Page 130 of Promise of Darkness
Thiago hesitates. “I can’t always control it.”
And in such close quarters, there was no telling whether it would fell friend or foe.
“What happened? I was just about to throw my fucking dagger at Isem’s throat when the world disappeared.” Eris pushes to her feet, dripping gore, her eyes wild as she looks around. “Where are we?”
“The Isle of Sorrows,” I croak. “It was the only rune I could reach.”
Thiago slides a sidelong look toward me. “You activated the Hallow?”
“It was the only thing I could think of.”
His thumb strokes across the bloodied cuts on my fingers. “You took a risk.”
“A calculated risk. Would you prefer to be in the belly of a bane?”
“If Angharad hadn’t consecrated the ground again, and tied the power of the leyline to the stones, then we would have been pulverized into a thousand particles when the Hallow imploded. I’ve seen it happen before.”
“The Hallow was awake.”
His thumb pauses. “How did you know that?”
The same way I knew the Hallow at Stormhaven wasn’t right.
It never occurred to me that others might not be able to feel the Hallow’s vibrations.
“I just… did.”
Everyone’s watching me.
“Well, I, for one, am cursed glad you did,” Finn says, slinging an arm around Eris’s shoulders. “Eris, my love, can you help me to that log? I need to sit down before I fall down.”
“Since when did I become your crutch?”
“Since you’re far prettier than Baylor,” Finn replies promptly.
“That’s debatable,” she replies.
“Yes, but he has curves in all the wrong places.”
“You touch my curves and I’ll break your fingers.”
“But I do my best work with my fingers,” Finn protests.
Baylor helps him sit down. “Do you never shut up?”
“Only when I’ve got my mouth full.” Sweat beads on his temples, but Finn’s still smiling, and he’s speaking faster than usual. I know bravado when I see it.
And so do the others.
“Here.” Eris whips one of the leather armguards from her wrist and shoves it between his teeth. “Bite down on this.”
“Is it going to hurk?” he manages to grind out around it.
“Oh, it won’t hurt me at all,” she replies with a grin. “I just want you to stop talking.”
The tension dissolves as Eris squats in front of Finn, slicing the gaping hole in his trousers wider, so she can examine the arrowhead embedded in his thigh.
But I know the prince is still watching me, a faint frown embedded between his brows.
