Page 60 of Curse of Darkness
Kato reclines on his throne like some ancient warrior god. “So you have returned triumphant.”
Tugging the bone knife from my belt, I hurl it at his feet where it sticks, the shaft quivering.
Instantly, a half dozen spears are pointed at me.
“You pay a tithe to Enryathan every year?” There’s acid in my voice. “And you just forgot to mention he’d be waiting on the other side of the gate? Waiting for a snack?”
Kato holds up a hand and the spears vanish. “You should have asked more questions about what was on the other side.”
This is what I get for dealing with one that was once fae, and for being so distracted with Thiago’s death.
“And it’s once a month,” he says coldly. “Not once a year.”
“Once amonth?” But Enryathan said—
“Vi, you’ve been gone for days,” Finn says, rubbing my arms. “And you’re freezing. Tell me it’s not colder in there than it is in here.”
“Colder,” I admit, reeling at the time difference. It felt like hours at most. And if this has been days…. My stomach drops into freefall. How long has it been for Thiago? Six months? A year? Has it felt like a year trapped in the Darkness all alone? No wonder he didn’t trust me.
“Come on then.” Finn wrenches a heavier cloak out of his pack and wraps it around my body. “Time to head for the surface then. Before we both freeze to death.”
“Wait.” Kato stirs.
I tug the cloak tighter. “You swore an oath.”
“As did you,” he says coldly. “You have a month, at most, to bring me the rest of Death’s soul.”
“When the Horned One is vanquished,” I snap at him. “Not a day more. Not a day less.”
“Best hurry,” Orlagh suggests. “It looks like there’s a storm coming on the surface.”
I don’t know how to interpret the look Kato gives her—exasperation, maybe—but I take the warning on board.
“Thank you,” I tell her again, clasping hands with her. “If you are ever in the south, you are always welcome at Ceres.”
She laughs, crossing toward the throne and sinking onto the arm of it as if she belongs there. “Pray tell I never have need to venture south.” Caressing Kato’s sleeve, she shares a look with him. “Because the only time I will ever come south is if my lord sends me there.”
Another warning.
If we don’t return with Death’s soul, she will come to claim it.
I shiver and meet Finn’s eyes.
Past time to get out of here.
* * *
“Vi?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I snap as I hurry toward the surface. Thunderous skies greet us and the world is bathed in fog. Here, at the tip of the island’s peak, it feels like we’re floating in the clouds.
“How the fuck do we manage to get Death to leave Thiago and Amaya?”
We have to convince Death to leave…. But why would it do that? Why would it give up everything it wants to return to a world where not even the wind stirs? “I don’t know.”
Yet.
“What the fuck is that sound?” he asks, as he follows me down the stairs.
