Page 46 of The Shadow Wand

She meets the Death Fae’s black stare intently, blazing challenge in her glare. “Go ahead, Death Fae. Try to scare me. You picked the wrong Asrai to try to intimidate. I’ve lived in darkness for averylong time.”

His inky gaze slides over her face as the whites of his eyes reappear and his mouth hints at a smile. “You are attracted to the dangerous things of nature?”

Holy gods, Tierney thinks again, the world darkening to pitch around that silken, subterranean voice, only the silver-mist-lit image of him remaining.

And those deep-cavern eyes.

Tierney stares back at him unflinchingly. “I am.”

The Death Fae rises to his full, impressive height and takes a step toward Tierney, his slight smile edging higher as he draws close.

Suddenly, Tierney is once again falling into that dark gaze, mesmerized, feeling as if she’s been swept up in a midnight current.

“Are you sure?” he says, his breath brushing her ear, his voice thrumming through Tierney with an odd, enticing resonance that warms the currents of her power.

The entire world dims almost to the point of full dark.

Apprehension rises in Tierney, bubbling up even as she fights against what’s turned into a surprisingly alluring pull, his draw taking on the intoxicating feel of submersion in the vast river’s depths.

“Why are you trying to pull me under your thrall?” she calmly asks him, holding his gaze even as her power churns warmer.

“Curiosity,” he answers, his smile nocturnal as he studies her with those bottomless eyes. His brow tightens a subtle fraction, as if he’s distracted by something inside her. “Your fears intrigue me.”

“Is it true, then?” Tierney asks somewhat archly, striving to ignore how seductive she finds him in this moment. “Are you a demon, about to swallow me whole?”

A wicked smile lifts the Death Fae’s lips, and it sends a chill down Tierney’s spine. But then the smile is gone as his focus on her sharpens, an unsettled energy in it.

Tierney Calix.

Tierney stiffens with surprise to hear his deep voice sounding in the back of her mind.

She recoils, swiftly moving back as she exhales and blasts invisible storm power outward, striking against his invading thrall. “Getoutof my mind,” she snarls as fright ices through her.

Their powers collide, one wall of Fae magic meeting another, neither side giving way, a dark wall pressed up against a storming tide.

“No one can keep Death out,” he sneers, teeth bared, as he presses against her storm. “Don’t approach Death if you’re timid.”

“What’s your name?” Tierney demands, not the least bit cowed this time as she forcefully holds his thrall at bay.

He blinks, his black lips twitching, as their powers maintain a relentless standoff. “Viger,” he concedes, low in his throat. “Viger Maul.”

“Well, Viger,” Tierney shoots back, emphatic. “You should know that I’m not the least bit timid. But my mind is my own, and if you try to control it, I’ll fight back twice as hard.”

His thrall abruptly recedes. Tierney’s power rushes into the unprotected space around him, his form now encircled by her unsettled clouds, threads of lightning periodically illuminating his severe features.

He stays silent as the spiders, scorpions, and snakes crawl and slither back toward him and disappear under the hems of his garments until it’s as if they were never there.

“I do not control minds,” he finally says, with what sounds like a rueful note as the whites of his eyes return.

“But I’m told you feed on fear,” Tierney snipes back.

A slight, bitter scowl. “No. Ireadfear,” he counters with what seems like a trace of exasperation. “Better than anything. Better than your words. Better than the look on your face.” Tierney is struck by the sudden, world-weary expression that tinges the Fae’s coal-black eyes. He can’t be much older than Tierney’s nineteen years, yet, in that moment, he seems ancient.

A morbid curiosity rises in Tierney, unbidden. “What are you reading in my fears?” she ventures, feeling as if she’s toying with something much more dangerous than her kelpies.

The Death Fae’s lip curls back up, no mirth reaching his void eyes as he draws close once more and the whites blacken over, his misty darkness insinuating itself into her clouds.

You fear Vogel,sounds inside Tierney’s mind. As you should. And you fear for everyone you love.Tierney’s muscles tighten in response to the invasive feel of that deep voice resonating once more in her head.

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