“Soon, my mate.” He withdraws his hand before he reaches any further. “Soon, we will delight in each other while the day king watches. And when we’re finished? I’ll allow you to take his head as a mating gift.”
Withdrawing a step, he uses his fangs to open his wrist for me. “Now drink. I need you strong for the fight. We take the keep when the moon is high.”
I do as commanded, drinking him down. It’s the only thing to quiet the part of me that I hate, the part that doesn’t want Eraldon’s touch, his seed, or his mate bond. The part of me that must die, even if I have to rip it from my insides with my bare hands.
14
Emma
“When the barrier falls, stay close to me, my pet. I won’t risk you.” Eraldon kisses my crown, then turns to peruse his legions of seekers.
The ranks have grown until we’re bursting at the seams. We’ll lose some when we take the Nightkeep, but we won’t stop fighting until it’s ours. Eraldon will make sure of it. This is his realm, his throne to take.
“Bring the witch.” He snaps his fingers, and two seekers drag the withered Lex forward.
Her eyes lock with me as the guards place her on her knees.
“Bring it down.” Eraldon stands beside her and faces the barrier as thousands of seekers prepare for the assault. Some are perched in the trees overhead, the rest in teeming rows of fangs and teeth. Killing machines. A hive that answers only to Eraldon and follows his every command. I can feel his command, too, but it’s nothing like the mindless drones who even now vibrate to every whim or slight change in Eraldon’s icy façade.
The town beyond the barrier is quiet, the Nightkeep unaware of the danger lurking just outside its doors. The witch’s power is formidable, but removing the spell that keeps the night realm’s castle safe will drain her. Kill her, most likely.
I stiffen my spine.Good. One less traitor to worry about. Her fealty rests with the king of day. That’s why she lied to me about my mother. Lex is trying to stop Eraldon, and I can’t let her.
The witch reaches out and touches the barrier, her fingers creating golden sparks along its surface. She doesn’t burn like the seekers do—likeIdo. The magic isn’t intended for her. Only us.
“Destroy it.” Eraldon grips the back of her neck and thrusts her forward. “Do it now, witch, and your work will be finished.”
She turns to stare at me again, her eyes locked with mine. And then I feel … something. Like fingers in my mind, as if my thoughts are nothing more than sheaves of parchment that can be flipped through.
“Get out,” I say through gritted teeth.
Eraldon tightens his grip on her neck until something cracks.
Lex’s touch fades away, but I still feel her there, as if she’s left fingerprints, or perhaps tucked a letter between those imaginary reams of parchment stacked inside my head.
She groans and puts both hands against the barrier, but then a laugh rolls from her. Out of place and haunting, her laughter claws through me. “I do not fear death, Prince Eraldon. We’ve been over this.”
He leans down so quickly it’s almost unnerving. “Do it now, witch, or I’ll turn you. Forever bound to me. Forever my slave.” His threat is soft as fresh silk and sharp as hungry teeth.
Her cackle dies down. The crone may not fear death or the Spires, but she flinches at the thought of becoming a seeker. Of becoming … like me.
“I know this is my end.” She spits as another of her neck bones cracks under Eraldon’s fierce grip. “I welcome it. Breaking this spell is the second step in your downfall, Prince of Night.” She shoots me one more look as her hands start to glow with golden light. “Taking the queen of day was your first.”
The entire host of Eraldon’s army stills as he pulls away from her. Her golden glow is wrong here in the night realm, the brightness of her a taste of the sun that used to rain down on me. I put a hand to my cheek as she burns brighter. Thesun. I remember it. I should hate it, but I don’t. Why?
Eraldon pulls me back as Lex becomes pure light, the barrier pulsating in shimmers of gold as she pulls from her deep well of magic and sends it shooting through the protection spell that has kept the Nightkeep safe for so many eons. A sound like the rush of a great wind through the trees batters my ears as Eraldon pulls me farther away from Lex.
I cover my ears and try to scream over the noise, but I can’t. Eraldon’s wings expand, and he wraps one around me, keeping me in tight against him. I can feel his anticipation, his deep, cruel joy at re-entering his father’s keep as a conqueror rather than a son. His desire is so strong that I get lost in it, in both the cacophony of Lex’s destruction and Eraldon’s insatiable need for more, more, more. Always more. I scream again, but now I don’t know why.
The nearest seekers burst into flames, their ashes floating away as the others scurry back. The golden cracks grow, shooting out over the protective spell, splintering the dome that shelters the Nightkeep. My ears ache from the sound, my eyes burning even when I close them.
And then, in a sudden whoosh of air, it’s as if someone has slammed a great door. I’m almost knocked off my feet from the blast, but Eraldon steadies me, his hand at my waist.
“Look, my pet. Look.” His voice is coated in a smile.
I open my eyes. The dome is falling in golden shards, like one of the fire serpents the crafty changelings in my village used to make for harvest days. Soaring into the sky and bursting into sparks that both terrified and delighted the nightling children. The pieces glitter and fall. Lex is gone, her power spent and her body nothing but a pile of golden embers. That thorn under my skin twists, burrowing deeper and deeper. When it pierces my heart, will I die and take this inexplicable agony with me?
A cry of alarm goes up from the town outside the keep, and many are already running for their lives. But they’re too late. The trap is sprung, and only those who pledge their fealty to Eraldon will survive. Perhaps not even then.
