“He was going to take you, Erinna. Or worse.”
“You don’t know that.”
“That spell was for you.” Kane’s jaw tightened; his words came out measured and controlled. But Erinna could hear the simmering frustration beneath each syllable.
“You don’t know that. He’s an abjuror. It could have been something else.” Denial fought its way through as the more palatable reality than betrayal. The bracelet was no longer warm, and if she tried hard enough, Erinna could ignore what it meant—that Kane was right, and Damien had aimed a spell her way.
Talent bloomed at her fingertips, different from its usual icy flare. A thin, quivering lifeforce wrapped around her digits like a spiderweb, warm but faint.
“Whatever you’re about to do. Remember, there is no going back from this.”
She filtered out Kane’s warning. Erinna willed the threads to wrap around her fingers, forcing her own control over its nature. Cold crept deeper into her veins in response. Ice lurked beneath her skin, surrounded her heart, and drank the warmth of her body. There would be a trade. Erinna breathed and succumbed.
The threads of arcanum knotted stronger around her hands, connecting them to whatever part of Damien’s soul still remained. At least something was still there, clinging to the hopethat wove between her fingers. She could do something with that.
She stretched her hand wide and kept the other on the wound. Warm, thick blood seeped into her palms. She closed her eyes, focused, and let the cold of death sink into her bones as it called for the life around Damien’s body.
“Don’t reach too deep, Erinna. Don’t risk yourself for him.” Concern marred Kane’s usual composure, but Erinna refused to listen to the rest of his warning.
Her own thread mixed with Damien’s, both knotting around her fingers, growing stronger in connection. She grabbed them and pulled.
Warmth and light traveled along the sinews of arcanum, directed by her Talent to flow back into her dying friend.
It would be enough. She would trap the life inside him, weave the arcanum around his soul, and bind him from the clutches of The Reaper.
He would live.
But would she?
Her own soul felt like it was being ripped apart, a pain so profound pierced her chest, and she cried out.
The force between them pulled out her own breath and refused to let air back into her lungs. Something else would claim her.
Cut it off, she told herself, panic setting in.Cut it off, cut it off!Another pair of icy, ghostly hands wrapped around her own, helping to bend arcanum.
“I’ve missed you. What a glorious thing you can become.”
It was her.
The Weeping Queen.
Erinna pushed back at her Talent, clenched her teeth, and forced it back down into its slumber. The silence that followed was deafening.
Damien took in a labored, staggering breath before slipping back into unconsciousness.
Erinna tried to get to her feet, but her body was frozen in place. A barren darkness clutched at the edges of her mind. Sharp fingers dug into the edges of her soul. Threads wound tight around her heart, threatening to stop it.
Kane’s expression twisted into one she’d never seen before—raw, desperate fear. He lunged for her, hand outstretched. But the darkness was faster, as it pulled her under. Swallowed her whole.
Chapter
Forty
Stars like a thousand diamonds littered the sky.
Cold, shallow water lapped against Erinna’s ankles. Each ripple clawed at her skin as she scanned the open pool. The glade of her nightmares.
Tall evergreens stretched their shadows across the water. A nightshade forest steeped in perpetual darkness.
