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Thea jumped down from the steps and came to stand beside her sister. ‘What are you fucking talking about?’

The former King of Harenth looked strangely sad. ‘He intended to welcome them in as soon as —’

The trapdoor banged open above them, and Dratos ran down the stairs, breathless. ‘The battle for Aveum was a diversion,’ he said, gripping the sword at his belt. ‘Osiris has welcomed the reapers into Thezmarr. The fortress has fallen.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

THEA

As Thea looked from Dratos to their prisoner, it all fell into place. ‘We showed our hand, let them destroy the bulk of our forces…’

‘And now they make their ultimate move,’ Kipp finished for her, his expression solemn.

Wren’s cold hand closed around her arm. ‘Thea… Sam and Ida… They’re still at Thezmarr. So many people are. We were so worried about our numbers that we didn’t – we didn’t even warn them —’ Her voice broke, a hand clapping over her mouth as she stared wide-eyed at Thea.

Thea’s hands had gone numb. She couldn’t feel them as she squeezed Wren’s fingers and tried to reassure her. ‘They’ll be alright. They’re Dancing Alchemists, remember? They’ll find a way out, they’re quick on their feet.’

‘We just left them – cutting herbs, making tinctures…’

‘That’s not true. They volunteered to stay, you said so yourself. They made a choice, Wren.’

‘But this… They had no idea this was coming,’ she whispered.

‘And neither did we,’ Thea told her, though the words tasted bitter on her tongue.

Around them, the conversation went on, with Kipp at the helm. ‘Our army is in pieces… We don’t have the numbers for another battle on that scale.’

Thea’s knees almost buckled. After everything they’d just been through, after winning by the skin of their teeth in Aveum, the final fight was on the horizon and they couldn’t win.

Wilder’s presence warmed her side as he moved close. ‘But we won’t be meeting them in open battle.’

‘No,’ Talemir agreed. ‘We’ll be up against a damn fortress. Thezmarr was built to withstand a siege, to be a rock against which the tide breaks. They’ll pick us off one by one before we even breach its walls.’

Unease twisting in her stomach, Thea dropped Wren’s hands, her gaze sliding back to Artos. ‘What are the plans for the reapers at Thezmarr? What do they intend?’

Vernich made a noise of disbelief. ‘We can’t believe a fucking word he says. For all we know, he could have been fucking planted here. His capture could have been part of the enemy’s plan all along.’

Anya’s scythe was already tracing the curve of Artos’ throat. ‘Let’s see what tales he tells anyway…’

The former king whimpered like a dog.

‘Well?’ Thea prompted. ‘The more you tell us, the less you’ll bleed… For now.’

Artos sucked in a breath, the words tumbling from his mouth in a frenzy of fear. ‘There is a ruler among their kind, a sire to many. He has called wraiths and reapers from all over the midrealms, from beyond the Veil, to gather in a single, overwhelming force.’

‘To what end?’ Thea demanded, her lightning singing beneath her skin. Gods, how she’d love to unleash it now. ‘What happens when they unite as one?’

Artos stared at her. If she didn’t know better, she might have thought it looked like his green eyes were swimming with regret. ‘From Thezmarr, they will launch their final assault on the midrealms. Every shadow, every ounce of power will come together as one. They mean to swallow every kingdom with total darkness. They mean to curse every living thing. Like a plague.’

Thea could see it: the sweep of shadows across the sky, blocking out the sun, smothering everything that was good in this world. It had been happening slowly and steadily for years, no matter how many monsters they slayed, no matter how hard they fought. Poison had crept into the lands, into the hearts of their people…

‘Why did you do this?’ she demanded, forcing down the urge to blast him with the lightning that crackled at her fingertips, begging for an outlet. ‘Was one kingdom not enough for you?’

‘I am a mere vessel.’ The former king sounded distant then, as though he were drifting back towards that churning current of emotion he’d been caught in before. ‘Long ago I had a feeling… and a voice told me that this was the way… A voice I trust told me that with darkness came a dawn of fire and blood… and that I should run towards it, not away from it. I felt the truth of those words with my power…’

A chill rushed through Thea, and the nervous glances exchanged around the cellar told her she wasn’t the only one.

When the skies are blackened, in the end of days