Page 14 of The Immortal Covenant

Malorg released the spell, his eyebrows raising as he studied his handiwork.Huh.

“What?” Sarilian asked, shifting from foot to foot. “Did something go wrong? Am I horribly disfigured?”

Malorg slowly shook his head, unable to tear his eyes away. “You look like an Infernal.”

If anything, the effect was better than Malorg could have anticipated. Illusion wasn’t his forte, so he’d hoped to obscure Sarilian’s features beneath a shadowy cloak, maybe darken his glowing skin to pass a cursory examination from afar. But the finished product standing there appeared indistinguishable from a true Infernal.

“Are you certain dawnflame isn’t meant for illusions?” he asked as they resumed walking toward Twilight.

“Definitely.” Sarilian hesitated, his brow furrowing.

It was odd to see the Celestial’s familiar expressions on a stranger’s face. Malorg found himself missing Sarilian’s squared jaw and noble brow—not that he’d ever tellhimthat.

“Though now that you mention it,” Sarilian continued, “I got a good sense of your enchantment when I infused my magic. It was almost like you’d given me a template to follow. All I had to do was slip my dawnflame into the cracks. I might even be able to replicate something similar on my own, though I doubt it would turn out as well.” His eyes—charcoal now instead of gold—danced. “It’s almost like I was right, and our magicsweremade to mix.”

Muttering under his breath, Malorg quickened his pace, forcing the Celestial to lengthen his own strides to keep up. Soon enough, the last of the straggling trees broke around them, revealing the city proper nestled within.

“I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed,” Sarilian murmured as they approached Twilight’s gates. “I expected something a bit grander.”

Malorg understood the Celestial’s reaction. From the outside, Twilight resembled little more than a dark dome—a great blemish in the middle of the forest that enveloped it. Its outer walls lacked even the shifting patterns that decorated the rest of the Dusklands. But such external austerity only served to heighten the effect within.

Not wanting to ruin the surprise, all Malorg said was, “Follow me.”

Infernal guards stationed at the gate gave them cursory looks as they approached, appearing more bored than vigilant. Though Twilight had been built as an impenetrable fortress, its defenses had never been tested. For that to happen, the Infernal forces would need to have failed drastically enough that voidspawn passed all the way here to where the Dusklands mostclosely abutted the Shroud that separated them from the Mortal Realm.

Still, it never hurt to be prepared. As he’d told Sarilian, it was a matter ofwhen, notif.

You don’t really believe that, Mal. Uryqh’s voice echoed in his head—or at least, how he remembered Uryqh’s voice. It had been so long since he’d last heard it, he had no idea how close his recreation was to the truth. His back trembled as he willed the errant thoughts away, so tense that he almost lashed out when a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.

“You okay?” Sarilian asked, his voice filled with concern.

Malorg glanced over to find Sarilian’s kind eyes studying him, recognizable even behind his disguise. “I’m fine.” He breathed deep and focused on the present. Sarilian’s presence helped. It shouldn’t—he barely knew the Celestial. Yet somehow, having him there put Malorg more at ease.

Striding forward, he passed the bored guards and walked beneath the gates into the city proper. Sarilian followed close at his heels. Satisfaction curled through Malorg when the Celestial’s eyes widened, his shocked mouth hanging open as he took in the vista before him.

Suppressing a smirk, Malorg swept his arms wide. “Welcome to the city of Twilight.”

six

Sarilian

Sarilian had thought Daybreaka marvel, grander than anything ever constructed on the Mortal Realm. But gazing upon Twilight with his darkvision-enhanced sight, he felt certain he’d found suitable competition.

While Daybreak had been built to feel light and airy, a city of gilded spirals stretching impossibly high toward the Dawnlands’ glowing sky, Twilight was the exact opposite. Black and gray buildings were crammed so tightly together that you’d have to squeeze to fit through many of the narrow passages left between them.

There was none of Daybreak’s carefully maintained uniformity. Instead, a mishmash of architectural styles competed for your attention, each more elaborate than the last. Striated patterns in more shades of gray than Sarilian would’ve dreamed existed flickered over everything, bringing the buildings and streets to murky life.

Beside him, Malorg shifted, his voice soft when he spoke. “The dome is my favorite.”

Sarilian’s eyes drifted upward, and he drew in a sharp breath. Where he’d expected to find curved dark stone blotting out the sky, he instead found an ever-changing vista. Unlike the more abstract patterns on display elsewhere, the lines of the dome traced things Sarilian recognized, alternating at random intervals. There, a series of faces, soon replaced by an intricate map of the Mortal Realm, only to shimmer and reform again into a simulated night sky replete with orbiting planets and twinkling stars.

“You know, it’s strange,” Malorg said as the night sky shifted to an impression of a raging storm with roiling clouds and flashes of lightning. “I’ve never actually seen most of the things the dome depicts. How could I have when they are from the Mortal Realm? And yet…”

“And yet, they seem familiar all the same,” Sarilian replied.

He turned to find Malorg giving him an inscrutable look. Sarilian realized then how close they stood to one another, their shoulders almost brushing. He fought the urge to lean in. Not because he didn’t want to—there was no denying the pull the enigmatic Infernal had on him, even if he couldn’t explain it—but because he wasn’t sure how Malorg would react if he did.

Does he feel our connection as well?

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