Page 108 of A Dawn Of Blood

They waste no time in doing as they’re told. “General,” one of them mutters with a look of shock on his face.

Cain shoots him a single look, but that seems to be enough to make them all disperse as if they were never there in the first place.

As soon as they’re gone, Cain shifts his focus onto me, his eyes scanning my body.

For a moment, I struggle to comprehend the situation. Then the looks on Lorcan, Jaeger and de Groot’s faces tell me he somehow managed to force them into this.

I open my mouth to say thank you.

It makes me clamp it shut when he just looks away and starts moving out of the alley, coldly yet at the same time radiating so much anger.

It’s without a word that we all follow, heading straight for the train. I keep my eyes fixed on his back, unable to wrap my mind around any of it.

We’re safe, Dryden has the box in his pocket, and Cain did just go to a hell of a lot of trouble just to get me out of this mess.

But the fact seems to be making him angrier than I’ve ever seen him.

And just as I step into the train, I sense an energy coming off of Dryden, off of the box, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I hear the familiar, smug drawl boom inside my head.

“Thank you for giving me a way to talk to you, Freya darling.”

Chapter 74

Idon’t let myself linger on anything. As soon as we’re back at the Academy, I march over to the Main Hall with everyone in tow, sheer determination fueling my otherwise spent body.

It could be that everything is lost anyway, but to hell if I’m not going to at least forge the fucking sword already.

“Nimueh,” I call out even before I see her sitting in her favorite chair.

She gets up, her eyebrows raising. “You’re back.”

“Get the iron ready,” I tell her as I get the bones and the box with the shadow on the table.

She frowns. “Shouldn’t you get some rest?”

“You really should,” Nuala agrees as everyone gathers around the table with me.

I can sense his disapproval, but I don’t even glance at Cain. I can’t deal with my feelings for him right now. I shake my head. “No.” I hesitate for a second, but then I force myself to say it.“We’ve managed to steal the piece of shadow, but now he has a direct line to me.”

No one asks me to clarify who I’m referring to. They freeze in place, then move to help me.

Shaking her head, Nimueh gets the iron from its spot, comes to place it on the table with the other two items and remains standing, fixing her eyes on the material.

There’s no ceremony. We just watch her Runes start glowing at the same moment the iron does. It lifts off the table and slowly starts changing shape, until what I see in the air before me is a long, deadly-looking blade.

Excitement starts taking over me, and I can sense the same happening to everyone else.

Nimueh lowers the blade onto the table and takes one of the bones in her hand. She uses her Runes to carve symbols into its surface then places it next to the blade.

It makes me suck in a breath, when the bone starts vibrating then hugs the end of the metal to create the hilt.

There’s a moment of silence before Nimueh lifts her gaze to me and says, “Get ready.”

I nod. “What do you need me to do?”

She motions at the box with the shadow. “I need you to help me tie the shadow to the iron.”

I take it in my hand, preparing to open it.

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