Page 298 of The Edge of Darkness

But I wasn’t most fae.

I ported, ready to offer Auren a hand to help her stand, but the goddess beat me to it.

It didn’t take her long to notice the blade Auren held. A muscle in her jaw flexed at the sight of it, and her eyes, encased by the band of black kohl that stretched from temple to temple, immediately flicked up to Auren’s, then slid over to meet mine, bathing me in scrutiny.

This close, I realized it was not kohl that sat upon her skin. The mark was set into her skin. Inked. Just like the markings on Nivelle’s face.

An arrow screamed toward us, and the goddess lifted a hand, swatting it off course before it could find its target. Around us, the battle had ensued, with multiple creatures setting their sights on the newest threat: Torin.

We were quickly becoming surrounded.

“You’re just in time,” I said, not quite able to keep the sarcasm and bitterness out of my voice. She could have shown up before the battle, along with the witches.

I readied my shadows to fend off the creatures that were closing in, but the goddess sent a pulse of her power out, blasting them back.

“Consider our bargain fulfilled on my part, High Lord,” she finally said.

It was then that she caught sight of just what she was protecting herself and us from: keres, and six-legged venom-tailed beasts, and demon-like creatures with no faces or souls, and worse yet, Skadi’s shadows, which I knew she immediately recognized by the way the color drained from her face.

She blinked in rapt horror. “What is this?”

“Your sister is here,” I said, my voice low, like I was uttering a curse rather than stating a fact.

Panic flooded the goddess’s features. Her breaths quickened as she scanned the horizon, eyes widening as she finally bore witness to the grim reality of what we faced.

When she turned back, her fury was aimed directly at me.

“What have you been keeping from me?” she demanded.

“Just that Skadi arrived in The Wastelands some time ago. She is waging war against us at Lyceius’s side and has sent her dearly-beloved creations for us to deal with. It’s been a real fucking treat.” Shadows churned around me, rattled by my irritation. “And now you know as much as we do.”

I could see every scenario working its way through her head, every question and doubt that was gathering speed and strength like a wave in her mind.

I hadn’t given her any inclination or warning that Skadi had been stowing away in Salterra, or that we had known about it for a few weeks. I’d kept that piece of information to myself, because if she had been aware, her entire focus would have shifted to her sister, and our call for help would have been pushed to the side. We needed the witches and Dionachs to help us defeat all our enemies, not just Skadi and her shadows. Lyceius was still priority number one. The prophecy had to be fulfilled.

The longer and harder she stared at me, the more I felt like she was picking up on everything that I had figured out about my power—how it was related to her father. She stepped up to me until she was inches away from my face. Her eyes darted between mine, searching, questioning, like she was trying to get a read on my soul. Then, they narrowed.

“That sword . . .” she said, stealing another glance at Death’s Whisper like she was afraid it was going to grow legs and chase her. “Where did you get it?”

Before I could answer, Aremis’s voice boomed from behind us. “Niall! A little help here!?”

The three of us turned to find him and his Aura bounding between two shadow beings, dodging their viciously long claws. Maeson was close by, but too busy holding a wall of fire against a swarm of keres while two other fae worked to lift the wounded and get them out of harm’s way. A dark-haired witch skidded to a halt when she saw Aremis, but when she reached into her pouch for the death-spelled dust, she came up empty. The shadows closed in, and she looked up in shock as they towered over her and raised their arms to slice her open⁠—

But my shadowfire speared the entities from behind. They writhed for only a brief moment before they dissipated into nothing but air.

Shadows to kill shadows. Death begetting death.

The dark-haired witch whirled, found me, and gave me a firm nod in thanks. When her eyes landed on Torin, shock and awe encompassed her. Seeing her goddess on the battlefield in the flesh bolstered her courage, and she let out a cry of triumph as she launched into action once more.

I took Auren by the hand and glanced back at Torin. Now was not the time for storytelling. She recognized the sword—that much I was sure of—but she would have to wait to find out how it had come to be in my possession.

“Since you came dressed for war, I’m assuming you’re staying?” I lifted a brow at her, posing the question as a challenge.

She opened then closed her mouth, seeming to have lost all her words at either the sight of my shadowfire, or the sarcasm in my question. There was a painfully long moment of hesitation, one that had me feeling like she was about to turn and abandon us all, but after she watched the witch head back into battle, and worked through whatever she needed to in her head, she nodded—warily.

Relief washed over me, but I didn’t let it show. “Do your worst. And if your sister decides to show her disgraceful face, find me.”

Without another word, Torin spun into a whirlwind of mist, the echo of her roar swirling through the air as she tore across the field. For a moment, all Auren and I could do was watch as she ripped through the enemy lines like an icy death-wind. Wisps of dark matter were detaching from her as she moved, and where those wisps fell, so too did the creatures. The wisps themselves were runes, born of her witch magic. Nothing but shapes of smoke in the air—spells. And the witch goddess wielded them like throwing stars as she hurdled through the throng of enemies, leaving nothing but death in her wake.