Page 27

There were no shadows for her to pull from, nothing to form a shield, but she moved on instinct.

Darkness felled everything in its wake. Entire trees crumbled to the earth in a pile of black ashes as the power swept through.

“Arabella?” Jessamine asked, a note of warning in her voice.

But Arabella didn’t respond as she watched the line of power barrel toward them.

She wasn’t going to fight the shadows.

No.

The shadows were hers to command.

A few paces away, the trees exploded in a torrent of black. She knelt and pressed a hand to the earth. Then she opened herself to the dark veins of the Abyss.

The power blasted into her like a rogue wave in the deep ocean. It was so much force—more energy than had ever been in her body at a single time. It felt like she was a cup filled to overflowing. She let the shadows flow into her, soaking up every drop.

But soon, it became too much, and she directed the surplus into the ground.

She thought she heard Jessamine and Breckett shouting behind her, but she didn’t register their words.

The trees on either side of her disintegrated into dark ash.

I can’t take this much longer, she thought, hoping the zaol’s attack was almost through.

Her entire body trembled at holding so much power. Blood trickled from her nose, and she thought she felt liquid flowing from her ears, too. Gasping, she tried to take in a deep breath, but it felt like a boulder had been placed atop her chest.

Spots formed in her vision, and she thought she might black out, when the torrent stopped.

The first thing her mind registered was a strange sizzling sound.

Glancing around, her eyes widened as her gaze fell upon dozens of charred trunks where the trees had been.

Only the trees that were directly behind Arabella and her friends remained in this section of the forest. Now, the desert was visible from all sides, and the shadows were returned to the earth.

She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Breckett, Hadeon, and Jessamine all on their feet.

All fine.

“Your neck,” Hadeon said. “There’s black veins.”

She swiped the blood away from her nose with the back of her sleeve. “Interesting.”

The zaol stood several hundred paces away. Behind it, the forest remained intact. It made a hissing sound as it took one step forward and then another.

“I think you pissed it off,” Breckett said.

Jessamine’s eyes narrowed on the erox. “Why don’t you try to reason with it? Maybe if you say ‘please,’ it’ll leave us alone.”

Arabella still held on to some of the shadows from the zaol’s blast of power, allowing the shadows to fill her and strengthen her. Without it, she feared she’d collapse into a heap on the ground.

She allowed a slip of shadows to wrap around her sword, which she’d scooped up from where she’d dropped it on the ground.

Leaving the second sword in its sheath, she turned to Hadeon.

“Let’s end this now and get back to finding the shadow fae.

My mate needs me.” Over her shoulder, she said, “Hadeon, your blade turns whatever it touches into ash. Breckett, shield Hadeon with your magic so he can?—”

“No,” Hadeon interrupted. “That won’t be necessary.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But he could?—”

“I can get close to the zaol without the help of the erox,” Hadeon said.

After the greater demon bellowed again, she said, “Fine. Breckett, shield Jessamine. Get as close as you dare. Jessamine, use your enchantress magic. Its weakness might be light and life.”

Breckett nodded, not making an objection for once.

The greater demon drew closer. There wasn’t time for more of a plan than that.

“Prince, kill it quickly, would you? I’ll absorb its shadows,” she said as she lowered herself into a crouch.

The choices before them had become simple.

It was either fight the zaol now while they still had the strength or wait for it to kill them later.

There was nowhere to run—not if they had another thirty or more miles across the desert before they reached the next oasis.

They wouldn’t stand a chance. And there was nowhere to lose the zaol in this small oasis, especially not when a quarter of the trees had been blasted in a single attack.

She watched the zaol take several lumbering steps forward, noting that its movements were slightly slower than before. Had that attack weakened it?

For Elias, she thought before launching herself forward.

The shadows around her legs released like coils, shooting her off the ground. As she flew through the air, she caught a flash of movement as Jessamine and Breckett disappeared and another as Hadeon launched into the air.

The zaol lashed out with one of its massive arms, and she slashed down with her blade.

It clanged as though her blade was blunt.

For a moment, she worried the sword would bounce off.

But she clutched it tightly, willing the shadows around it to move more quickly.

They responded instantly, and a moment later, the creature's arm sloughed off, falling to the ground and disappearing in a plume of shadow.

Roaring, the greater demon stumbled backward.

Then Hadeon was there, arcing down with his sword.

The zaol managed to release a blast of shadow just before the prince’s sword met its chest. Already moving, she opened herself up and reached for the shadows as they blasted Hadeon back.

She absorbed the worst of the attack, though smoke trailed up from the hairs along Hadeon’s arms.

Rather than releasing the shadows back into the ground, she raised her hand at the zaol, her palm forward.

And released.

The torrent spilled out from her, reminding her of dark waters as she blasted it back at the greater demon.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the creature stumbled backward, roaring.

Before it could retreat or make a counterattack, Jessamine appeared beneath it.

She moved her arms in the motions Arabella knew all too well—summoning earthen magic to form bolts at the demon from beneath it.

But rather than golden bolts appearing in the air at Jessamine’s shoulders, nothing happened.

Instead, Jessamine stumbled to a knee, retching on the ground.

Sensing her, the zaol turned down to her and was about to smash them with one of its arms.

“No,” Arabella screamed and lashed out with a band of shadow.

She wrapped it around both Breckett and Jessamine, looping it around their waists. With all her strength, she pulled. They soared through the air, narrowly missing the zaol’s strike.

Jessamine and Breckett crashed into the ground on either side of Arabella. She didn’t have the strength to soften their fall as she fell on her ass, gasping.

Breckett muttered something beside her as Jessamine retched again.

After a moment, Jessamine wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “There’s no earthen magic here. The ground is full of death.”

There was no earthen magic in the Abyss? Arabella supposed that made sense, but fuck . That was going to be a problem. It left Jessamine with only her combat skills and Arabella with only her shadow magic.

There was a squelching sound, and Arabella looked up.

The zaol’s body tumbled to the ground like a severed tree before dissolving into a plume of ash. Sword in hand, Hadeon flew to the ground, his eyes fixed on where the greater demon had been.

“He killed it!” Breckett said, his voice holding an obvious note of relief.

Jessamine sniffed, an eyebrow raised. Which, for her, likely meant she was impressed.

Arabella frowned.

Even with the magical fae sword, it was strange that a creature of legend could be felled so easily—with only a single strike.

This was a demon that made other demons.

It was the thing that haunted dreams, the fear that lurked in corners of forgotten memories.

Had it just grown out of proportion in the thoughts of so many?

She hauled herself off the ground, summoning the shadows once more and lacing them around her entire body. It hid the trembling of her limbs somewhat. Why was she so fucking exhausted?

Beside her, Jessamine and Breckett got to their feet.

“That’s it?” Jessamine said.

Hadeon shrugged.

They watched as the zaol’s ashes hovered in the air for several moments too long.

It was then Arabella realized there wasn’t any wind.

But the ashes swirled in aimless circles before stilling and shuddering.

Then something like a heartbeat swelled inside the surrounding shadows, which were leached from the nearby trees.

The darkness flowed toward the ground beneath the ashes before it twisted in the air.

As the ashes met the shadows, there was a hissing sound like a sword pulled from a forge and plunged into water.

Then two feet formed on the ground. Unnaturally long legs of sinew melded atop them as its body slowly reformed.

Breckett cleared his throat. “I don’t think it worked.”

“Excellent observation,” Jessamine said as she shoved him back toward the trees. “Run!”

For a moment, Breckett hesitated, as though he wanted to help.

“Get out of here,” Arabella called over her shoulder. “Hadeon and I will catch up with you.”

Jessamine couldn’t use her magic, and Breckett’s magic wouldn’t be helpful against the zaol. Not if Hadeon wouldn’t accept the help, and she had to put all her focus on absorbing the greater demon’s attacks.

Without another word, Arabella pulled the shadows from the earth around her.

They hummed a delicious tune. But as she pulled the darkness into her, she noted a strange sticky sensation.

As though the inky tendrils had a film atop them—something dark and menacing that filled her along with the power.

Her senses became sharper and, along with it, her emotions heightened.

It filled her with a sense of unyielding rage like she’d never known.

“Protect Breckett,” she said in a voice that was far colder than her own.

Jessamine hesitated before nodding and running after Breckett.

Then Arabella turned to face the zaol.