Page 5 of Promise of Darkness
It should have been an easy kill, but the beast shoves away from the wall and throws her off-balance.
She staggers back, boots clipping against my side and sending her sprawling. We’re both down, scrambling to get out of the way as the enraged monster roars and launches itself toward us.
A hand shoves me in the back as I stagger to my feet, knocking me clear. Claws rake down my arm, spilling blood, but it’s my sister who grunts as she barely deflects a killing blow. My sister who pushed me aside.
Curse her. She wants to steal the glory of this kill, but I need to know how the beast knows who I am.
If it doesn’t kill us first.
There’s no hint of those fae eyes in its monstrous face. Not anymore. Only rage and fury and pain. The beast in ascendancy.
I grab Andraste’s fallen cloak and throw it over the bane’s head. Andraste drives her knife between its ribs just as I kick the back of its knee. For one shining, precious moment, we’re moving in unison. A deadly, unstoppable force to be reckoned with.
“Don’t kill it!”
Her eyes flicker to mine, and then she slashes through its hamstring. The bane screams. Her knife flashes, catching the last dying rays of sunlight that glint through the arch, and then it’s burying itself in the bane’s throat.
“No!”
Blood gurgles from the stab wound. The bane’s roar chokes off.
She stabs it again, right in the kidneys.
Those amber eyes lock upon me, breath wheezing from its lungs as it goes to its knees. “Prinshess….”
And then the light in those eyes fades, and the beast hits the floor.
My sister turns to me, her eyes alight with fury as she wipes the blade on her thigh. “What in Maia’s name were you thinking? Were youtryingto get yourself killed?”
Light shimmers around the bane, as though the curse isn’t quite done with him. Its fur shrinks, claws sinking back into flesh and becoming fingers right before my eyes.
When the light fades, there’s a fae male on the floor, naked and bloody. Scratches mar his back and buttocks, and his blond hair is long and ragged. I can’t stop myself from squatting beside him, trying to avoid the growing pool of blood.
I don’t know his face.
I would swear I’ve never seen him before.
But he’s seen me.
Or he knows what I look like, which sends a shiver down my spine. Catching the attention of the vicious prince who rules Evernight is never a wise idea.
There’s a chain around his throat, and I slide my hand along its length, revealing a golden amulet shaped in a wolf’s snarling head.
“Leave it,” Andraste says, sliding her dagger back in her boot.
“It knew me,” I insist, slipping the amulet free. I don’t know why, but I feel the urge to keep it.
“It was Evernight.”
“Precisely the problem,” I snap, fetching my sword and pocketing the amulet. Won’t Mother be thrilled with her now. “A pity you’re not going to get a nice fur throw for your floor.”
“Haven’t you learned anything, Iskvien?” My sister says coldly. “We do not treat with the enemy. And we show the beasts no mercy. Both are only likely to get you killed.”
“And we wouldn’t want that.” I slide my sword home with a steely rasp. “Or do we?”
Andraste startles, looking me in the eye for a long moment. “I don’t want you dead,” she says after a long moment.
Only bowing at her feet.
