Page 185 of Promise of Darkness
“No.” I’m too far from the Hallow that channels the ley line’s power.
And I don’t know if I dare open that link again. Judging from the tremble in my arms and legs, I’m facing the backlash of handling so much raw magic, and I canfeelthe Mother there, just waiting to close her trap.
Finn appears out of nowhere, mounted on a dappled gray stallion. “Here,” he yells, tossing me one of his swords.
It feels like it belongs in my hands.
I turn to wade into the battle, but a hand reaches down and grabs me by the back of my dress, hauling me up.
With a squeal, I land in Finn’s lap.
“Get her out of here,” Thiago yells.
“Don’t you dare!” I elbow Finn in the side. “Thiago!”
He’s turning to face a pair of banes with his hands held low at his sides. What in Maia’s name did he do with his sword? He’s virtually defenseless.
“Thiago!”
He doesn’t turn. Doesn’t look at me. Merely walks forward.
“While I’d usually enjoy having a beautiful woman in my arms,” Finn mutters, “I think I’d prefer it if she wasn’t trying to emasculate me.”
“If you try and haul me out of here,” I snarl, “then an elbow will be the least of your troubles. Ride after him.”
“Princess, as much as I’d like to oblige,” Finn says, grabbing the reins and wheeling the gray around, “he’s not the one in any danger.”
Wisps of fog stir around Thiago’s hem. I blink and realize the shadows at his feet are stretching, growing. Every step he takes, he seems to grow taller. The cloak starts to twitch, and then enormous glossy black wings unfurl.
My breath catches in my throat.
Every Unseelie has a bit of the beast inside them somewhere, and if Mother’s been searching for proof that his origins are impure, then she’ll have it.
But as the shadows around him swirl, I realize she’ll have to survive.
I am an army, he said once.
And I remember those snapping, snarling voices that fill his shadows. I remember the way his eyes turned pure black and dark runes sprang up all over his skin.
“Ride,” I tell Finn. “I’ll cover your back.”
Slinging one leg over the pommel, I haul a handful of my skirts up so I can grip the saddle.
I glance back only once, as the stallion launches forward, smashing a pair of dueling fae nobles out of the way. Thiago vanishes within a cloud of darkness that leaps hungrily forward, consuming everything in his path.
He may be Unseelie.
He may be a monster.
But he’s my monster.
I kick one of Mother’s guards in the face, and he flips backward in a stir of red and gold. Asturian colors, though I’ve turned my back on them forever.
It hurts, just a little, though I’m sure the black and silver of the Evernight court will suit me better.
Then we’re free of the melee and streaking through the bracken.
Howls echo behind us. Then pained yelps and the sound of a bane’s high-pitched scream.
