Page 68 of Curse of Darkness
Letting go of Finn, he takes a step toward me.
“Finn!” Eris screams, sliding to her knees as Finn falls forward, clutching at his ruined throat. She captures him in her arms.
“You’re a fool,” Malakhai sneers, stepping over the brass line that circles the Hallow. “You should have run when you had the chance.”
Slowly, I push myself to my feet, my bloody fingers clenching around the locket.
“Why run? When I’m not the one who’s going to die.”
A quiver runs through the stone beneath our feet.
Gravel skitters over the slate. The entire hilltop seems to be shaking.
Malakhai pauses.
“Flee,” I tell him fiercely. “Flee into the skies like the skulking wraith you are. Fly as fast as you can, and you just might be able to escape.” And then I lift my voice and quote the famous poem. “For even Death is no match for the Erlking.”
Lightning strikes as the Hallow powers up.
And when the light dies down, I feel a shadowy presence behind me, as if the Erlking just stepped into flesh.
14
“Asecond boon dealt and a second requested. What would you have of me, Queen of Evernight?” The Erlking’s hand comes to rest on my shoulder.
My eyes lock with Malakhai’s. There’s something highly enjoyable about watching the color drain from his savage face.
“Kill him,” I say. “Kill Malakhai of the Black Reaches and bring me his head.”
Malakhai bares his teeth at me, then takes a step back. “You will pay for this, you bitch. I’m coming for you.”
And then his wings drive out and he thrusts himself into the sky.
“Hunt him to farthest corners of the world,” I tell the Erlking fiercely. “Give him no quarter. Grant him no mercy. Kill him for me.”
A faint smile plays about his lips. “You’re growing far more bloodthirsty than I ever expected.”
He turns to take a step, and Finn gasps.
“Wait!”
The Erlking’s head tilts toward me.
“Can you heal him? Can you heal my warrior?”
Dark eyes lock upon Finn where he lies gasping for breath, choking on blood. Eris’s palms encircle his throat as if she’s trying to hold the tide back.
“I may not,” he says finally. Something almost like pity floods his eyes. “The answer is within you, Queen of Evernight.”
“I don’t know how!” Healing’s a paltry gift of mine. It may run in the veins of the summer queens of Asturia, but I was never taught to master the art. Only the base rudiments.
If nothing else, I could kill my mother for that alone.
I hate her for leaving me defenseless. For stealing my magic, my memories, and any hope I ever had of mastering myself. Was I that much of a threat to her that she couldn’t even allow me to learn this?
And now Finn is going to die because of it.
Another faint smile, this time a mocking one. “I wasn’t referring to your fae gifts. The answer is inside you, Vi. You are more than fae. And now your warrior has made a sacrifice in the heart of the Hallow. You alone have the ability to reap the power of his sacrifice. Drag him within its stones. Bind him to you.”
