Palomides was angry, though he tried to cover it. His hands were not tented anymore, but at his side in fists that were only half-buried by the floor-length robes he wore. They actually reminded me of the attire the priestesses in Avalon favored. But they were black, like everything else in this cursed castle.
I licked my lips, ready to finish my accounting. But Arran spoke.
“The amorite is one in an arsenal of weapons we will use to defeat the succubus.” Arran may not be an elemental, and he certainly did not lie. But he had a way with words, a force that he put behind them, that was difficult to counter. It was power given sound. Death as a promise.
Palomides’ mind and mouth recovered faster than his body. “The female you are so interested in is my niece, Synora. The one you stabbed, my nephew, Syros.”
I bared my teeth at the latter.
Palomides was unmoved. “But I think now is the time to introduce you the last member of my court.”
Court.
I wanted to cut the word from his lips. He might imagine himself a king, but I would not leave this cursed castle without disabusing him of that notion.
But first, the amorite.
Before we could speak, a door to the left of the throne opened.
It was a window into the void. A portal. A rift.This isn’t possible. I grabbed for Arran’s hand, waiting for the tingling sensation in my fingers. What was this? Would I be able to control it? I’d never encountered such magic—
Then the swirling stopped.
It was not swirling at all.
It was a body—a figure, moving out of the darkness. A figure thatwasthe darkness.
He stepped into the hall, and the breath emptied from my body. As big as Arran. Just as broad, too. But that was not what was striking. It was the armor. Head to toe, not a single fraction of skin or clothing was visible. Just armor.
Black.
But not like the castle itself.
This blackmoved. It swirled and twinkled and sharpened. Like the night sky. Darker.
Like the void itself, given shape.
I felt sick.
Arran’s fingers tightened around mine.
I was still holding Arran’s hand.
“This is the Black Knight,” Palomides said, his smile no longer worthy of the word. As he spoke, Palomides pounded his fist against the Black Knight’s breastplate.
The metal did not move. Neither did the Black Knight.
But he was solid. Touching him was not a trick to free-fall into the void.
Inside me, something solidified as well. Or maybe that was because Arran was still holding my hand.
“I am not interested in payment, not of the sort you offer, in any case. In the terrestrial kingdom, we value strength. Prove that you are strong enough to take the amorite.”
“I could prove that by killing you now.”
“You could. But then you’d have to instill someone else in my place.” Palomides said it because he knew it was a costly option. If I was as powerful as I’d intimated, even a hulking black knight in eerie armor should be no match for me. Maybe I should have played this differently—been a retiring female rather than a brazen one. But it was too late for that.
“Duel with the Black Knight. If you defeat him, you will have access to the mines,” Palomides said simply.
