“It’s been a long time since he last got his hands on a magic breaker. The edges of his realm are starting to fray.”
I recalled what Liam had told me about Brin’s activities. “I’m sure you had nothing to do with that.”
Brin’s lips twitched as he inclined his head. “I may be somewhat at fault.”
Try solely responsible.
“You cannot go back there. Not now that he’s caught your scent.”
“We don’t know that he has.”
I was being stubborn, but I didn’t care. If we did things Brin’s way, I’d lose everything. The family I just got back, my friends, my House. All of it gone.
“He sent those assassins as a test. If I hadn’t been there, you would have already fallen into the trap he laid for you.”
“Maybe so, but I don’t plan on hiding here just because it’s safer.” I glanced at my grandfather, trusting that he was more likely than Brin to give me the truth in this matter. “Is Noctessa really the only place I can undergo this ‘becoming’?”
My grandfather took in Brin’s rigid stance before answering reluctantly. “You will become regardless. Some might claim fate plays an important role in the process.”
Good enough for me.
“That settles it. I’m going back,” I declared, meeting Brin’s gaze stubbornly.
His face was as blank as it had been earlier. As if my decision was of no relevance to him.
“Very well,” he rumbled, his voice developing a gravelly echo.
Darkness crawled out of his pupils, staining his irises and the whites of his eyes a solid black. The abyss stared into me.
I grew lightheaded as I struggled to remain conscious. Panic and alarm began to set in as I realized I was frozen in place. A splotch of darkness spread from under my foot, becoming a pool that rose.
First to my ankles. Then to my knees.
“You insist you can take care of yourself, daughter of mine.” The abyss smiled. “Prove it. Escape me. Fail and we do things my way.”
A weary sigh came from my grandfather’s direction as the darkness crept past my eyes and over my head. My hearing was the last thing to go.
“This’ll only make her hate you more.”
“I’m prepared for that. Our world is not always kind. It won’t always bend in her favor. This will be a hard lesson. But a necessary one. I’m not entirely heartless though. I left her a small window to find her way out. As long as she’s developed her power—”
Before I could hear the rest, the abyss closed around my head.
nineteen
I plunged into anendless black, shadows and night streaming past me. There was no concept of up or down, making it impossible to get my bearings.
Strangely, I felt calm. The panic that should have been present in a fall through eternal night was absent. Peace and tranquility the only things that remained.
“Where am I?”
The words were hushed and muted against the vast, echoing silence. Like something heard underwater. A little indistinct. A faint bit garbled.
It was cold. A chill so extreme, my body had long since gone numb. Everything felt deadened. My nose, my feet, my hands. They were like rubber. There, but useless.
If I’d been human, I’d have to worry about frost bite.
“Is this his darkness?” I asked myself, staring around me in curiosity.
