Page 178 of Curse of Darkness
“Thanks,” she whispers.
Tell her,Thalia and Vi urged.
But the one thing I fear most is her rejection.
And this is not the moment to send a fireball crashing through her emotions. She needs calm and focus. She needs me to be there as her friend.
I step back, the moment lost. “You’d do the same for me.”
As always, being with Eris reduces me to this ridiculous state where I have a thousand things to say to her and none of them come out right.
The goblins howl down through the valley toward our retreating forces, screaming with perceived victory. The unseelie armies falter, as if questioning this sudden change of tactics, but then horns ring out and they push toward us.
Eris squares her shoulders as she looks up.
The sun starts to set in the distance, perfectly highlighting her lone form as our warriors retreat from the field. She waits until every last one of them streams past us, the goblins threatening to break over us like a wave.
One last straggler puffs past, shooting her a wary glance.
“Alright.” I draw the Sword of Mourning, the hiss as it cuts through the air setting my nerves on fire. “Let’s go make these goblins piss their pants.”
Drums echo behind us, the Evernight bannermen sending out a warning to our enemies. Eris starts to stalk forward, her hips swaying with an unnatural effect. It’s the predatory glide of a monster scenting prey.
The Monster of Evernight has been unleashed.
“Darkness swallow us all,” I whisper before I start after her.
I have to bring her back.
I have to.
* * *
The screamsof the dying fill the air as the leading unit of goblins attempts to turn back on itself and finds itself crushed by its rear units. I don’t know who’s hammering at them from behind, but between us we’ve got them trapped.
I laugh and howl, cutting and slashing my way through their ranks even as I keep an eye on Eris.
It took precisely two minutes before the first rank of our enemies started to realize what they were facing.
Eris mowed through them like a scythe through wheat, though it’s clear she’s been holding back.
I’ve heard the tales.
When she walked onto the northern field of Nevernight all those years ago, she left nothing standing. Friend. Foe. Fauna.
She’s still holding on, trying to rein in her counterpart.
As I watch, she vanishes into thin air and then blood sprays as invisible claws strike through the jugular of a howling goblin who turned to desperately fight her off. He goes down like a puppet with his strings cut, and there she is again, dripping in blood and gore as she turns on me.
“Hello, beautiful.”
For a moment I can see Eris again, superimposed over that monstrous form.
But it’s an Eris I’ve never seen before.
Sweat slicks her dark skin, highlighting the muscular gleam of her bare shoulders. Golden eyes gleam from within her gorgeous face, though they’re nothereyes. A knot winds tight within me. Her eyes are as black as night with flecks of gold, and as familiar to me as my own.
I’ve seen them in my dreams.
