Shadows clung to the walls between the pillars. A figure burst from their depths and flew straight toward me.
I hadn’t registered their features before a blade was singing toward my head. Drawing my sword, I barely managed to deflect the blow. The assassin’s blade slid down mine, throwing me off balance when its tip collided with my wrist.
Blood spurted from the gash, and I inhaled sharply. Staggering back, I heard a scream from down the hall.
Eris.
Whirling on my heel, I flew down the steps, the assassin hot on my tail. This time, I got a good look at my foe.
The braziers illuminated his every detail, or rather, his lack thereof. A solid shadow, shaped like a man, raised a darkened blade to bring down on Eris’ neck.
Swapping my sword to my other hand, I swung for the shadow’s side, but it danced away before I could strike. Blood streamed from Eris’ shoulder, and she clutched the wound tightly, eyes wide.
Hauling her up, I pressed her back against the pillar and stood protectively in front of her.
The strange assassins circled us.
“It’s him.” Eris’ voice shook. “He’s doing to you, w-what he did to me.”
“Who?” I asked.
A third shadow erupted from the floor, and then another. They almost appeared like assassins cloaked in the night itself.
What magic was this? Did it spring from a muse?
Wherewaseveryone?
Glancing down, my eyes locked on the brazier burning beside me. Grabbing the edge of the iron pot, I threw the fire toward the assassins. Stinging flame licked my hand.
But it worked. The shadows recoiled from the cinders, giving us a chance to flee.
Grabbing Eris, I dragged her back toward the training yard—toward Aeacus.
We didn’t get very far.
Skeletal hands, dark scarlet like pools of blood, emerged from the tiles like ghosts from the ground. They wrapped around my legs, my arms, my neck. Eris yelped as she was dragged to the ground. I tried to grab her, but something twisted my ankle, and I fell with her.
The shadows multiplied until a veritable army surrounded us. Everywhere I looked, more skeletal hands appeared, promising death should we try to flee.
Black and crimson painted the hall in the colors of my house.
Realizing we were going to meet our ends here, I reached for Eris.
To comfort my sister as we died, if nothing else.
Steel rang as a shadow drew its blade and stood over Eris. It flipped the blade, tip facing down, and drove it through her back.
I raged against my bonds, trying to escape. Every time I snapped free of the blood-forged bones, another appeared to take its place.
The sword came down again. I flinched as Eris screamed.
A shadow loomed above me: my executioner.
My mind whirled as the blade rose above my head. What did Eris mean by ‘his doing’?
Gods, I had a terrible feeling I knewexactlywho she spoke of.
The cursed name Haimyx had given me . . . I was only surprised it had taken this long for him to decide to kill me.
