Page 101 of Goddess of Light

I open my mouth to retort, but before I can speak, the large metal doors to the library creak open. The air grows colder, the light dimmer, as another figure steps into view.

Salainen.

She’s Hanna’s reflection, her dark twin. Where Hanna radiates warmth, especially now, Salainen exudes an unsettling chill. Her dark hair is twisted into harsh, sharp waves, and her black eyes gleam with cruelty. She moves with predatory grace, her presence commanding and terrifying.

“Mother,” Salainen says to Louhi, her voice low and venomous. “I trust all is ready?”

I nearly snort at that.Mother.Salainen’s real mother is the black magic that Torben called upon to create her, in a baffling attempt to hide his affair with Päivätär. But Louhi raised Salainen in secret, creating her to be a weapon of hate, so I suppose she’s my sister in a way. Not that I’ll recognize it.

Louhi nods, gesturing toward the pedestal. “The potion is nearly complete. When the time comes, I will lead the strike. Tuoni and Hanna will come for their precious daughter, and when they do, well, you know what to do.”

I tense, my heart pounding. Louhi turns her gaze back to me, her lips curling into a sinister smile. “You see, Lovia, your father is predictable. They’ll walk straight into my trap, believing they can save you. But they’ve underestimated Salainen. She’s stronger than Hanna ever was.”

I highly doubt that, I think, but I keep that to myself. I don’t know how much my mother knows about Hanna’s new status as the Goddess of the Sun, but if it can remain a surprise, then we might have an advantage.

Salainen steps closer, her eyes locking onto mine as she takes out a selenite knife, the same one that belonged to Hanna. “You’ve served your purpose, Lovia,” she says, her tone cold. “You’re bait. Nothing more.” She gives me a sour smile. “Now do you understand what it’s like for your parent to turn their back on you? To cast you aside when you no longer provide any use?”

She’s trying to hurt me in the way she was hurt by Torben, make me feel something over the fact that my mother clearly doesn’t care if I live or die. But the truth is, I don’t feel any different.

No, actually I do. My mother might not care if I live or die, but I just want my mother todie. And if by my own hand, the better.

I lift my chin, refusing to let them see the fear they crave. “My father loves me more than you’ll ever comprehend.”

And Hanna’s stronger than you think.

Salainen’s laugh is sharp and mocking. “Perhaps. But that love won’t last forever, not when I send them to Oblivion.”

Louhi picks up the mortar again, grinding Sarvi’s powdered horn into fine dust. “Salainen will ensure that neither Hanna nor Tuoni leave Shadow’s End alive,” she says. “And once they’re gone, the final components of Kaaos will fall into place, locked in for eternity.”

My chains clink as I shift, glaring at her. “You’ll never win, Louhi,” I say through gritted teeth. “You think you’re in control, but you’re just clinging to power that doesn’t belong to you. Power you conjured and corrupted, power you’ll never be worthy of. It only makes you look cheap.”

Her eyes flash with fury, and she steps closer, her shadow looming over me. “You’ll see how wrong you are, daughter,” she says, her voice low and dangerous. “When the time comes, you’ll wish you had never been born.”

I don’t respond, meeting her gaze with defiance. Sarvi’s voice cuts through the tension.I’m starting to think a mother’s love is overrated.

As Louhi and Salainen turn away, speaking in hushed tones, I take a deep breath, steeling myself.

I may be chained and outnumbered, but I’m not defeated.

CHAPTER 38

DEATH

The boat scrapesagainst the stone dock, and I steady myself as the small craft rocks gently to a stop. The cavern beneath Shadow’s End is vast, its high ceilings lost in darkness. What light exists comes from scattered veins of phosphorescent stone that streak the cavern walls like ancient scars and the tunnel at the opposite end that leads out to the wild sea, dimmed by a lowered portcullis.

I stand, and step onto the dock with Tuonen’s body cradled in my arms. The weight is nothing compared to the heaviness in my chest. Behind me, the others disembark in silence. Hanna, ever radiant and severe, moves with purpose, her golden aura a stark contrast to the gloom. But despite the glow about her that speaks to her divinity, her eyes are wet with tears, as if she’s sad and grieving, which gives me a pause. Could her humanity be seeping back after all? I don’t have time to even entertain the question.

Vellamo climbs out of the water and walks beside her, her spear in her one hand, her only hand, her steps tense and deliberate despite her missing limb.

Rauta pads silently at my side, his ears pricked, nose twitching. The dog senses it too; Shadow’s End is not as I leftit. Already the air feels heavy, oppressive. This place, once my stronghold, the beating heart of Tuonela, has been twisted into something unnatural.

I glance at the others. Torben, clutching his staff and looking at the weeping stone walls with disdain. Tellervo lingers close to Torben, seeking him like a father now, her small antlers catching the faint glow of the cavern walls. The Magician follows silently, with General Suvari near the rear, his broad shoulders squared as he takes stock of the troops and trolls that climb out of the water.

With a sinking sense of dread, I realize there’s barely anyone left. Many of the troops died in the water with Iku-Turso’s attack. The lucky ones stayed behind in the caves. I’ll have to send for them later, when it’s safe.

After our victory.

Ahead, the entrance to Shadow’s End yawns like the mouth of a beast I had once tamed but may now turn against me.

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