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Angry cries rang out before her, and the beating of weapons upon shields.
It sounded like war drums.
Shadows poured from the woman now, like serpents from a nest, and she turned to face the Veil once more.
‘We will come for them!’ she shouted, thrusting her hands forward, the darkness bowing to her command.
Cords of obsidian lashed at the mist, a vicious assault, wave after wave of shadow magic.
The Veil shuddered —
Before it split in two.
* * *
Thea staggered as the force of it shook the ground. But she was no longer in that strange land, no longer watching on like a ghost as evil incarnate brought down the shield between the midrealms and the darkness beyond.
She was on the same grassy hill, where she’d chased the storm to the outskirts of Hailford.
Wren was there, clutching her hands, pressing her brow to Thea’s clammy forehead. Around them, the storm had cleared, the afternoon sun high and bright once more, as though nothing had happened. But Thea panted, fighting back a wave of nausea, reeling from all she’d just witnessed, from that power felt across the realms, from the shock she still felt in her bones.
Wren was squeezing her hands hard, painfully hard.
And it was then that Thea looked at her sister, taking in the lack of colour in her cheeks, the tremor in her grip, the tears lining the eyes that mirrored her own.
‘You saw her too…’ Thea said in slow realisation.
Wren’s throat bobbed as she nodded, collapsing into Thea. ‘I saw her… The Daughter of Darkness. She’s been in my dreams, too.’
Thea held her sister, her heart hammering mercilessly, the back of her neck prickling with awareness. She peered over Wren’s head.
Wilder and Torj were waiting at the edge of the hill, stoic as ever.
But Cal and Kipp were staring at her and Wren, their mouths hanging open.
She knew that she and Wren had both been in the heart of the storm, had been tethered to it in such a way that there was no denying what they were.
Storm wielders.
And now their friends knew it too.
The Warswords and Guardians slowly approached her and Wren as they clung to one another by the blackened remains of the lone tree. But just as Thea dug for words of comfort for Wren, movement caught her eye.
And then a blanket of darkness blocked out the sun.
Ribbons of obsidian passed over the sky, tendrils coiling around the clouds as one giant shadow darkened all of Harenth.
‘What the fuck is that?’ Cal whispered as he reached her.
‘An army of darkness,’ Thea heard herself say, dread unfurling in her.
Wilder’s fingers laced through hers. ‘It’s heading straight for Tver.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
WILDER
They had their horses saddled within the half hour, and Wilder only paused at the city gates to talk to the commander of the Harenth army.
