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“Yes.” His voice remains calm and level, but I detect a hint of unease. One holds the creature’s gaze until it stops eating. “You killed my maid. That’s not very nice.”

The arachnid’s front legs twitch a few times before it turns its back on us and starts drinking the blood again.

One snatches a crossbow similar to the one I’m used to from the wall and presses it to my chest. “Kill it.”

The heavy weapon isn’t as hard to hold as it used to be. “Me?”

“Yes.”

A silver bolt is already in position, and I raise it to the nightmare. Seemed easy enough with the griffin, and I’ve spent weeks practicing my aim.

“Aim deep below the eyes. A spider’s brain is located close to its stomach.”

I blow air out of my lungs and concentrate on the head. I’ve done this a hundred times by now, but a wooden target always stood on the receiving end—not a living thing.

I rationalize that these nightmares aren’t really alive, merely moving puppets of shadow magic. My fingers tingle with warmth as I let the bolt fly, and the silver tip buries deep inside the spider, right below its eyes.

My lips quirk up as I lower the crossbow.

“Not bad. Not bad at all,” One says.

The spider melts into eight strands of black smoke that wave across the room, creeping closer to us. They probe the soles of my shoes and twist around my ankles.

I shake my legs furiously. “By the Mother?—”

“Relax, kitten. Let it in.”

I force myself to stay still and allow the shadows to merge with my flesh. A boost of energy washes through me, quickening my heartbeat and spreading across my muscles.

When I’d passed the trial, I’d felt a tiny speck of magic merge with me and fill a tiny hole in my heart. The power I’m feeling now could fill an entire canyon, but just as I knew the magic from the underground cave wasn’t mine and only there for me to use, this is merely borrowed as well.

I press a hand to my sternum. “Wow. I feel like I could run ten miles.”

One moves to cover the dead body with a white sheet. “Your first kill. Congratulations. I just need to figure out how the fuck this nightmare got in here and we—” He stops abruptly, his mask angled to the ceiling. “Get behind me. Quick.”

Chapter 16

Shadow Kissed

Ispin around in time to see a gigantic spider crawl upside down through the opened door, its hairy legs topped with blueish claws. Globulous eyes shine under the electrical lights, its upside-down face at eye level with mine.

Venom drips from its fangs and splashes the carpet in front of us. Tiny flares of smoke rise from the floor as the spider’s saliva burns through the fabric. I dart behind One as the dark knight draws his bow to the mother of all monsters.

The thing hisses and scurries closer. It uses one of its legs to cleave the bow in two and slashes the front side of One’s shoulder and chest in one sweep.

“Get down,” One commands.

The spider strikes again, and I feel a breeze near my face as I fall to my knees. If not for the power boost from the tiny spider, my head would have been split down the middle.

“Stay on the ground and play dead. It relies on movement to attack.”

Blood pours out of the gash in his shoulder as he slowly inches his arms behind his back, so slowly in fact that I can barely see him move. My gaze darts from the lethal creature to him—back and forth.

The spider snaps its fangs and screeches, the noises all wet and disgusting, like a hunter’s knife cutting through flesh. Each sound is followed by another spill of venom. A droplet splashes my knee, and I clench my jaw. The liquid quickly melts the fabric of my pants, sending a painful throb up my leg.

And that was merely a drop!

I hold my breath as the creature shifts to the right, expecting its next goop of drool to careen directly for my hip.