Page 167 of Promise of Darkness
And I don’t have to release her. Just… entice her with a little bargain.
With that thought, my resolve firms.
Angharad wanted to use the power of the Mother of Night to break the Horned One free of his prison. The Hallow in Mistmere is resurrected, which means Angharad will be able to forge a link to the Mother if she returns.
All I need is the Hallow, a blood sacrifice, and a little luck.
But there’s no way Thiago will allow me to make this sacrifice.
So maybe I’ll need a few other items as well, including a surly, vicious warrior who doesn’t seem to like me very much.
42
“This is a terrible idea,” Eris mutters as she holds my horse’s bridle.
I swing down from the saddle, looking around. There’s no sign of any Unseelie. The war party that Thiago sent this way has done its job well and cleared the ruins. Mistmere lies abandoned, silent as a grave beneath the full moon.
“Agreed,” I snap, “but if you’ve got a better plan, then I’ll be quite happy to assist you.”
She shuts her mouth and looks away, her jaw trembling. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, but she’s not the emotionless rock she pretends to be.
Thiago gave me a home when others would have burned me at the stake.
It meant more to her than I’ll ever know. She pledged her life to him, and now she’s watching helplessly as he hurtles toward almost certain doom. It’s no wonder she hates me.
I rest a hand on her arm. “I promise I’ll do everything in my power to save him.”
Eris shoots me a sharp look. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think you would.” Visibly gathering herself, she ties my horse next to hers. “Let’s do this, bitchspawn. Save the sniveling for later.”
Right. I almost forgot myself there.
Hauling my pack, with all its supplies, over my shoulders, I head for the Hallow.
Eris stalks along ahead of me, her eyes roving the darkness, searching for any threat. Her shadow stretches ahead of her, growing longer and longer, and I swear it’s starting to look a little inhuman. The hint of wings flare, as if whatever she hides within her is stretching.
“You’re not going to go full Devourer on me, are you?”
Eris realizes what I’m looking at, and all of a sudden, her shadow shrinks to its normal size and shape. She gives me a look that might have shriveled my insides a couple of months ago, before I realized she uses those icy glares to keep others away. “Just play your part. I’ll play mine.”
We reach the Hallow, and the enormity of what I’m about to do starts to set in.
This is the moment.
If I go through with this, then there’s no turning back.
All the stones stand in place, ropes and pulleys holding them upright. Angharad managed to raise the entire circle. Moonlight glints on their runes as I circle them, looking down at the piece of paper I tore from that book.
There’s the crescent moon on one column; the circle and arrow on another, that represents the full moon. I just need to find the waning moon, the crone….
And there it is, three columns over.
“Found them?” Eris asks, as she sets out the candles and lights them.
“Found them.” I can’t help feeling the portent in those words.
I set the piece of paper aside, mentally preparing myself. And then I take a deep breath and enter the circle.
The ley line quivers.
