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“Where do I go? The past. To whom I used to be.” Her words were a mere whisper, but it was as if she’d shouted it into the small, stone-walled room.
“I imagine if I asked who that was, you wouldn’t tell me.”
Evelyn shook her head and conjured a timid smile. “Not today.”
A light of hope flashed in Cyrus’s eyes. “Not today, then.”
Embarrassment spread through Evelyn at how he made her feel. The small touches. Their stares. His questions. Her honesty. Everything and something brewing between them. Goddess above, she couldn’t let this happen. She was Daughter of the Goddess, for one, promised to another based on a prophecy. Despite the fact she’d left that engagement, she’d run away to protect her people, not to start over.
Air. She needed air. And light. Sunlight.
She moved too quickly to the doorway, and her boot caught the wool blanket, tugging it with her. The goblets clattered to the ground, and the wine splashed onto the stone floor. The commotion echoed off the walls and through the eerie castle.
Both Evelyn and Cyrus stilled. Silence rang out for a few deafening moments, hope sparking in Evelyn that she’d not disturbed whatever slumbered here.
Her hope was short-lived.
A thousand creatures screeched, the piercing pitch ringing through the castle. Cyrus’s nostrils flared, his eyes flashing dark and determined.
“Run.”
His command vibrated through Evelyn’s bones, and she didn’t hesitate, her years of training clicking into gear. She ran. Her magic surfaced. Flares of it searched for the creatures she’d awakened. The manifestation of claws, tiny yet sharp, scraped through her magic’s reach.
Evelyn grimaced, faltering a step. Strong arms caught her, and she paused. They both paused. For only a breath, a moment long enough for Evelyn to look into Cyrus’s eyes.
More screeching broke their stare. Down the hallway, a horde of rat-like creatures with blazing red eyes scurried down the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Their misty, black bodies overtook every surface, not a single stone left in sight.
The energy. The other. Their misty, black bodies. How had Evelyn not recognized it? Perhaps it had been so long since she had seen it, or maybe it was because she hadn’t believed darkness had spread to Torren, this far east of Sorin.
“Demons,” Cyrus uttered under his breath, his body stiffening.
Creatures of darkness.
Evelyn grabbed his hand, yanking him along as they ran faster than before.
Demons had once been animals of the natural world, corroded, infested, and forever changed by darkness. Vicious, ghastly, and damn hard to kill.
A yelp escaped Evelyn, her ankle stinging with pain. A single rat clung to her boot, nibbling through the leather with needle-like teeth. Evelyn pulled out of Cyrus’s grasp and kicked the rat away. It hissed and bounced off the wall, readying itself to leap again.
It leaped, but Cyrus severed it in two. With his sword out, black blood dripping from the blade, Cyrus had transformed. His shoulders were taut, jaw tight, stare lethal. A beastly energy bristled from him, and Evelyn’s magic fought to be used, itched to fight and defend.
She shoved it down. She couldn’t use it and reveal she was a witch. Her secret saved lives.
They continued running. Up ahead, the grand hall beckoned them with the promise of freedom, but the opposite corridor filled with more rats, bigger and faster.
“Fuck,” Cyrus whispered.
They reached the grand hall and came to a halt, the rats closing in around them from the east, west, and north hall where they entered the castle.
Evelyn let out a stream of her own curses. Rats began to leap at them, Cyrus cutting them down in mid-air. They backed up into the circle of candles, stepping through the offerings as they climbed up the stairs of the dais. Their retreat only made the rats angrier, faster, as they filed into the grand hall. Evelyn kicked the stray ones away while Cyrus severed the others. They were going to be overrun.
“Any ideas on how to get out of this mess?” Cyrus called over his shoulder.
Evelyn needed to do something. They were out of options. She was out of options.
Fucking flames, I am the option.
Evelyn didn’t have a choice. Damn her secrets. Protecting others took priority. She’d deal with the consequences of revealing herself later, but protecting Cyrus, getting them out of here, and continuing to solve this murder mattered more than her disguise.
