My eyes narrow at this unwelcome news. The creatures that inhabit the wilds rarely venture south. The last time they made their presence known, it was abloodbath.
“How many?” I ask as I continue toward my wolf.
“Reports from villagers are unclear. As few as ten. As many as thirty.”
I reach my wolf, whose soft growls continue rumbling through the air.
Once again, I consider how low the sun sits on the horizon. How soon before night will fall.
Mere heartbeats.
“How many soldiers have you sent north to protect the villages?”
“Two legions,” Lilis replies.
Not enough.
As the sun’s final rays drop below the horizon and the stars begin to shine, I shake my head. “If the beasts want blood, those soldiers are already dead?—”
I flinch as dark light spears across the air, spreading from the south-west.
Lilis shouts, hunching low, her face upturned to the sky.
An unnatural darkness streams toward us, pouring across the sky like black blood, covering the atmosphere with a canopy that casts us into instant night.
With it come far-off screams, but not of fae. My hearing tells me these screams are otherworldly.
Dark creatures shrieking for the blood they crave.
In that instant, the stars disappear, concealed behind such a black veil that it’s like a weight falling across my shoulders.
The stars have gone out.
I’m struck still at the breathtaking memory of the Oracle’s command to me.
Come for me when the stars go out.
Well, the stars have fucking gone out.
Which means, if my logic is correct, her death could be imminent.
“Lilis,” I hiss through the dark. “Get back to the palace. Gather the army. Prepare for bloodshed.”
Bloodshed from vampyrs. Bloodshed from the northern wilds. Bloodshed from this fucking curse.
Lilis immediately leaps to her feet, racing away along the path.
My wolf is already at my side, her snarls increasing.
Did she sense the darkness in the air?
Does she hear the irregularities in my heartbeat?
As I leap onto her back, I remind myself:
Fear will not control me.
No more.
