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Wren was gone.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

THEA

Someone was screaming. A loud and piercing wail shredding through the night.

Thea realised the sound was coming from her.

And that she was running, her boots pounding against the earth, her breaths short and shallow.

Dropping the spyglass, Thea ran into the dark, brief flashes from the storm revealing what she already knew… She was too far away. Wren was already gone. But she sprinted for the sea, for the Veil anyway, refusing to recognise the fist of panic clenching around her heart, and the sickening weight of dread.

The world blurred. At first she thought she was running so fast that her eyes were streaming with tears, the wind whipping around her, stinging her cheeks, but…

No. Those were shadows swirling around her.

Tendrils of dark power cloaked her, tugged her through wisps of obsidian and a pulsing nest of chaotic magic. She tried to scream, realising that she was falling, travelling through space and distance, that the earth was no longer solid beneath her feet.

She clutched Wilder’s sword and Malik’s dagger, slicing at the ribbons of darkness to no avail. These shadows were whispers, barely tangible. Heart hammering, she swore to herself that when she hit the ground, she would slay every last fucking monster – she’d tear out their hearts with her fucking teeth if she had to.

The fall took both all the time in the world and no time at all, toying with Thea’s grasp on reality. When at last she collapsed on solid ground, she didn’t know how many hours or minutes had passed.

She expected to breathe in the acrid scent of burnt hair, to feel the lash of onyx whips of power against her skin. But instead, she smelt pine. Gasping for breath, she staggered to her feet, looking around wildly.

For a moment, Thea’s attention snagged on a familiar hawk perched on the bough of a tree.What the fuck is Terrence doing here? He’s supposed to be an ally…

She couldn’t dwell on that now. Her fingers flexed around her blades.What the fuck happened? Where am I —

She was in a clearing in the woods, but there was no telling how far from the battlefield she was. The shadows had swept her up mid-sprint and brought her here, wherever here was.

And suddenly whereherewas stopped mattering.

A torch protruded from the ground, illuminating three figures standing at the treeline, watching her.

Anya. The girl – woman she’d seen in her vision: the Daughter of Darkness, her wings tucked behind her back. A winged general standing at her side. And Wren, held in place between them by bonds of shadow magic.

Darkness leaked from Anya, and Wren’s magic crackled weakly, a feeble attempt to fight it off. Her eyes were full of apology, and they implored Thea to run.

Instead, she sized up the Daughter of Darkness. The woman was even more fierce in the flesh, perhaps a few years older than Thea. Her shaved head made the angles of her face that much sharper, made the ragged scar that ran through her right eye all the more stark against her skin. Blood dripped from her armour and spattered the wings at her back. Her weapons were sheathed at her sides, but with all that power at her fingertips, it didn’t look as though she needed them.

‘What are you waiting for?’ Anya said, her rough voice sounding strangely familiar. ‘Come and claim her.’

Thea’s heart stuttered at the challenge. The thought of Wren caught in the middle of this made her sick, but she raised her sword and took a step towards the enemy. It had to be a trap. Why else would they take Wren and lure her out here?

Trap or not, they were all here now, and she would end it one way or another. She flipped her blade menacingly.

The woman gave a huff of amusement. ‘Oh, no, not with that.’ With a flick of her wrist, darkness lashed for Thea, stronger than any reaper’s power, stronger than anything she had ever felt before. The whip of onyx magic disarmed her, sending both her sword and her dagger flying out of reach. They hit the forest floor with a thud.

‘You have a far greater weapon at your disposal, don’t you, Althea?’ the woman said, waiting.

Thea swallowed. ‘What’s it to you?’

‘I’m surprised your Warsword didn’t tell you,’ the Daughter of Darkness answered.

In that comment alone, the woman told her she knew more than Thea could possibly imagine.YourWarsword.

‘I have been seeking you and your sister for months,’ the woman continued. ‘I made no secret of it.’