Page 52 of The Shadowbound and the False God

Aisling ignored the question and said firmly, “I’m not leaving you here.”

Part of him, the pragmatic part, wanted to chide her for her stubbornness. But he knew her, and he knew telling her she couldn’t would only make her that much more determined. And the quieter, kinder part of him wanted nothing more than to leave with her so that they could finally have that moment together he longed for.

“Then what do you suggest?” Kael returned to the runes, finishing the last line of them across her hipbone. She was thinner than he remembered, her bones sharper now. She hadn’t been eating enough.

“I can...do things here,” she said slowly as though searching for the right words. “My affinity, it’s stronger.”

“Is it?” He raised an eyebrow. The movement tore viciously at his exposed scars. He hadn’t noticed the burning pain lancing through the left side of his body until now.

“I made rain.”

“You made rain?” That caught his attention, and he looked up at her once more. Imagining the Red Woman conjuring a weather event was not something he would have ever expected, and his chest swelled with pride. She was extraordinary.

“Twice. Only once on purpose, though. But I could try something like that again.” She thought for a moment, focus distant as her wheels turned. “Fog, maybe? The marine air we get on the island is so thick sometimes you can’t see hardly anything at all.”

Kael hummed. It was a nice thought, if ambitious. He’d let her try, let her believe thathebelieved in the idea. But he knew there was no chance of the two of them escaping the Low One together, and to truly let himself imagine that they could would only be wishful thinking.

He couldn’t look at her marked skin any longer; the way her body shivered with cold and fear ignited such a savage instinct in him he could scarcely think straight. Kael blew out the candle and rose, gritting his teeth against the wave of dizziness the pain brought to bear. Aisling slid off the ledge to stand beside him.

“Keep behind me,” he murmured once he’d regained his composure. He eyed the opening, trying to determine where the Low One was in the larger space beyond. He could feel Him out there, the insidious cold that rolled off Him in waves. Kael’s shadows pulled towards the dark god, aggressively fighting against his own attempts to force them back into submission. After having had free rein to do as it pleased, his magic felt more uncontrollable than ever before. He wanted—no,needed—to askfor Aisling’s help, but he hadn’t the right to ask anything more of her.

Aisling shook her head. “Look,” she said, and gestured to his hand.

Kael glanced down. The blackened veins that had been so prominent beneath his scars were fading slowly as his magic’s grip on him loosened.

“Your eyes, too—they’re clear now. He’ll notice.” She was studying his eyes intensely when he looked back up at her. It took him a moment to react when she reached out a hand and said, “Here.”

Kael bent down and Aisling reached behind his neck to raise the hood of his cloak. He leaned into her touch automatically when her hand brushed against his ear, sending sparks of electricity down the back of his neck. He was desperate to trap her hand there beneath his own, but instead straightened back up and pulled the hood lower over his brow. She nodded her approval.

“Better.”

It was strangely exhilarating to let her take charge of the situation for a moment. It brought him back to Nocturne, when she was a pixie and he’d let her take the lead, take him down the back corridor, and take him into her arms. It occurred to him, just briefly, that it was only because she made him feel safe enough to do so. The King of the Unseelie Court would not willingly relinquish control to anyone but his Red Woman.

A voice sounded from the adjacent space, quiet, half-muted by the wall of trees. Both Kael and Aisling stilled, straining to hear the newcomer’s exchange with the Low One.

Kael pressed the tips of his fingers into the small of Aisling’s back, urging her forward. “When I tell you to run, run,” he instructed. He hoped the intrusion would be distraction enough to give her time.

Aisling dug her heels in and threw a glare over her shoulder. “No,” she argued, “you don’t get to call the shots this time. I told you, I’m handling this. I’m getting you out of here. And if I have to use your full name to do it, I will.”

Her willful obstinance almost,almostbrought a smirk to Kael’s lips. He’d missed that fire. He nodded and said, “As you wish.”

When they emerged from the alcove, the cathedral was lit by hundreds of candles. The entire space was washed with their golden glow, and in that flickering light the shadows of the trees and shrouded figures loomed large and menacing.

The Low One’s back was to them as He stood facing a barrel-chested centaur. In the creature’s hands, a large sack glimmered faintly.

“It has been some time since you’ve come with aneiydh, Fenian,” the god crooned to the centaur. “It is a true pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

Fenian dipped his head. “I had hoped to come sooner, but they’ve been scant. I wished to collect a number of them to deliver at once, rather than disturb your peace repeatedly.”

As the pair conversed quietly, Kael felt the temperature begin to lower around them. The drop was subtle, barely noticeable at first. He might not have felt it at all if it weren’t for the raw, over-sensitive nerves exposed by his wounds. Aisling’s fists were clenched at her sides and her shoulders were raised, tense. A fine mist began to gather at the bases of the trees that formed the sylvan cathedral. It rolled in slowly, silently, and soon it swirled around their feet.

Then, it began to thicken. And as it thickened, it rose.

“Your timing is impeccable, Fenian; we were just preparing to conduct a rather special rite. Our Shadowbound King is readying his beloved Red Woman as we speak.”

The fog was nearly chest high now, and creeping towards the Low One. From beneath his hood, Kael stared in awe at Aisling’s trembling form.

Fenian’s eyes flicked over the Low One’s shoulder. Kael thought he saw a hint of recognition there when they snagged on Aisling, but he turned his focus back to the dark deity so quickly it was impossible to say for sure.

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