Page 100 of Fate and Fury

Her heart in her throat, Katerina went on. “Four for the silence that follows the dark. Five for the cold one whose path is stark.”

As she said the words, she thought of the explosion that had filled the air before the Darkness swallowed Drezna. Of the deadly quiet that followed. And then of the animals that lay, frozen, on the road. An uneasy realization stirred within her.

“Six for the dream that brings secrets to light,” she said, her eyes on Niko’s transparent form as it advanced. “Seven for the curse that spreads blight through the night.”

Gadreel’s dream of harnessing the Darkness. The blight that had destroyed Drezna’s orchards and drained the life from Kalach’s fields. How had she never seen this before? How had she failed to put the pieces together?

The Shadow and Dimi vow…it was as if it had been written for them. As if it had been their story, all along.

It didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that Niko was still walking toward her, even as Elena tried and failed to call him back again. Katerina was winning. She just had to keep going.

“Eight for the loss that cuts beyond price.” Her voice shook, thinking of how it had broken her to see Niko die in that clearing. “Nine for the heart carved wholly from ice.”

She thought of Elena’s heart, of that tiny red-gold flicker beating within the frozen wasteland that her aura had become. And knew that the Vila was destroyed beyond repair.

“What are you doing?” Elena cried as Niko’s shade stepped even closer to where Katerina stood. “Niko, no!” Lurching after him, she threw her arms around his neck. But he moved onward, and Elena tumbled to the floor.

“Ten for his tears,” Katerina went on inexorably, her eyes fixed on Niko’s face. “The rest for her fears.”

She had feared so much, even though she was loath to let it show. And though she had never seen her Shadow cry, she knew that whether or not he had let the tears fall, he had wept for what had become of him and Katerina, in his heart. She remembered him standing with her after the battle, watchingElena walk away with glistening eyes, saying,This is tearing me apart. Understand that, if nothing else.

I’m not afraid now, Niko,she thought.Nothing could be worse than losing you.

She would give up anything—her destiny as a Dimi, her power, even her life—if it meant she could hold him in her arms again.

“Eleven for the blood that has tasted the blade.” She choked out the words, thinking of Elena’s blade sinking deep into Niko’s chest. “Twelve for the one who breaks yet is bold.”

Well, she was breaking now.

Niko’s shade had come to a halt right in front of her, close enough to touch. She lifted one shaking hand toward it, just as Elena roared, the Darkness swarming from her throat as it had in the clearing. It came for Katerina, and in its wake came Elena herself, encased in silver-blue flames and bent on vengeance.

“Change for me, my Shadow!” the Vila shrieked, so loudly that the rest of the window-glass shattered. “Fight for me in the form of your black dog. Defend me againsther,who sought to use and corrupt you. Prove you belong to me.”

Niko froze, and for a dreadful moment, Katerina was afraid he would do exactly that. His shade flickered once, then again. But then it solidified, and his jaw set, as if he held his human form through sheer force of will.

Above Elena’s howls, Sammael yelled for her to stop, that she and Katerina had had a bargain. Lunging for the Vila and trying to drag her back, he shouted that breaking her word would do worse than curse her: It would send her spiraling into the Void once and for all. That this wasn’t her; it was the Darkness acting through her. That they needed Katerina, that Elena needed to control herself.

None of it mattered. Elena kept coming, dragging Sammael across the floor with her. Now she and the Darkness that poured from her were only inches away.

Niko’s shade turned, placing his back to Katerina. Shielding her. He spread his arms wide, a translucent defense against the demonic onslaught. It would never be enough.

Katerina commended both their souls to the Light. “Thirteen for the story that remains untold,” she whispered, and took her Shadow’s insubstantial hand.

Niko’s image blurred, shimmered, trembled,shifted. And then he was in the form of his guardian dog, his body between Katerina and the Vila. His teeth bared, he pressed against Katerina, urging her backward, away from the threat. Light radiated from the shade of his dog, the tendrils of corruption within it barely visible.

She hadn’t asked him for this. Certainly hadn’t demanded it, as Elena had. But Niko had Changed for her, even though their bond had been severed by death. He had done this of his own volition, to keep her safe.

Even in death, he was still hers.

She had won.

The Light that shone from her Shadow had driven Elena back. The Darkness hovered around her in a buzzing cloud. In the midst of it, Sammael still held the Vila, who was sobbing with incredulity and fury. “No!” she wailed in between sobs. “Witchery. Trickery. He is mine!”

Sammael spoke before Katerina could say a word. “You made a bargain, Elena. An unfair one, some might argue. You had power and might on your side; the Dimi had naught but her own determination. The Shadow made his choice; now you must honor your word.”

Elena hissed and spat, a mad thing. His expression grim, Sammael spoke to Katerina over her head, struggling to hold herstill. “Leave now, Katerina Ivanova. Trust that your Shadow will follow you of his own free will. You will not look back nor will you use your magic on your Shadow, for if you do, the deal is null, and his soul is forfeit once more.”

Katerina nodded, accepting the bargain—for what choice did she have? With one final glance at the thrashing, debauched creature who had once been Elena Lisova, she fled the cottage, leaving the Darkness and its captive behind.

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