All fall before me.
From the air, I glanced at Ruadan. My mist soldiers were attacking the jackdaws, but his power was fading fast, coils of star-flecked magic flitting away from his body like smoke on the wind. His eyes were closed, his body hunched as they turned him mortal. The sight of it bruised my heart.
I rob your memories, leave you with only a final glimmer of knowledge. I take that, too. I steal your food and your breath, draw your ribs out under your skin, carve your belly.
I shouted his name, but he couldn’t hear me. It was like he was totally collapsing into himself—a black hole of magic. Shadows swallowed him.
The mist army was fighting the humans, but not fast enough. The jackdaws had no fear, and they weren’t running. They were standing their ground, chanting. Stealing his immortality.
I’m the green smear on your mouth, the sallow in your skin, the swaying darkness under your feet and your last rasping breath. I’m the eternal darkness that awaits you at the end, and I have always been with you.
Death rippled out of my body like an atomic blast. Euphoria claimed my mind.
From the sky, I stared down at the courtyard to see the humans falling to the ground. Ruadan, too, had doubled over, his enormous form collapsing onto the stone.
In
the end, you will all bow before me; you will all lay down your lives and worship at my altar.
Their bodies were a beautiful canvas of purple, red, and black, painted with my brush. My own landscape. Death was my creation.
Ecstasy lit me up as I completed the task I’d been born for. I’d killed them all. They rotted below, bleeding from the mouths, the streaks of red. The Plague was a beautiful mixture of cold hues and warm, purple skin—
The Plague.
The scent of myrrh was overpowering. It was Adonis’s scent, but mine, too.
Baleros was winning. Nine o’clock. I was spreading the Plague myself, and the wave of death I’d unleashed was still rippling over the city. My heart was ready to explode. I should be thinking about all of them, about the city of London itself, but only one thought crystallized in my mind.
Was Ruadan still immortal, or had I killed him?
My wings pounded the air like a heartbeat as I swooped to hover over where he lay on the stone.
When I met Ruadan’s violet eyes, relief flooded me. But only for a moment. The truth was out now, and he was staring at me in my real form.
With what looked like great effort, he forced himself to stand. Wrath etched his features, and something cold split me in two.
Here I am, Ruadan. A creature never meant to walk the earth. The monster who spreads the Plague.
From the air, I looked out over the horizon, at the midnight magic rippling toward London. I needed to stop the death from spreading. Could I stop it?
When I closed my eyes, I saw her again—my mother. This time she looked alive, her body blazing with light. I didn’t come from Adonis alone—I’d come from my mother, Ruby, too, a being of light. I could remember her light touch on my skin, the gold in her eyes, her kisses on my cheek when she thought I was asleep.
The waves of death seeped back into me, drawn back from the horizon. I pulled my magic back into myself.
My enormous wings beat the air, and I lowered myself to the ground to face Ruadan—my lover and my enemy.
For the first time since I’d met him, I found him shifted completely. Black leather wings spread out behind him, his eyes swirling with darkness. Two dark horns gleamed on his head. He looked like my nightmarish hallucination—the one where I’d envisioned him trying to kill me.
Institute of the Shadow Fae Box Set Page 56