If someone asked me to give up our bond, I didn’t know if I could. We only just discovered we were mates, and leaving him behind once had already been enough to almost destroy me. Losing him forever? I wasn’t sure I possessed the strength or the courage to make such a decision.
“I kept the secret, taking it to my grave, except for writing it down in a journal I left behind for my daughter. A secret passed down to protect our kingdoms should the darkness ever threaten to rise again. But that’s not all we passed down.” She held out her hand. “You found my dagger.”
I pulled it out again to find it glowing. Even once transferred to Evelyn’s hand, it illuminated the space around us.
She smiled, twirling it. “I designed this. I even gave it a name: Apollo.”
I stared at her, captivated. What hadn’t this woman accomplished in her time?
“I took our idea of Jasper’s amulet and worked it into a weapon for the women in our line. In the journal, I explained that I imbued the dagger with my magic to call on as they needed. The idea being that when the one who the Fates blessed with light appeared, this would be a powerful weapon to cast out the darkness.”
“Cast out the darkness?” Something scratched at the back of my brain, begging for more.
She nodded. “It should, in theory. None of us possessed the power to test the dagger’s capabilities to destroy the darkness inside of someone, allowing them to return to their normal Fae state. The power contained within should amplify the light. I hadn’t expected the line to continue with this tradition as it did. My brilliant daughter figured that out.” She sighed, running a hand over Apollo. “Magic, fortified and continually strengthened over a thousand years, is pretty powerful.”
“It only took these two idiots’ bloods to break the amulet by touching it,” Jax scoffed. “Let’s hope something so simple won’t destroythisweapon.”
“Jax,” Kade growled.
He shrugged. “Just thinking out loud.”
I couldn’t help but wonder the same though. “Do I have to kill someone to eliminate the darkness completely? I’ve seen a ‘mist’ come out of the dark ones I’ve killed with it. It looked like the darkness evaporated out of their body, but I’ve never tried it on someone who still lived.”
She shook her head. “That certainly wouldn’t make the most sense to kill everyone with darkness.” She chuckled. “Cutting them, breaking the skin—something to release the darkness with the dagger should be all you need to do. Again, in theory.”
“Right.” I nodded. Unease settled in my belly. I hadn’t had to kill the fae I battled in order to free them.
Kade’s shadows rubbed my back, as if sensing my guilt.
The strox with us stepped forward, nudging Evelyn’s hand until she laughed and pet its neck.
“Why do they listen to you?” I asked.
She cocked her head to the side, watching me, and ushered me forward. Taking my hand in hers, she gently placed it on the strox’s neck beside hers.
I refused to let the audible hitch in Kade’s breath break my focus on surviving my contact with the beast, with whom I absolutely refused to make eye contact.
“When we sacrificed our mating bond, these beasts appeared. The strox. Born from pain. They recognize that in me, but you have also already endured so much. They recognize that pain in you too, Illiana.”
Feeling braver, I brushed my fingers along the strox’s neck and it shivered, making a content sound.
My body trembled slightly at what I was doing, but it also felt incredible. Touching a beast of fairy-tale stories.
“They will answer to you when I’m gone. They’re loyal to our line.”
“And the razorven?” I asked.
“Not as open to being pet, with the poisonous barbs and all.” She grinned. “Every creature of our nightmares appeared from some great pain and sacrifice. Remember that. They all belong to this world, and they will aid you, if you let them.”
I shook my head, not sure I could imagine an army of razorven and strox coming into the final battle with Thames.
“So you’ve been waiting all this time to reveal our true history and the purpose of the dagger? And now what?”
“There is a final prophecy that has been spoken. Thames will continue to exist unless all the darkness is destroyed. All of it. Somehow you must find a way to eliminate any and all of the darkness remaining.”
I tamped down my rage hearing another prophecy existed that the seers hadn’t mentioned and focused instead on the impossible task of eradicatingallof the darkness. “It’s everywhere though.” I gaped at her, looking at Kade. His face tightened, forehead creasing as his features hardened. What Evelyn said would be nearly impossible.
“Yes, it is, and it will continue to grow. You will find a way to destroy it all. Every tie to Thames must be gone. Do you hear me?”
