For now.
CHAPTER 6
DAEMON
For the first few moments after we crossed the threshold, I thought we were safe.
The wards hummed around us, a barrier of crystallized magic that had protected this tower since before we were born. The wraith-hounds prowled the perimeter, their burning eyes fixed on us with predatory hunger, but they couldn’t cross the invisible line separating sanctuary from slaughter.
Then one of them stepped closer to the barrier.
Not to cross, just to test.
Its snout brushed against the ward, and instead of being repelled, sparks flew where spectral flesh met ancient magic. The wolf pulled back, tilted its massive head, and tried again.
This time, the sparks burned brighter.
“They’re learning,” Seris breathed beside me.
I felt the first hairline fracture splinter through the ward’s structure, a crack so fine it was nearly imperceptible, yet widening with each calculated test. The wolves took turns now, pressing at different points along the barrier.
Methodical. Intelligent.
Nothing like the mindless predators I had assumed them to be.
“These aren’t ordinary Wraith-hounds,” I muttered, dread coiling low in my stomach. The Veil-storm had changed them, made them stronger, hungrier, more focused than anything that should exist.
“The magic is failing,” Seris said, her bound hands braced against the tower’s stone wall. She could feel it too, the ancient protections unraveling like cloth pulled apart thread by thread.
“I noticed.”
I drew both daggers, testing their balance. The blades, honed to perfection, would cut through them easily enough. The problem was their numbers.
And Seris.
Alone, I could have fought them off.
Protecting her would make that infinitely more complicated.
The largest wolf pressed its snout against the barrier again, and sparks erupted where its breath met the ward. Strengthened by Veil energy or not, they shouldn’t have been able to touch the barrier without suffering significant damage. The wards had been designed to repel Veil corruption.
“There’s something wrong with them,” I realized, dread sharpening into certainty. “Something’s feeding them. Enhancing them.”
“With what?”
“Veil magic.” The realization settled with sickening clarity. “Your awakening didn’t just stir whatever’s beneath the Hollow Throne. It sent ripples through everything caught between realms. They’re drawn to you like moths to flame.”
She paled. “You’re saying this is my fault?”
“I’m saying this is the reality we’re facing.”
The ward shattered.
It didn’t crack or fade, it detonated inward like glass struck by a hammer, shards of crystallized magic spinning through theair. The wolves surged through the breach before the debris settled, their forms solidifying as they crossed the threshold.
I intercepted the first, shadows lashing from my hands to coil around its throat. It twisted violently, snapping at the darkness with teeth that could shear through steel, but my shadows held. I wrenched hard to the side.
Its neck broke with a sound like splitting ice.
