Page 51 of Curse of Darkness
My fingers tremble as I accept the dagger. Carved from bone, with tiny little knots worked into it, it still holds an edge akin to none. I can’t help recalling the paintings of Kato and the knife he used to carve Death’s soul into pieces. This knife. It’s the work of a second to draw blood from my fingertip, and a shiver runs through me as if the knife can taste my blood. “I promise once. I promise twice. I promise thrice.”
Kato accepts the knife, licking my blood from the edge of it. “Done,” he whispers.
Stillness falls over the cavern.
“Now,” he says coldly. “Venture into the Darkness and call for your husband. Prove his love for you is stronger than his desire to kill you. Prove he can contain the creature inside him. And I will return him to you.”
* * *
The Darkness.
A realm made of shadows.
I stare at the obsidian plane within the arch. The Underworld lies beyond it. The primeval Darkness. A realm of monstrous souls and creatures so horrific the world has no name for them.
I never expected I’d have to walk within it. I thought Kato would be able to bring him to me.
“Does your courage fail?” Kato purrs.
“Vi.” Finn. Rough-edged with nervousness. “Vi, don’t do this. Don’t take this risk. It’s not worth it.”
His words do what nothing else could have done: Steel my nerves.
“Thiago spent thirteen years wooing me, again and again, in the face of my mother’s curse. He died forme. For Amaya. There is nothing he would not have risked for me.” I stare into the Darkness, clutching the small amulet the Mother of Night gave me. “I can do no less.”
“Nobody’s ever returned from the Darkness,” Finn argues. “This is a trap. This prick knows it too.”
Maybe that was what his guard suggested.
Agree to her terms. Send her into the Darkness.
Let the monsters deal with her rudeness.
If so, then he has sorely misjudged my determination.
“A trap.” My gaze falls on the bone knife I just used to pledge myself. “Then grant me your blade. It is said even the creatures of the Darkness fear it.”
Kato flips it in his fingers, smiling faintly as I take it. “Some may fear it, brash fae queen. But is it long enough to penetrate their hides?”
It’s the guard beside Kato that steps between me and the gate.
“Here” comes a very female voice from within her helmet. Tearing it free, she reveals a spill of honey-brown hair bound in a braid, and blue eyes. But it’s the shock of bright light gleaming around her throat that she reaches for. An amulet with what seems the heart of a star within it. “Take this with you. It contains a single drop of sunshine. It will light your way in even the truest dark and guide you to your heart’s desire.”
The sudden shock of kindness makes me suspicious. “Thank you….”
“My name is Orlagh. I hunt the Darkness when needed.” Tugging the rough leather thong over her head, she offers it to me. “Beware the guardian beyond the gate. He’s an ancient wyrm who hungers for those foolish enough to walk through it.”
The amulet falls into place beside the one the Mother of Night gave me. I’m not entirely certain if Orlagh’s words are a warning, or a threat.
“True love,” she tells Kato, with a slightly mocking tone as she turns back to him. “Some of us have not forgotten what that means.”
If anything, his eyes narrow further.
“Let me go with her,” Finn argues.
“Only one may pass through,” Kato replies. “Your choice, little queen. Will you sacrifice your brave knight for yourself?”
Finn’s eyes shine with courage. He’d do this for me. He’d do this for his prince. Never was a truer heart ever known.
