Page 20 of Walking in Darkness

Ellis glanced behind them to the group of their family mourning with Margarethe before he turned his full attention to them. “Tell me I should not fear. I’m not sure how much more this family can withstand.”

It was a plea. They’d already been through so much.

Reticence filled her at sharing the news. “Unfortunately, it is not over.”

Ellis blanched, and he reached for her and wrapped his bony fingers around her wrist. “How so?”

Wariness pulsed through Aria. “Last night, while fighting in Faydor, I was compelled into another realm.”

Alarm rushed through his features. “What do you mean?”

Aria told him about what had happened. How she’d been drawn into the other realm. The things the man had said. How he’d told her he’d ended her kind for generations. The fight that had ensued. How she was sure he was responsible for the Ghorl being sent for her, and that it was only happening again as humans were clearly still hunting her.

“He called himself Ambrose. Have you ever heard his name before?” she begged.

Awareness nudged at her consciousness. She swore she should know. It was like the answer was right there, dangling in front of her but just out of reach.

Regret shook Ellis’s head. “No. Nor have I ever heard of anyone of his kind. Of another plane. And he said Kreed gave him thisgift?”

He might as well have spat it.

Aria’s nod was withdrawn. “Yes.”

“Maybe he welcomed Kreed into his heart in some way? Allowed Kreed to strip him of his humanity to use him on Earth? I don’t know. This is ...” He trailed off in horrified disbelief before he peered at herwith sheer intensity, though his voice was soft with awe. “Sweet child, you are beyond anything we’ve ever known. I wish I had the answers, but I don’t. I’m afraid I no longer hold the wisdom to be your teacher, but it will be you who is teaching us.”

He gave a wary glance between her and Pax, worry seeded deep in his gaze.

Air puffed from Aria’s nose, and she let her eyes travel their sanctuary. It used to make her feel safe. Untouchable. But now that peace felt thin. She was sure these realms were so much greater than she’d fathomed, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much had been undiscovered.

“But the thing I do know is, you must figure out who this man is in the day,” Ellis urged. “He must be human if he is walking on that sphere. Maybe that is where you have to stop him.”

Uncertainty washed through Aria. It seemed unlikely that he would be vulnerable in the day. Susceptible to human weaknesses. His powers seemed far above that.

But if she was also vulnerable there ...

She almost scoffed at herself.

Could she dare compare herself to him?

“Don’t worry, I have every intention of hunting that bastard down,” Pax growled from her side. “Every intention of ending him. Whatever it takes.”

Ellis shifted in disconcertment, and Aria watched as his attention dipped to where Pax had her fingers woven firmly through his.

Refusing to let go for a second.

The old man slowly lifted his gaze to theirs.

“And you remain together.”

He didn’t phrase it as a question. It was a statement knitted in distress.

Pax didn’t cower. He simply lifted his chin. “I’m not leaving her, Ellis. Know I made the promise to you that I would once we stopped the Ghorl, but I can’t, and I won’t. This thing isn’t over. But even if itwas, I don’t believe that we don’t belong together. And even if we didn’t, it wouldn’t change anything. I won’t leave her side.”

“It’s a risk we’re both willing to take,” Aria told Ellis, her words twisting in a plea for him to understand.

Aria knew the mandate.

Nols were not to join in the flesh; Ellis had only given them a temporary blessing while they’d been trying to defeat that Ghorl.