Page 63 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

Use your power, Halwen. All of it, every kind that lives inside you.

Every kind of power that lived inside me, carried through my line, through my mates’ families, through my child’s.

Magic flashed along the wavy blade of my second knife, and Cronus’s smile fell. But I’d hit him with this magic over and over, and no matter what Erebus believed, it hadn’t killed him.

All of it, every kind…

I sank to the bottom of the pit, reaching out to every colour and flicker, to every emotion it carried, every purpose it held. There was more than I’d sensed before, not just mine and my mates’ powers, but others I didn’t recognise. Battle calm and lightning and love. Earth and sky and daylight and darkness. And tucked into a tiny pocket, protected, were chaos and the night, like they’d been waiting for me to discover them.

Now. I need you now.

Familiar shadow rose around me, encouraging, proud. I called up every glimmer and shade, every swath of inherited magic, and when I focused on the hallway again Cronus was running—not towards me, but away. Like he felt the power I exhaled with every breath, like he’d seen what now covered both my blades and glowed from every symbol and sigil on my skin—not blood-red or a thousand rainbow shades, but pure, deathless gold. A gold so complete and bright that it was like no magic that had come before, and yet forged from all of them.

I blinked, gold dripping from my lashes, and took a step down the burned hallway. Cronus leapt at the wall, blasting a hole through the bricks, but I wasn’t worried. Wisdom, grace, and a steady calm—neither furious nor peaceful—filled my soul as I carried this new magic through the house. I flicked my dagger, somehow knowing that was all I needed to do to open a door in the wall that Cronus had leapt through.

I thought of the halo burning red at Lili’s brow, and the dangerous aura that hung around her as ropes of fire wrapped her arms, the otherness that clung to her, and I wondered if I looked similar as I strode through the open doorway and kept Cronus’s retreating form in my sights.

CHAPTER THIRTY

There wasn’t a garden outside; it opened into another room, like the world was really only as big as the house. This one was a vast library that spanned three floors, with mezzanines stretching up to the fresco on the ceiling and every book bound in emerald leather.

Why is it green?

This world was made by Demeter, the magic responded. Not with a voice or words, but with knowledge dropped into my mind like the slow trickle of raindrops. It is the green of harvest, of life and promise. Cronus being here is a violation.

Oh, shit. That was why creatures ran through the wallpaper; not to attack me but to force him out. He wasn’t welcome. Even the house rebelled.

My footsteps echoed off the high ceilings as I walked into the library, scanning the many rows of shelves on the ground floor before my eyes were drawn up. There, look, see!

“You can’t hide from me, Cronus,” I called, surprised to find my voice ordinary and mine. Not some ancient power speaking through me.

Quick, watch!

I twisted with the magic’s intuition and just avoided being cut apart on the seven-foot-tall scythe Cronus now wielded, like he’d given up on stealing my blades.

“Gotta be quicker than that,” I taunted, driving both my daggers forward to meet the curved blade of his scythe. Fuck, it was good to have them both in my hands again, like I’d been missing a part of myself and now I was whole.

“I should have devoured you,” Cronus seethed, swinging his scythe at me again, hatred flaring in his beady eyes. “You’re one demon. Tiny. Insignificant.”

My blood sang as I pushed his scythe away from me, the golden power spilling from me giving me more strength than I’d ever had before. When Cronus’s face twisted at me escaping him so easily, I drove a dagger into the seam where I’d cut him open in D.C.

“Tell that to your bleeding gut,” I replied, launching at him again.

His scythe was great, very sharp, very scary, but up close? It was useless. My knife sank through flesh, not shadow and magic, and he snarled, his teeth bared—flat, ordinary teeth.

“You know who’s actually insignificant, pathetic, and all those other words you use to describe my mates and me? You. You’ve spent thousands of years gathering power, and for what? So you can attack those less powerful than you? So you can beat them down to size lest they one day match your power? All those people you brag of killing didn’t stand a chance; you’re not bragging, you’re just a sad little man who was once a legend. And now? Pathetic. Forgettable. Nothing.”

I ripped my daggers away and called a swell of pure gold power, jumping into it and landing on the other side of the library the way Wyn travelled through moonlight. Magic rushed through my blood, eager to be used.

When he spun, I sneered. “You pick fights with people smaller and less powerful to make yourself feel big and powerful. Guess what, Cronus? It just looks sad.”

He launched himself at me with a snarl, like I’d expected him to. One thing I’d learned from Kai’s stories was Cronus’s legendary pride, his jealousy. He wanted to be the biggest, the best, the most powerful. I was more than happy to stab that weakness until he bled.

He swung his scythe, and I followed its bright silver arc with my eyes, ready to intercept it. I was unprepared for electric blue light to flash down the curved blade; I had no shield ready to block it.

I stumbled into the bookshelf behind me with a curse, waiting for pain, waiting for a scream to be ripped from me. But his attack was worse than pain. Images formed in front of me, like a memory or a dream. I could see Cronus stalking towards me, his scythe dangerously close, but I also saw my mates crowded around someone, like they always huddled around me.

Only when the view shifted, they weren’t embracing me—it was an unfamiliar woman with long red hair, sparkly green eyes, and a kind smile. She looked sweet and caring in a way I’d never been, and every one of my mates was happy.

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