There is no answer, of course. I turn my gaze inward, seeking out my maegis. It’s dormant, but it sharpens at my attention, the faint glow of the cavern in my mind brightening as if waiting for me to call upon it.
A touch on my arm calls me back. Callan has slipped a plate in front of me. “You should eat.”
My stomach twists with hunger, warring with distaste for the excess occurring around me, but I lower my head and focus on my food. The rice is fragrant and fluffy, the meat lightly salted and soft enough to melt inside my mouth, coated with a spiced sauce. Beside me, Callan does the same, both of us quiet amidst the growing, celebratory noise within the hall.
A bellowed shout draws our attention back to the crowd.
A shiny-headed, scarlet-eyed male on a nearby table overloads his plate, only for it to slide off and onto the floor. He merely laughs, flicking his fingers at a waiting server to clean it up. The green-clad male carefully scrapes it from the floor, but the Caelumnai seated beside him tips his plate and adds his own food to the floor, both of them laughing harder.
When the shadows stir, I cannot hold them back. Don’t want to, anger filling my chest at their gluttony and waste.
The shadows unfurl from my hands. I barely hear Callan’s curse, the scrape of Petyr’s chair as he jumps to his feet. The argument that breaks out over my head. The crowd in front of us does not notice as my shadows seep into the air—twisting, silent tendrils of pure darkness.
One face turns, then another. They blanch, falling silent in a wave of growing fear as tendrils of inky black creep past them.
They know what darkness moves amongst them. The thought feels like mine, and does not sound like me.The prey will always sense the predator.
My feet press into the stone as I stand.
The shadows reach the two males, still laughing uproariously even as the server scrambles back on his knees, face turning to ashen fear as the shadows wind along their body before passing over them.
They soon stop laughing, though. Shadows creep over them, slipping up to their open mouths andin. Laughter turns to choked, horrified noises as shadow turns to solid mass, both men scrabbling fruitlessly at their necks but unable to reach the thing choking them from within. Veins bulge, eyes popping wide with terror.
“How easily you forget the consequences of your actions.” My words are almost mild, but they carry as if on a breeze amidst the silence. “When you so openly waste the food your gods have permitted you.”
“Enough,” a voice breathes into my ear. “Enough, Selene. The lesson has been learned.”
Not yet.
“You will kill them,” the voice says again. It coaxes, stroking my wrist. “You do not wish their blood to be on your hands, Selene.”
Selene.The shadows falter.
“You have shown them,” the voice murmurs. “The point is made. Mercy will carry greater weight.”
I hesitate. And then the shadows begin to retreat, crawling from gasping, sobbing mouths and flowing back to me until the last flick of darkness vanishes.
Callan’s hand hovers as I sit back, my back ramrod straight even as I fight off a rush of dizziness. But it’s Petyr who grips my left hand tightly, raising it in the air in front of the silent, stunned crowd.
“Behold.” He smiles at me, and there is nothing pleasant in it as his fingers twist mine. “The power of Hala returned to us at last. Selene Amaris has travelled across the Never to save us all.To use the gifts of her goddess to destroy the Never and free us from our punishment. Witness the display of Hala’s power. Tonight, we rejoice!”
Silence again. As if nobody wants to move. My arm remains in the air, Petyr gripping it almost to the point of pain.
The solitary, enthusiastic clapping has me searching the tables ahead of us.
Matthias.
His face is tight, an unnatural grin stretching his face as he shoves an elbow into Sol’s side, until he joins in. Slowly, the applause spreads. Someone whistles, and the excitement combines with the fear in the room until the crowd is a frantic, chanting mass.
Petyr drops my arm as if it’s made of flame. He grins, lifting his arms to the adoration below us. Wendlyn stares, not clapping, her face expressionless.
“Get her out of here,” he snarls to Callan through his plastered-on smile. “Before I have her staked beside the other one on the gates. She starts work on the Never tomorrow.”
My chest grows cold. Callan pulls me up less than a second later and steers me firmly to the exit, waving stiffly to the crowd that still cheers and applauds beneath us, stamping their feet in their fervor. Copying him, I put on what I hope is my most-convincing smile and weakly raise my hand to another exultant cheer. I wait until the doors are closed before I let my body sag against him, my energy spent.
My head swims, and he swears. I find my cheek pressed against his warm chest, legs tucked to his side as we begin to move, Callan’s feet eating up the ground below us as he strides down the hall.
“Selene.” His voice is tight. “Stay awake.”
