‘Erath,’she breathed.
He had aged elegantly, his jaw broader, his face leaner. But it was impossible to deny … it was him. He had the same dark curls, the same half-smile. It was only his eyes, wholly black, that were different.
The wind danced through his curls now, almost joyfully.
Like Styerra was sayinghello.
He closed his eyes and leaned into it. Like he sensed Styerra’s presence too.
‘Styerra was always good at hiding things … but this? This … is a surprise, even to me.’ He looked at her truly now. Every detail of her face, and it took everything in her not to shy away. Not to avert her gaze. ‘You … are all the best parts of her.’
‘You left her behind!’ Ezer screamed. ‘And it wasyourwolves that killed her.’
The wind whistled, tossing Erath’s curls about … not quite so joyfully this time.
‘Restless beasts, my wolves,’ he said, and waved his hand. ‘They are not always as loyal to my commands.’ Shadows reappeared, soaring towards him from the darkness like little birds to flit about his head. ‘And from what my shadows tell me … you also brought a wayward raphon.’
Ezer gasped.
He laughed, the sound cold and biting. ‘You thought you could just walk into my fortress, unannounced? I knew the moment the Door opened. My shadows seeallthings. Even the Shadow Tome you carry in your pocket.’
Cold dread filled her, because this was true power before her and around her, power that could put a Sacred Master to shame.
Enough to shatter worlds.
‘Take her to a cell,’ Erath said to the Sentinel still holding her in place. ‘And capture the raphon. I’d like to dig into its mind. See what secrets lie in waiting for me.’
‘No!’Ezer screamed. ‘Please! Please, don’t touch Six!’
But her time was up. She was already being dragged away again into the darkness.
Away from the Acolyte.
Away from her father.
42
The Sentinel took her somewhere deep in the labyrinth.
She tried to remember the path, tried to hold on to the twists and turns she’d spent so long traversing in her own mind – but terror had blinded her now.
‘P-please,’ she begged. She’d lost too much blood from the claws still gripping her body. It was so cold she could see frost forming on the torchlit walls. ‘Please, justlet me go.’
A sob scraped the back of her throat as they stopped before a cell. ‘No. Gods, no?—’
She screamed again as those claws were suddenly ripped out of her arms.
‘We do not speak of the enemy inside these walls,’ the Sentinel hissed and leaned close enough that she could see into the shadows beneath his hood.
She could have sworn she saw fangs as the beast shoved her inside.
She didn’t know how much time had passed. It could have been hours or days that she lay there, curled up on the black rock.
Alone, bleeding, cold.
Three days.
That was all they had before the Long Day ended, before Realmbreak was over …
