Another understatement of thecentury.
So, when I found myself standing in the middle of a bustling Old Town with my sword very visibly sheathed around my waist, I had to wonder if the little hobgoblin wasn’t craftier than he seemed. Did he have some sort of mind-bending powers? Had he used them on me to convince me to go through with this whole thing? Because his plan was absolutelybonkers.
We’d all spread out through the streets, taking sections of the neighborhood to patrol alone, so that we could cover more ground in a single night (we needed to catch Lugh ASAP). Another checkmark in the Bad Idea column. Every horror film ever made was clear on one thing: never split up. And yet there I was, seeking out one of the most dangerous supernatural creatures in the world, all by myself. If Past Moira could only see me now, she’d give me a sharp kick up thearse.
A human woman bustled by, her eyes so wide that I swore they might pop out of her skull. When I shifted toward her, she jumped. “Sorry.” I held up my hands. “I just wanted to ask if you’re okay. You look a little…spooked.”
She wet her lips, her eyes flicking to my sword. “You’re one of those fae.” Her voice wobbled. “You live up there in that castle. You have powers,right?”
She looked like she might vomit on my boots, but at least she wasn’t runningaway.
“Yes, but…you—”
She lurched toward me and dug her fingernails into my arms, and then she hissed, “There’s something back there. And I think it’s going to kill usall.”
I opened my mouth to ask some more questions, but she pushed away from me and raced down the street. Slowly, I twisted my head to peer in the direction from whence she’d come. It was a small close, and the lamp posts had been knocked out. Shards of glass littered theground.
My heart thumped hard against myribs.
Time to break another horror film rule. I was going to walk into that dark, creepy alleyalone.
With a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. Just up ahead, someone screamed. My heart tripped, and I picked up my pace, fearing what I would find waiting for me in the shadows. I had wrapped my head around the fact that Lugh—myLugh—had once been a creature that haunted my worse nightmares. But it was a very different thing to know it and to see it formyself.
My feet left the main thoroughfare behind, and I stepped into the alley. Immediately, darkness hugged me tight. Flicking on my enhanced sight, I glanced around. At first glance, there was nothing particularly remarkable about this close. It was nondescript, practically identical to the dozens of other closes that wound through the city like amaze.
It stretched before me, disappearing into deeper darkness. Buildings loomed high on either side, and a few bins were pushed up against the walls. Windows from flats looked out below, but only a few glowed from within. It was quiet andstill.
Tooquiet.
Another scream shot out of thedark.
It was coming from just ahead, right where that patch of shadows obscured the end of the close fromview.
My hand found the hilt of my sword, and I pulled the weapon from its sheath. Holding it up before me, I inched toward the darkness, enhanced eyesight still turned up to max. If Lugh was lurking just ahead, watching and waiting for me to come into range of his nightmares, I wanted to spot him before he hit me with hispower.
As I passed a bin on my left, I paused, narrowing my eyes at the view before me. The shadows twisted and turned, reminding me of Quentin’s powers. Then, before I could brace myself, Lugh loomed out of the dark. He had grown taller in the hours since I had last seen him. Or maybe it was just the pulsing darkness that surrounded him that made him seem larger than he truly was. His eyes were pure black as if his pupils had erased hisirises.
He was fuckingterrifying.
A human woman with bushy-hair screamed again and ran past me, barely giving me a second glance. Her feet pounded hard on the cobblestones, her arms pumping by her sides. The expression on her face gave me a sudden chill. Fear streaked through her wide eyes; all the colour had drained from herskin.
Lugh was on the attack. Not that I should be particularly surprised. We knew he’d go after people. It was just…my heart flickered seeing him in action like this. The Lugh I knew would never harm a human, not unless he’d been forced to protect hisCourt.
He strode after her, eyes unblinking, hands curled into pulsing fists by his sides. With a deep breath, I stepped in front of him to block his path. My sword was still raised before me, and a strange, eerie sensation flickered through me as the words of the prophecy rang in myears.
“Lugh, stop,” I called up at him. “It’s me. Moira. You know,your mate. You don’t need to attack anyone, okay? Just…take a minute to think about what you’redoing.”
I had no idea if a nightmare wraith could be reasoned with. Hell, I knew next to nothing about how their magic worked, what they felt, or who they were deep down inside. Based on what I knew, and everything about Lugh’s spear, it seemed they were soulless. So, trying to reason with him as if he were Lugh was pretty muchpointless.
That didn’t stop methough.
Even now, like this, I only saw the terrifying wraith who towered before me as the male Iloved.
“Get out of my way,” he said in a lowgrowl.
Okay, so he could talk. That was a goodsign.
“Do you know who I am?” I kept my gaze focused on his face, searching for any sign of recognition. Only a blank slateanswered.
