I was prepared to arrive somewhere other than Erik’s location, but I was not prepared for this.
We can only be in the heart of the darkness and the pull… Oh, thepull…
Pain stabs at my side. Galeia’s claws are digging deeper. I try to hold her closer even as she screams in terror, her cries whipping away in the shrieking wind that drowns my thoughts.
I promised I would keep her safe.
I promised I would help her.
I promised Erik we would never break.
From within the swirling darkness up ahead, a figure takes shape, dust, and ash drawing together into a form I refuse to recognize.
The whisper that reaches me across the distance chills me to my bones.
Come to me, Asha. You don’t have a choice.
Chapter 36
Ido the only thing I can.
Remaining crouched to the ashen ground with Galeia pressed to my right side, I reach back with my left hand and draw my hammer.
Power surges through me, my light gleaming through the shadows, throwing my surroundings into sharp relief.
The ash looks like flecks of gold swirling across the landscape. The outlines of the monsters in the distance become clearer, giant bears, wolves, and stags clashing and tearing each other apart—until my light reaches them.
And then they stop, dropping to the ground and turning in my direction.
The figure gliding toward me is bathed in brilliance, her features more beautiful than any I’ve ever seen, her form swathed in silver silks, her pale hair flowing in the wind, every step she takes making her seem oblivious of the danger around her.
I’m filled with horror, a terrible, shattering fear, because saints help me…
I know who she is.
“Take control,” she whispers. “Take the power you want. Banish the dark, punish the wicked, and make the world as you want it to be.”
My heart pounds, but my blood is running cold as the shadow-woman smiles, and her voice slithers around me like chains tightening with every heartbeat. “Let go of your limits.”
A denial slips past my lips, drowned in the fury of the wind and Galeia’s screams.
My grip on my hammer loosens, and I leave it in its scabbard because my one choice—to fight back—is not a choice at all.
Tamra warned me that this darkness wants me dead.
Thaden warned me that using my magic would only feed the blight. Even the nameless woman who was watching over Galeia warned me that dark magic only serves itself.
It brought me here, and I have no choices.
None at all.
Because, if this darkness claims my power, it will be unstoppable.
A scream rises to my lips, a snarl as fierce as a beast. “I will never be you!”
“Oh, but you will, Asha,” the shadow-woman says, her serene smile gleaming ever brighter with every step she takes. “There is no darkness you won’t embrace to save the ones you love.”
I’m frozen, rendered still where I crouch with no way out.
