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Between Cali’s soft dress brushing against my leg and her cousin’s annoying interjections, it seemed a good time for a distraction.

“When we reach The Dark,” I said, “there are a few rules you must follow.”

“Yes, of course,” Cali said, waving at her cousin to be quiet.

“No shouting.” I looked at her cousin, who glared at me. “So that we disturb it as little as possible. And it’ll look like the dead of night with occasional lightning strikes, so be prepared for low visibility.”

“How do you know what you’re fighting if you can’t see?”

I supposed it was a valid question, but it felt strange to explain a process I had been doing for ten years. “Your eyes will adjust, eventually. Anyway, we won’t be fighting anything, not without the king. I won’t take you far enough in to encounter the enemy.”

Cali turned on the bench to face me, her attitude and expression intrigued. “I always thought the big mass of darkness was what we were trying to destroy. But is there truly an entity inside?”

“I don’t know.”

She raised her brows. “You don’t know?”

“The only thing I can describe the activity as is … demonic. Voices. Sensations. Monstrous images. Honestly, it’s hard to tell sometimes what’s real and what’s solely in your head.” I tightened my lips against saying any more. Cali looked concerned, and I felt bad for scaring her before we’d even arrived. “We probably won’t encounter much of that. We’ll remain near the perimeter to get you accustomed to the atmosphere, so you’ll be ready when next the king goes to battle. The air is a little thicker in there than outside, so you have to tell me if you feel short of breath or nauseated. Okay?”

Cali looked at me, as if searching for an answer to all her questions at once. “Okay,” she said, finally.

Anise let out a sound of annoyance, looking less than pleased, and I was tempted to throw her out of the coach. “It sounds as if we’re entering the bowels of hell.”

“Been there before, have you?” I asked, and Cali burst into such hard laughter, it took a bit of time for her to catch her breath. Anise, however, looked like she might kill me, and honestly, I dared her to try it.

“You’re no gentleman,” she accused.

“And you’re no squire,” I countered, and her scowl dropped, her complexion the slightest, satisfying gray. “Though I’m sure you’ll prove me wrong today, so I’ll have a good report to bring back to the king.”

I wasn’t going to tell the king any of what happened today. But that shut her up.

Finally.

CHAPTER17CALLIOPE

The Dark was … incomprehensible.

It was a cloudy English morning where we stood, and ahead of us, nothing but darkness. A black void, beginning on the dirt ground and stretching up, up, up into the sky. Like a wall into the heavens. It almost drew one to it, instead of deterring. Perhaps that was one of the reasons no one was allowed near it.

And yet I felt slightly … I don’t know. Agitated. Anxious.

“If anything other than me speaks to you,” Beric said, “ignore it.”

I looked up at him, scowling. “I thought you said we wouldn’t encounter anything near the perimeter?”

“I said probably.” He paused, studying me. “We’ll take it slow.”

I nodded, and we approached The Dark. Ann stood a few feet behind us, and I was half tempted to drag her to stand beside us—if I knew her, she’d probably “forget” to step into the veil as soon as we crossed it. She was making it entirely too difficult to stick up for her.

“Close your eyes for a moment,” Beric said. “And keep them closed as you enter. Your eyes will adjust more quickly that way. I’ll be right beside you.”

I scoffed. “Reassuring.”

He kept giving me that studying look, and I suddenly felt paranoid. It was as if he knew something I didn’t, and I wished he would just say what he was thinking. “Or you’re free to enter alone, if you wish.”

“And walk straight into a demon, I suppose?” I said. “You’d love that.”

“I’d love for you to stop speaking so loudly before we step inside.”