Page 9 of Curse of Darkness
“She?” He looks toward me, still a little wild-eyed.
“The Mother of Night.”
“Well, fuck,” he whispers, sinking into a chair at the table and sliding his hands down his face.
“Language,” Eris growls.
Edain peers between his fingers at Amaya. “My apologies, Princess.” Steeling himself, he asks softly, “What did she want you to tell me?”
“To truly know love, you must first lose it,” Amaya repeats carefully. “To truly know hope you must walk in darkness. To finally find peace you must look in the most unexpected place. Your curse will never be broken. This is your payment due. But you will find re…re….” She suddenly winces and mouths a few words. “I get a little confused here. Remption?”
“Redemption?” Finn asks.
“Yes!” Amaya beams at him. “You will find redemption if you choose to walk this path, and with it, a second chance. Does that make sense?”
The color bleeds from Edain’s olive skin. “It makes perfect sense.”
“She cursed you?” Of course Mother cursed him. She would never have let him live through this betrayal if she couldn’t somehow twist the knife. “What did she curse you with?”
His blue eyes turn flat and hard. “That is one thing I will keep to myself, if you don’t mind.”
It’s the one thing that makes me realize he’s speaking the truth and can be trusted.
She cursed him.
She cast him aside, and she cursed him—and whatever she did to him, she knows it is worse than death, because my mother doesn’t believe in mercy.
“This is a nightmare. Right now, Mother thinks she has my daughter. She’ll”—I shoot a glance toward Amaya—“Not be happy if she realizes the truth.”
“And everyone saw Amaya at the rites,” Thalia says quietly. “Somewhere in this city, Adaia will have a spy or two. We can’t hide this.”
“She has her spies,” Edain confirms.
If I don’t do something then a little girl might die.
A little girl who is innocent of all of this.
“Vi.” Eris slowly shakes her head as if she can see exactly where my thoughts lead. “We can’t attack Hawthorne Castle. Without him….”
Without Thiago, nobody is powerful enough to defeat my mother.
“The castle’s locked up tighter than a vault,” Edain says. “You can’t get in. I don’t think even I can get in.” And he looks away, shielding himself from my stare. “And if we don’t rescue your sister…. Adaia gave Urach her permission to do whatever he wanted with her.”
I want to be sick.
I don’t have time to give into my feelings, however.
“The rites were this morning. She won’t have received word about Amaya yet.”Would she?“But Mother will expect an attack the second we receive word of… May’s existence. If we don’t make some sort of move….”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. She won’t know what’s happening at first. She’ll wonder, who is the child at my side? Is it a trick, meant to distract her? Am I playing games? Which child is the real child?
But she’s not a fool, and she knows my sister betrayed her.
She’ll put the orphan child—thisMay—through one of her little tests.
The heat fades from my face. No child should have to suffer through that. If the girl has a little magic, she might pass.
But if she doesn’t….
