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“Something like that.”
Gireth approached the catacomb stairs. Metal loops along the stone walls held vases of drooping flowers to honor the dead inside. Thick, potent magic rolled out from the depths, and he whistled as he strode inside.
Tenah shook her head and hurried after him. “You’re a bit of a masochist, aren’t you?”
“You learn what works when you’re dumped on a wasteland isle to die. You can cower, or you can chase down your fears. I figured the outcome was better for me if I did the latter.”
She tilted her head at him. “Loan me some of your bravery?”
“I think you mean stupidity. Anytime, Tenah. Anytime.”
The air grew stuffy, tinted with acrid magic trapped within the walls of sarcophagi. Tenah’s nostrils flared, and her fingers twitched in want of the dark magic lingering here. Would that addiction ever cease?
They drifted around snaking bends and down more stairs. Gireth hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her behind a stone column. Footsteps thudded at the end of the hall. Tenah peeked around the column, heart lurching at the sight of her father.
Lord Kherathi had his head and a hand braced against a sarcophagus. Black blood trickled down his arm from broken fingernails. His breathing was sickly raspy.
Could it…could it be that her mother was buried here?
Swallowing that pain, Tenah moved toward him.
“Stop.” Her father forced the words through gritted teeth. He coughed and swiped at the blood on his chin. “Don’t come any closer.”
She pumped her channels full of healing magic, pushing it outward in hope of cutting through her father’s shrouding darkness. The instant her magic touched his skin, his spine cracked backward at an unnatural angle, severing her already fragile heart. A series of pops sounded from his body as he pivoted to face her, black, soulless eyes gleaming.
“A feast it’s been, feeding on this shadow’s fear,” Chaos spoke from her father in a choir of demonic voices. “But it’s nothing compared to what you taste like.”
Clouds of black magic tumbled from his hands. It spread out to encompass the hall.
Tenah formed a bubble of golden light around her and Gireth.
“Release him,” she ordered.
Chaos laughed. “It’s far too late, little one. His mind is beyond the reaches of healing, even by a descendant of Xith. How easily a shadow can be devoured from the inside out.”
She shoved down every horrible, sharp, gutting feeling that would topple her delicate fortitude and let Chaos take her over.
“Give me the word,” Gireth murmured, barely able to restrain the urge to kill.
A tendril of Chaos slashed against her bubble of light, cracking it open as if it were a fragile eggshell. In an instant, a feingrot barreled into her side, tossing her against the catacomb walls with enough force to rattle her teeth. Before she could clamber to her feet, gnashing teeth came at her.
The beast jerked to a halt, held at bay as Gireth latched onto its tail. He dragged it back into his reach, grasping its top and bottom jaws in his bare hands, oblivious to its razor teeth puncturing his skin.
Something absolutely primal glinted in his eyes.
With great effort, Gireth ripped the feingrot’s head in two, brackish blood and saliva flinging out into the air. He tossed a piece of its carcass in the direction of her father.
But Kherathi was already gone, a trail of Chaos left in his wake.
Chapter45
Tenah
Frustration mounting, Tenah blasted a concentrated pulse of golden magic out to cleanse the catacombs and heal Gireth’s fresh wounds. Clouds of dark magic vanquished, and they were able to spot a narrow slit in the sandstone wall.
She cradled a ball of red flame in her palm, grunting as she wriggled inside.
“Worth me shoving my big ass in there?” Gireth asked. Despite his attempt to shift back to humor, there was still a feral edge to him. One Tenah appreciated in this situation but otherwise terrified her out of ever wanting to fight against him.
