Page 92 of A Shattered Kingdom of Steel

Glancing over his shoulder, the hooded figure slows his pace. His brows lift, as if he’s surprised that I’m still tailing him. The almost panicked look in those red eyes sends another wave of adrenaline coursing through me.

I’m so close, now.

Almost within range.

He whirls around and waves his hands. Wings materialize at his back.

“Gods-damn it,” I curse, frustration potent in each syllable. Though I’m more than twenty paces away and I likely won’t reach him in time, I surge forward, freeing my blades from their sheaths.

Hovering some distance above the ground, the red-eyed male flaps his black-feathered wings.

When I approach, I slash the air above me, but he’s beyond the reach of my blades. With his back to the low setting sun, that gods-damned hood he wears casts a shadow over his face, obscuring everything but his mouth.

And, as always, he’s too far up for me to get a better look.

“Bladesinger!” Asheros cries, his tone wrought with alarm. “Behind you!”

I spin toward his voice, my blades raised in front of me in a defensive position.

A mass of black nothingness takes hold in the air in front of me. It moves over itself, writhing like a heap of snakes that have somehow been wound around themselves. The darkness grows, taking shape until a humanoid silhouette stands before me, so dark the light around us seems to bend to its will. It has no features, nothing discernable but a wide, gaping mouth where there should be a face.

And gods-damn me, that horrible mouth curves into a soulless, menacing grin.

Shivers trickle down my spine, and my blood runs cold.

A crepulnai.

Vorr’s murderer just summoned a gods-damned crepulnai.

“Lymseia!” Asheros shouts. “Back away from it. Now!”

I don’t have time to react or wonder how on the god’s green earth this is even possible before the crepulnai swipes a wraithlike hand at my face.

I stagger backward, swiping my blades at its torso. But my swords pass through the crepulnai with no resistance as though I’m slashing through a veiled mist.

The crepulnai swings at me again, and I barely manage to dodge. Still, its sharp nails scrape my cheek, deep enough to draw blood.

How is this even possible? How can a creature be both material and immaterial simultaneously?

“Lymseia.” Asheros’s panicked yell fills my ears. “Disengage!”

I don’t have time to heed Asheros’s warning before the crepulnai’s long fingers wrap around my neck. With one hand, it lifts me off the ground. My blades plunge into the crepulnai’s murky arms, doing nothing to release me from its iron-tight hold around my throat. Feet dangling, I kick at the air, though it’s no use.

I’m fully at the demon’s mercy.

I try to breathe, to no avail. The crepulnai’s grip on my neck crushes my airway. Panic cleaves through my chest.

Am I going to die here?

Footsteps quicken behind me, pounding the earth. Asheros screams something, his voice sounding ragged.

Lungs burning, I gasp. I squeeze my eyes closed, blinking away the dizzy feeling that’s beginning to set in.

The crepulnai cocks its head with a cold stillness. “He knowss what you endeavor. You will fail.” The demon’s voice comes out as a hiss, forced and unnatural. “There iss no stopping what iss to come.”

Fog clouds my mind and blackness surrounds my vision. Numbness prickles my feet, and my blades slip from my hands.

“You will only find death in Illnamoor, little fae. Hide now, while you sstill can.” The creature gives my throat a violent squeeze and lets me go.

---