Page 49 of Curse of Darkness
I grasp the reins of the Hallow and force it to my whims.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sound echoes through the throne room before it falls away into silence. Gravel rains from the ceiling.
Knock, knock, bitch.
Movement shifts. The King of the Underworld sitting forward as if I’ve finally caught his attention.
“I came here for an audience with the King of the Underworld.” I force Kato to look at me. “I can amend the nature of my intentions in an instant if you do not deign to hear me out.”
“Vi.” Finn groans under his breath, and I can practically feel his hand shifting to the hilt of his sword. “Don’t be rash, remember? He’s a god.”
I thought Maia was a goddess too, until I learned the truth.
Maia was merely a fae queen who learned how the Old Ones leashed the powers of the Hallows. She bound herself to the Hallow in Charun and ascended, using its power to “reveal” her godhood.
The cavern shivers, rocks skittering to the polished stone floors. Kato grips the arms of his throne as the floor ripples like an enormous leviathan slides below it. The gate to the Underworld shifts, and light winks through an enormous ruby mounted above it that’s only just been revealed.
Not a ruby.
An eye.
An eye opening as if to see what is causing all this ruckus.
There’s something back there, hugging the curves of the walls and wrapped around the gate.
Something… not fae.
I meet the king’s pale eyes. I’ve passed beyond fear somehow. There is only the gate. There is only the Underworld.
There is only my husband.
“Let her pass,” calls the Guardian of Death.
I step forward, ignoring the crossed spears in front of me until they’re slowly—grudgingly—withdrawn.
Each step takes me closer to the black throne and the figure upon it. The King of the Underworld’s wings sit folded behind him, his dark hair raked back off his face. A skull mask covers half of his face, bound across his forehead by a strip of leather carved with ancient knots and whorls. It’s not a fae skull. There’s a tooth on the end of it, something sharp and feline.
And his eyes are such a pale gray, they’re almost filmy.
For some reason, I expected Kato to be Darkyn, but he's fae.
Enormous. Powerful. Dangerous.
But still only fae.
Even if he’s been siphoning off the Hallow for years.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s rude to demand entrance once you’ve already been denied?” The slightest hint of a snarl echoes in his voice.
I stalk right toward his dais, resting one hand on the hilt of my sword. “My mother told me that if someone tried to slam the door in my face then I was to kick it down.”
Kato’s fingers curl around the arms of his throne. “I am a god, little girl. I am marked by Death itself. You will respect me.”
I stare at him for long moments.
And then I graciously lower my eyes.
