Page 155 of Walking in Darkness

I was already on my way.

Rage pulsed through me, and I shouted to Pax, “This way!” as I bolted toward the gazebo.

Pax was instantly at my side, one hand in mine and the other fighting off any beasts that got in our path. Our boots thundered across the snow-covered ground.

Ambrose’s focus turned to me. The deadened depths of his eyes filled with hate.

Pure, absolute hate.

His flesh was translucent, fiery veins curling up his neck and face. His short blond hair gusted with the storm that raged right above him.

The hole to Faydor was gaping and wide, throbbing and appearing as if it might swallow up the earth.

“Do you think you can defeat me, Valient?” His voice took on a different intonation. Curling and twisting with the otherworldly, then seeping back into his normal human voice.

There was something in it ... something that nearly made me trip.

My head spun as I processed. As my spirit listened to the inflection.

It didn’t take much to realize that Ambrose had merged.

He had become an extension of Kreed.

Oh God.

Fear sent my knees quaking, but I refused to back down. Refused to succumb when I knew why I was here.

“Don’t you see that is exactly what we’ve been sent to do?” I did my best to keep the tremor from my voice.

The words grew brittle, though they were still filled with the determination that we could see this through.

Hollow laughter rolled. “So brave, little one. I see why she chose you. But Valeen is weak. Just like the rest of you.”

“That is where you are wrong. Do you not see what’s happening around you? How we are defeating the army you’ve gathered?”

In my periphery, I noticed Pax’s movement. He was slinking around to the back of the gazebo, slithering within the shadows.

Keeping himself hidden as he went.

It took everything inside me to force myself to keep my attention ahead.

Not to shout at him to stop or be careful.

Not to draw attention to my Nol, who had stealthily begun to climb onto the gazebo railing. Once he found his footing, he jumped high, his arms outstretched as he grabbed on to a beam on the edge and used it to drag himself up.

He threw himself on top of the roof, his feet light as he landed in a crouch.

“Pax.” It was a whisper from my soul, and my pulse stampeded when I realized his intentions.

He was suddenly charging.

Charging at full speed before he rammed a shoulder into Ambrose’s back.

Ambrose was so consumed by the spite he had fastened on me, on the challenge I’d thrown up at him, that he was caught unaware. He stumbled forward, unable to stop himself before he hit the edge.

His arms pinwheeled as he tried to stop his fall, but he couldn’t stop the momentum.

Was still vulnerable because he was still partially man.