Page 143 of Promise of Darkness
Instantly, their faces turn, all three of them focusing on something behind me.
A torch bobs in the darkness as if someone is running toward us.
Something’s wrong. The only reason Thiago would have sent someone to fetch me is if we’re under attack.
The three Morai sniff the air.
“Ah,” says the Shadowspinner, grinning through her bloodred lips. “The Bastard. We warned him what would happen if he ever returned.”
“We’d suck the meat from his bones and drink his marrow,” another hisses.
“And unleash the burden he bears.”
They scurry toward the torchbearer.
“Thiago!” I yell, trying to smother my flame circle.
It wanes, but doesn’t smolder. Curse it. I leap over the flames and bolt after the Morai, drawing my sword as I run.
The Morai clamber over the walls of the tunnel, one of them scuttling along the roof.
I shout a warning, but there’s no way I’ll be able to reach him in time.
Then I realize the newcomer’s too short to be my husband.
Eris sprints toward me, her eyes black in the darkness of the tunnel. She spots the first Morai and launches herself at the wall. Springing off it with one boot, she slashes her sword through the carapace of the one on the roof.
Cold, black ichor splashes across the walls and my face, and then the Morai screams and falls to the floor.
“Go! I’ll cover you!” Eris lunges forward with her blade, and for a second her shadow on the wall looms large, monstrous teeth gaping.
The Shadowspinner recoils, clutching at one of her sisters. “It’s her!” she screams. “The Devourer!”
“Sullied One,” another hisses, and then they’re all drawing back, crouching low as if to try and avoid her attention.
Sullied One? I shoot her a glance and see a flicker of hurt in her eyes, then Eris realizes I’m watching and her expression smoothes.
“You can stay and be spider bait if you like,” she snaps, “but we’ve got a hunting party on our trail.”
“A hunting party?”
“Thiago thinks it belongs to Blaedwyn. We need to get out of here.”
I eye the hissing Morai. “Gladly.”
35
The woods are still and quiet when we finally escape.
I don’t dare put my sword away, jumping at every chime of the wind through those hollow bones as we make our way back to where we left the others. I can still hear the furious shriek of the Morai in my ears as Eris poured a trail of brandy across the entirety of the tunnel and I set fire to it.
All those dried husks and spiderwebs caught fire, and I could smell the stink of burning hair and clothes as we ran.
The flames will die down eventually, but we may have bought ourselves enough time to escape.
Eris leads, slipping through the woods with a focus I’ve never seen on her before. Crouching before a thicket of thorns, she gestures for me to join her.
Below lies the clearing where Thiago said he’d wait.
