A prismatic aura enveloped her, dancing up to tease her hair. To whisper in her ear.
“A shadow, once living, abides in bleak places.” She was in a kind of trance, Illamiata humming as the words left her unbidden. “A vengeance, once loving, on five towers gazes.”
The sludge churned, more agitated with every syllable that left her lips.
She had to find Brand, yes, but she also had a responsibility. A place in this mess that was bigger than just the two of them. She hadn’t understood before, but she did now. Could hear the song of it in her blood.
“Fuck, witchling. Not again.”
Her feet were moving without being told, out into the center of the chasm. To the worst of the pooling black.
“Their hate is consuming, biting and bruising. Eating and rotting and writhing and oozing.”
Fern and Hedda flanked her as the ground shook, rock crumbling from the cliffside. All of thatoozingfilth retracted, falling from the walls and racing towards itself—merging, growing—before shooting away into the distance.
The others joined them as Vann said, “That doesn’t bode well.”
“Naught more than the dark, being called by its darker master.” Her voice was back to its warbling tones, both the sound and the knowledge not quite hers.
“Well.” Hedda brandished her axe, eyes darting. “That’s ominous as fuck.”
“Hmm.” Fern grinned. “I love it.”
From high out of the far-off gloom, an object flew towards them. Closer. Closer.
“Ach, no.”
A severed leg landed with a wet slap a few feet away, bursting as it tumbled.
“What. The. Fuck.” It felt like a privilege to see Faldir so rattled, shock on his slack-jawed face.
A hand next. A head. A torso. Allinsideof her shield.
Vann made a canopy with his vines. The twins and Fern batted chunks away with their weapons. Magnus placed his body between her and the onslaught.
Except, she didn’t need his help.
A warm giggle sounded in Lunara’s mind.
Hello, Endellion.
The greeting didn’t come from her own conscious mind, it came from?—
Illamiata pulled at her center and she shoved her way past Magnus. When he reached out and grabbed her hand, she turned around and locked eyes with him.
“Let go of me.”
He recoiled but didn’t release his white-knuckled hold. “Lunara, please. You can’t?—”
“I can, and I will,” she whispered. “It was always meant to be me, from the very beginning.”
Of time. Of creation. Of her life. She felt the truth of it.
Magnus must have seen it in her face, that there was no stopping her. “Be careful. Brand would never forgive us if something happened to you.”
“Don’t worry.” A roaring thunder started up, shaking the fabric of the world. “I won’t be letting anything happen tous.”
“Weeping fucking Sisters,” Magnus breathed.
