He flicked his hand down at his front. “And here I am, respecting your wishes.”
“I did not call for you,” Garrick said through gritted teeth.
My gaze whipped between the two of them. They’d met before, I realized. Garrick glared at the Dark God, and he… just smiled like one of the feral felines that were rumored to haunt the mountains, vicious byproducts of millennia-old witch magic.
Not only had they met, but they’d also discussed me. The urge to flee was overwhelming—and perfectly aligned with my plans. I spun towards the door, Isanara moving with me in perfect harmony.
“Leaving now would be a mistake,” the Dark God said, in response to the thoughts I could not hide and only he could read.
“You are going to get her killed,” Garrick growled, stepping between us while also trying to keep his body angled toward the oncoming fae soldiers. “Koryn, you cannot wait any longer. Parry and my brother are both strong. My magic will fade, and they will realize what I’ve done. They will come after you.”
The Dark God waved a dismissive hand. “And she will be ready to meet them.”
Garrick lifted his sword in a not-so-subtle gesture of aggression. But the Dark God just lifted his brows, as if daring Garrick to try. My Lifebind ground his jaw together. “Why did you send me to rescue her at all?”
“Send you?” I echoed.
“I never specified when or how she should leave the palace.” The Dark God shrugged, a stupid gesture that had no business looking so elegant on him.
“You only want to hasten her death so that you can claim her,” Garrick accused.
Is this really happening?They were bickering like prostitutes in the tavern over the last customer of the evening. Over me.
They finally recognize what I have always known. You are invaluable,Isanara said, tilting her head with that irritating adolescent pride that came from being right.
Some women would probably be flattered. I was incensed.
“I will decide my own fate,” I said. My power rolled through me, coalescing in my arms, reaching for my palms. It was close to breaking loose. I’d direct that surge toward getting me out of this blasted castle. “I am going back to the Gates. If Maura and the fae king want me—us,” I curved a hand around one of Isanara’s spikes, “here, then it is the last place I want to be.”
Garrick’s shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit, relief hiding behind his mask. He might show his emotions to me, but the Dark God did not get that vulnerability. I wondered if his mind was safe, or if all of us were subject to having our thoughts rifled through like a sheaf of paper.
“Just you get that privilege,” the Dark God crooned.
Garrick’s shoulders tensed again, his gaze jerking from me to the Dark God and back again. I was not going to be here long enough to bother explaining the nature of our connection. I tugged on Isanara’s spike.
“Let’s go,” I said aloud, so no one would have any confusion.
I did not know the Dark God—who or even what he truly was. A god, yes, but how did his power work? Or would he classify it as magic? Power was bestowed; magic was born. The gods were the source of both. They were the ones who’d cursed Velora for the fae’s greedy use of magic, and, as a consequence, life drained from the land and the witch’s power with it. Magic and power both, distinct but intertwined, and both dying.
The Dark God had ripped me away to his dark realm, spoken into my mind, hidden in shadow, and appeared in physical form. It was unlike any power or magic that I knew how to characterize.
That was a problem for my afterlife, I reminded myself. I did not need to know him. And the way he pursed his lips—the slight moue that might suggest amusement or annoyance or something else—I did not care about that, either.
I tunneled into my power, calling it to the surface, ready to form a staircase or even a slippery ramp as long as it would get me out of Balar Shan. Isanara flexed her wings at my side, readying to take flight.
The Dark God did not release me so easily. He stepped closer, past Garrick, who gripped his sword ever tighter, until he was with us, the three of us forming a strange semi-circle.
But he spoke tome. “There is a talisman here, hidden in the palace. It will change the balance of power in Velora forever.”
Damn him. Damn him straight back to his freezing, eternal hell.
He had been in my mind, and he knew exactly where to apply pressure in order to make me pause.
A talisman—was that what Alize had been alluding to when she questioned Maura’s motivations for capturing me? Maura was more than capable of creating a talisman on her own. She did not need the fae king. But a talisman could upset the balance of power between the witches and the fae, if it were powerful enough. What would such a thing take… and how could Maura hope to get away with it right under the fae king’s nose?
“He is manipulating you,” Garrick said, disrupting the maelstrom of thoughts racing through my mind.
How dare he. “And you have been so fucking honest?”
