Page 88 of The Fae Lord

But when he meets my eyes, the look I see on his face sends a shiver of dread to the very basement of my soul. “I am not doing this,” he shouts over the sound of Finn’s pain. Then, wrapping his wings around me, he pulls me back, grabbing Briony, too.

Eldrion stands in front of us. Shadows start to swirl around his fingers. But instead of flowing out, towards Finn, they begin to flow inwards. They coil around Eldrion’s arm, and squeeze. He tries to shake them off.

In the air, suspended in front of us, Finn is watching. But his body continues to break.

Now, he is like a tortured marionette. Limbs hanging loose, held up by his enormous new wings.

He blinks. When he opens his eyes again, they are red, and his limbs begin to solidify once more. Only now, they are bigger. Stronger.

Shadows swirl around him, but they are not hurting him. They dance on his skin, leaving it decorated with ink-like patterns. The ink snakes up his throat, over his arms, onto his hands. Then the sides of his face, too.

A moment ago, his skin was completely free of blemishes. Now, it is covered in tattoos I cannot interpret.

Finn flexes his wrist. The shadows playfully float from his palm. “They do not listen to you now, Eldrion,” he hisses. “They listen to me.”

I turn and see Eldrion’s eyes widening as the shadows press down upon him, squeezing his chest, constricting his ribs.

“They listen only to me, now.” Finn shakes his wings. There is a familiar chime that almost brings a smile to my face, but then there is the sound of the bells falling to the floor.

I look down to see two jester’s bells at my feet. When I look up, Finn is staring at me. “Thank you, Alana,” he breathes. “I could not have done this without you.”

I stagger backwards, clinging on to Briony.

“I meant what I said.” Finn extends his hand for mine. “I want you to be beside me when I take the world back to how it was before.”

He blinks at me again, and then I see it. The red eyes.

Red eyes glinting in a shadow-covered face.

I remember the vision I had in the woods. The demon that loomed over Eldrion and me. The way it laughed at us.

“You can do it, Alana, take his magic.” Eldrion talked softly into my ear.

I remember the words. But I misunderstood them.

I thought Eldrion wanted me to take the demon’s powers and give them to him. I was wrong. All this time, it was Finn who wanted Eldrion’s power. And I gave him exactly what he wanted.

Waves of nausea wash over me.

I vomit onto the floor.

Finn tuts at me, then laughs. “Poor, sweet girl,” he hisses. “I guess this means you won’t be joining me after all?”

Behind me, Eldrion is gasping for breath. I turn away from Finn and bring flickering balls of purple light into my hands. I throw them at the shadows, and they dissipate like forks of lightning. I throw more, and more.

Finally, I break them. I yank Eldrion free and shake him. “Eldrion, you have to help me.”

Finn rises up higher into the air. He seems unconcerned by us now. As if we are so small and insignificant that he will not waste another second thinking about us.

Briony rushes to the edge of the roof. Finn is above us. His wings stretch out, filling the sky. Shadows swirl around him like storm clouds. Thunder rumbles and lightning cracks. He pulls the shadows in around him, breathes deeply, then disappears.

He is gone.

But he is not finished with us.

This is only the beginning.

Epilogue

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