Page 20 of Crown of Darkness
I take Andraste’s advice.
Shoving past her guards, I slash a hole in the back of the tent with the knife I carry up my sleeve and then glance behind me.
Lysander swipes at one of her guards, his claws raking off scaled armor. He sees me again and bellows with rage, before her guards go flying.
“Vi!”
I dart into the morning light as another enraged snarl echoes behind me. Cloth tears and fae yell as the tent abruptly begins to collapse. Lysander tears his way straight through the silk.
Curse it.
There’s nowhere to go except into the forest.
The dark, creepy forest that has eaten its way through the Ruthvien ruins.
Tough decision. Bane behind me. Unknown danger ahead. And no time to think my way through this mess.
“Vi?” It’s a whisper in my head, a tickling against my skin as I sprint toward the trees.
“Thiago?”
“Let me in.”
I open myself to him and there he is, burning like a supernova in the back of my mind. It’s rare that the fae allow others to meld with them mind-to-mind, because it leaves you open and vulnerable, but I know he’d never hurt me.
That doesn’t mean we’ve connected like this on more than a superficial layer.
He won’t let me all the way inside, and I’ve got my own secrets to hide.
Though I can guess at what’s he’s shielding me from.
Something dangerous lingers beneath the subconscious layers of his mind. Something that looks at me hungrily, trailing dark psychic fingers across my mind as if it wants to devour me. It’s an odd sensation. Yearning. Need. Desire. But a threat lurks there too.
The Darkness within him.
I’m panting so fiercely I barely have time to snatch more than a glimpse at it.
“Vi?” He snares my attention, forcing it back on him. “Head into the forest.”
“Are you trying to get me killed?”
“I’m conjuring an illusion of you.If you can lose him, then I can make it look like you’re running into the forest depths.”
I chance a glance over my shoulder. “Losing him might be a problem.”
There’s no chance I can outrun Lysander. He’s built for speed, slaver dripping from his jaws as he focuses on my heels.
“Use your magic.”
Magic. Right.
We’ve been working on my levels of control ever since the Queensmoot, but I don’t like my chance of summoning anything complex. “Fire it is, then.”
“Don’t burn the forest down.”
Even from this distance I can sense the wryness of the thought.
“Jester,” I mutter out loud.
