Page 44 of Betrothed

“My foot,” she cried. “Something had my foot!”

Zax leapt to her defense to see a tendril of shadow reaching for her boot. It was coming from a nearby path, one that got darker and darker until the darkness turned into a living, swirling mass. Zax had been so distracted by the dancing that he hadn’t noticed it.

Fawn stepped away from the clawing shadow and squinted into the dark mountain path. For a moment, Zax wondered if it was hidden from mortals. Then she gasped, and he knew she could see the strange, otherworldly shadows waiting for them at the end of the path.

“What is it?” Fawn whispered.

“We are here,” Zax replied.

Fawn eyed the darkness distrustfully. Zax did not blame her—even as a Skullstalker, his brother’s small domain made him wary.

“Do not worry,” Zax said. “I will protect you.”

Fawn hesitated. She looked down at the grasping tendril of shadow that was still trying to reach her boot. Then she reached for Zax, letting him take her in his arms.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s go meet this nameless brother of yours.”

Eighteen

Fawn watched the shadows creep closer and fought a shudder.

They were bad enough when they were just curling around the walls of the path. But a giant wall of darkness waited ahead of them, ready to swallow them.

“They will not harm you,” Zax assured her as he carried her closer to the cold, smothering darkness. “I have been here many times. They feel unpleasant, but they do not hurt.”

They don’t hurt you, Fawn thought. She didn’t like how menacing the shadows felt, tendrils of darkness creeping out from the stony walls and reaching for her. Not for Zax—for her. She was sure of it. As soon as he carried her close enough, every tendril started to reach for her. They gravitated toward her, slow and inexorable, only stopped by Zax’s continuous footsteps. When Fawn looked back, she could see all the shadowy tendrils stretching out, too slow to catch her.

The wall of shadows loomed closer. Sure enough, as soon as they got close enough, shadows began to stretch out of the veil of darkness and reach for her.

“Zax,” Fawn blurted, unable to ignore the icy dread in the pit of her stomach. “I told you that mortals avoid this mountain, right? They say it’s forbidden because of all the dark magic it supposedly holds.”

“It does hold dark magic,” Zax said. “We are walking toward it.”

Another tendril of shadow reached out and grazed Fawn’s wrist. She shivered, pulling her limbs in protectively.

“They say there is a darkness that eats people,” she pressed. “Eats mortals.”

Zax slowed. He looked around at the shadows consideringly. “They do not seem to be eating you.”

Fawn looked around with him and realized something shocking. Now that she had pulled her limbs in, they were not trying to touch her. At least, they were not making that final jump; they would stretch slowly out toward her, then stop once they got too close to Zax.

Fawn breathed out shakily. As long as she stayed close to Zax, she was safe.

“Are we walking into a void?” she asked as Zax resumed his pace.

“No,” Zax replied. “It is part of the mortal realm.”

“Are you sure? It feels… wrong. Like it shouldn’t be here.”

Zax stopped at the curtain of darkness and looked down at her seriously. “You can stay here if you wish. But I do not want to leave you here while we are being hunted.”

Fawn stared up at the impenetrable shadows. She had never seen darkness so complete, even on a moonless night in the depths of winter.

Zax took her chin gently. “Fawn, I will not let any harm come to you. Neither will my brother. He is fond of mortals.”

Fawn breathed out slowly. She had spent her life pretending she was fine when she wasn’t, agreeing to things she would rather not do. But if Zax said she would be fine, then she would trust him. If worst came to worst, he would carry her out of this wretched place. Besides, what else could they do after all this effort to get here?

“Okay,” she said. “If you say it’s safe, then I trust you.”