Page 108 of Vicious Is My Throne

More magic than anyone else in Varitus, but this realm held other dangers besides the Descendants. The air hung heavy with the stench of decay, mingling with the faint echoes of something big moving up ahead.

There were so many stories about Harehollow.

That within its labyrinthine corridors, the tormented souls of the castle's former inhabitants still roamed, still paying for their evil deeds. I would have called bullshite on those claims, but now…This place sent a shiver of dread straight down my spine.

“Maybe we should move on,” I muttered to Raz. “Go to Lockton House then meet the others back at Ravenshade.”

A raspy growl echoed behind us, or maybe in front of us, I couldn’t tell in the gloom, but Raziel went stiff, and I let my darklings spill out over the ground.

“Howlers,” Raz muttered through grit teeth, blue-black magic hazing the air, and the horse reared backward.

One second I was in the saddle, the next I was flat on my back with the breath knocked out of me, staring up at a panicked Raz as our horse raced down the drive. A chorus of unearthly cries pierced the gloom, and all I heard was the beast’s frantic whinny then the thundering footsteps of whatever chased behind.

I tried to move, but I couldn’t draw breath, black spots dancing in my vision.

Raz wasted too much time feeding magic into me, fast enough to make me gag, but I finally sucked in a gasping breath, air searing my lungs. He opened his mouth to warn me before the Howler hit him, taking him down in a scrambling mess of hairy taloned feet and gamey, reeking breath.

I sent a sloppy blast of power at the Howler.

Missed completely.

“Go. Help Raz.” My darklings slithered away and engulfed the Howler in a mass of wriggling tendrils, Raziel rolling away from the chaos, arms tucked in tight.

He climbed to his feet, bleeding from a gash across his cheek, another down his bicep, muscle gleaming through the blood. More Howlers roared down the drive, snapping their hinged jaws, teeth gleaming, nostrils flaring as they caught the scent of Raz’s blood.

“Get down,” I warned, and Raz dropped like a stone.

I sent out a wave of power, cleaving through everything like a battle-axe, neatly severing flesh and bone, arteries and organs, until the front yard shone with spilled blood and chunks of decapitated Howler.

The wave crashed into the front of Harehollow, shattering windows, cracking stone.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Raziel muttered, holding his arm. Howls echoed in the distance. “This is our last fucking stop. We go inside, get the stone, then we’re going back to Ravenshade.” More howls broke the silence, closer this time.

“Go.” Raziel shoved me toward the manor.

“Deal,” I murmured, following him up the path to the front doors, blown wide open by my magic.

Harehollow Manor’s darkness swallowed us the moment we entered, as cold as if we were treading along the veil between the living and the dead.

If Varitus was cursed, then this place was the root of that evil, and I reached out and grasped Raz’s hand, wondering if we’d escape here untarnished.

45

ZORANDER

“You really think this leads out of the blight?” Finnian’s face was weathered, but he wasn’t as old as I’d first thought, and he had a steadiness that would come in handy if we ran into trouble.

“The stream runs east to west; it should lead us straight into Varitus. The problem will be crossing the ward. I’ve never tried crossing anywhere but the north and south entrances.”

“Well”—he leaned closer—“better to be burned alive by a magical ward than listen to Bran’s whining another minute. I swear, that boy never shuts up.”

“Anyone who wants to come is more than welcome,” I called to the rest, measuring the color of the sky. Dawn was a few hours away, and Anaria would require time to drop the ward if the process worked like last time. We had to put some distance between us before that happened.

“An hour, maybe, to walk three miles.” I eyed the stream. “We’ll be walking with the current, which will help.”

“And once we get to Varitus?”

“Our reports are the blight stops at the ward. Everything to the west is still untouched.”

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