“She is changed.” The witch’s whisper makes it to my ear despite the roaring wind.
I can feel her staring at me as we hurtle through the night.
“I know.” I grit my words against the wind.
“A darkness has taken hold in her.”
“She is my queen. I will save her. Whatever darkness—”
“You can’t save her from what she is, my lord.” For the very first time, I could swear I hear … regret in Selene’s voice. “She is a seeker. It cannot be undone. She will never again be a changeling. Cursed with seeker blood.”
“Cursed? You would know all about that, wouldn’t you? Like the curse you brought down on my realm when you chose your pride over your love? When you decreed that a mortal could never rule the day realm?Youcursed Emma.” I don’t mask my ire.
“You know nothing of love. Of sacrifice,” she spits.
“I know my mate has been taken, stolen from me, and it’s because of the curse you wrought when the realms were new.” My voice rises along with my wrath. “She is a casualty of your selfishness, your refusal to become queen of day when you—”
I duck as something flies through the air over our heads. Our horses grind to a halt.
“Seeker,” Everett yells as the creature falls, an arrow through its head.
“If one knows,” Selene hisses, “heknows.”
“We’re found out.” I urge my horse onward.
Charen reaches out and grabs me. “You can’t continue.”
“I won’t leave her.” I can feel her, our bond withered but still alive, still trying to link us. If I turn around and leave, I know it will die. Our bond will break, and a void will open up, swallowing me whole.
“Solano.” Everett rides up on my other side. “We can’t wage an assault on the Nightkeep, not when they know we’re here.”
“They know. They’re coming.” Selene clacks her teeth. “Gristle and bone.”
“We must turn ba—”
“I won’t leave her!” I bellow and shake off Everett’s hold. With a sharp whistle I urge my horse onward, faster and faster, charging toward my fate.
“More!” Charen whips out vines of darkness that flicker through the night, ensnaring any seekers ahead of us.
“We can’t stop.” I draw my sword and hew through the ones that come rushing between the trees, their mouths agape, fangs at the ready. “Plow through them!”
“My pleasure.” Selene flies from her unicorn and skitters along the ground like a spider, her claws slashing as she keeps pace with us. A monster from the Spires, she’s every bit the nightmare story told to naughty fae at bedtime.
I slice through more seekers as we enter a wide plain, the marshy land that abuts the northern edge of the Nightkeep. We press on, fighting through the mass of seekers that seem to pour from the dark like ants from a mound.
“Too many.” Everett drops two with one arrow, then pulls out his sword and hacks at the ones swarming around our horses.
Charen summons a black ball of energy and shoves it through the horde, cutting a path for us. We take off, but it’s only a matter of moments before the seekers are at us again, screeching as they try to bring our horses down.
Tristano forges out ahead of me, his blades swinging with unbridled fury.
But I can already see our defeat in the unnerving number of seekers. Eraldon has turned so many. Enough to take the Nightkeep. Enough to take over more. The realms. All of them. He’s created legions of warriors who answer only to him. His plan is far bigger than I could’ve imagined.
War is here. Creeping and roiling with bloodlust and fangs—Eraldon has fashioned a machine that feasts on destruction and doesn’t fear the day.
We must fight. We mustallfight. If we don’t, this is the end of the realms, the end of Arin.
“We’re caught!” Selene guts a seeker then kicks another so hard its head crunches into mush as she looks over at me. “But you, my lord, shall not be.”
