He held out a hand – which, Ezer noted, was still darkened from dried shadow wolf blood. How could they even bleed, when they were spun from shadows? The Acolyte’s magic was terrifying, impossible to understand. ‘The wards are Godsmade. They will know where yourloyalty lies.’
One by one, the survivors stepped through the golden sheen of light. It parted around each person like a curtain, molding back into place the moment they’d stepped through.
What happens if we don’t pass its test?Ezer thought.
Because she’d dreamt of too many things coming true. And in her dreams, after Kinlear stabbed her …
She saw her own blood, running black.
She clenched a fist over her mother’s ring and watched the others step into Augaurde. Everyone passed with ease.
Until she noticed the man before her had fists as clenched as her own.
The second his nose touched the wards, there was a horriblecrackle.Before Ezer could even yelp, he had been blasted backwards.
His body was already steaming as it hit the snow.
‘What … what happened?’ Ezer whispered.
Arawn knelt at the man’s side, his blue eyes narrowed.
‘A dark heart,’ he said, and used the tip of his sword to pierce the man’s skin. A droplet of blood welled out. It was utterly black. Dark as oil. ‘He’d already defected in his soul. No telling how long ago.’ He whispered a prayer and stood, his gaze sliding back to her. ‘Go ahead.’
Her mouth fell open.
‘But what abouthim?’
A defector had been among them the entire time. And no one had known. How many others were out there in the realm, walking among them like hidden shadows?
Arawn shrugged his enormous shoulders. ‘The wolves will do as they please with him. A fate he deserves, for denying the Five.’
An earsplitting cry suddenly divided the night.
Ezer gasped as the trees tremored above her. And despite the painful tug on her scars … when she looked up, she smiled.
A war eagle.
A real, true war eagle suddenly soared over her head.
Its wings were enormous, their color a buttery gold, and so much larger than she’d ever imagined. It banked as it circled overhead, andin the wardlight, it looked like each feather on its wings was spun from the cloth of the gods.
It was large enough that it carried two riders upon its back with ease – the female.
And Kinlear.
A second eagle followed, and Ezer stopped walking, feeling like the world had slid out from underneath her. Like she had instead fallen into the pages of the worn storybooks Ervos had purchased for her when she was just a child.
A child desperate formore,anything she could getabout the mighty war mounts of the north. Her entire life, her greatest friends had been the birds. And the war eagles …
They were magnificent.
Even if the first beast did carry the prince – both loverandkiller – from her dreams.
‘Minder.’
She watched the mounts soar away, until the hilltop and the Forest Gates blocked them from her sight.
‘Night waits for no one,’ Arawn said. The golden wards shimmered behind him, outlining him like a halo. When she didn’t move, he sighed and ground out, ‘Please.’
