Page 129 of Promise of Darkness
“Thiago!” I scream.
Shadows writhe and the goblins that tackled Thiago start thrashing on the floor. Something flings them through the air—a punch of raw power, perhaps—and then the prince is climbing to his feet, his eyes gleaming pure black and merciless.
But it’s too late.
Goblins close ranks around us, and as the one carrying me dumps me onto my feet, another grabs my wrist to slap chains on me.
It’s too much.
I turn into a spitting, hissing ball of rage and manage to tear free for three precious seconds.
“Catch her!”
I duck beneath a meaty arm, and jump backwards as a dagger swipes through the air, narrowly avoiding my abdomen. Someone grabs at my hand and I wrench it free, yelping as my hand rips through a metal gauntlet.
Then I’m back through the stones, clutching my bleeding hand to my chest.
A pulse whispers through my veins. The Hallow is alive, its power stroking against my senses.Use me,it seems to suggest.
Travelling via a Hallow is dangerous at the best of times. But this one…. Is it even working? Angharad may have resurrected the sentinel stones, but the very alignment of them must be perfect, their angle connecting to the sentinel stones of other Hallows, for it to have any chance at working.
Finn goes down beneath a ferocious wolf-like creature with teeth as long as my fingers. Eris appears, covering Baylor as they keep a pair of goblins off Thiago’s back. All four of them are within the Hallow’s circumference. Good enough for me.
Torn apart by the Hallow’s portal, or torn apart by banes. Which one offers the best chance of survival?
I thrust my bloodied hand against the rune that refers to the Isle of Sorrow.
And then the world implodes in upon us, and Mistmere vanishes.
* * *
I slam backinto being on a bed of moss that cushions my fall.
Every inch of me feels like it was taken apart and put back together again by amateurs.Mother of Night.I hurt from the tip of my toes to the roots of my hair.
But we’re not the only ones the Hallow transported.
Crawling to my hands and knees, I watch as Baylor smoothly decapitates a pair of goblins. Part of a bane twitches at my feet. It was only halfway inside the Hallow’s stones when I activated it.
My sword is gone, but there’s no need for it.
Thiago clambers to his feet from beneath a pile of slaughtered goblins, and Finn is kneeling by Eris’s side, wincing as he claps a hand to the arrowhead in his thigh. The rest of our enemies are dead—without reinforcements, Thiago and Baylor swiftly took care of them.
Thiago strides toward me, his face hard. He snatches at my bloodied palm. “You’re not hurt?”
“Nothing but scratches.” I wince, rubbing my tongue over tender teeth. “And a few bruises.”
“Here.” He cups my face in his palms, heat spreading through me.
I want to curl into it, especially when the pain evaporates, but I can’t quite look at his face.
All I can remember is what it looked like during that fight. Those black eyes. Those swirling tattoos. In that moment, I saw him as our enemies did.
He’s not seelie.
I’ve never been so sure of that in my life, though what heisremains uncertain. There were definitely wings.
“You didn’t unleash your Darkness.”
