Page 107 of Until the End of Ever
Iconsidered my options. If it had been Vance,Timothee, and Castor alone, I might have tried my luck. I wasn't the best of fighters, but I was a healer. I could make those three jerks suffer. Cut arteries, stop blood flow, flood their lungs. But the fourth man made me uneasy. Besides, Night has said there was something wrong with them, and I could sense it, too. The air around them felt metallic, charged with extra energy.
From the tiny crack in the wall, I saw Castor's eyes shining with a strange hue. I would have thought it was merely the reflection of the tree, if I didn't spot the same thing with Vance.
Adrian threw a wave of darkness over the mouth of the tunnel to hide us. I could still partially see through it.
"There's a word for what's been done to them," he whispered. "They called it enthused in the old days. Sessona told us stories about it. But it's forbidden."
"Enthused?" I repeated.
I’d heard it somewhere but I couldn’t quite remember.
"Comes from theo—god. There's a little bit of a god put inside them. You can tell by their eyes and their auras. In the underside, there are plenty of demigods. The occasional minor deity, too. They don't feel like thosethings. Almost possessed."
"Are you sure?"
That was whenTimothee, still a hundred pounds soaking wet, tore a tree from the ground, roots and all, and tossed it across the gorge to the lower garden.
Definitely enthused, then.
"The bitch got away!" he screamed. "What is she gonna do to us?"
"I think the question is whathe'sgonna do," the stranger's deep voice rumbled. "Who cares what Zenya wants? We serve the King."
"Just because you don't care about anyone but your precious daddy, Hercules—" Castor snapped.
Hercules.
No. It couldn't actually be Hercules. That would be ridiculous. And terrifying. I tiptoed farther into the crack between the walls. They thought I already was in the manor.
"What now?" Vance moaned.
"I say we return for orders. She's marked. Pendros can likely force her to come back to her, if she's powerful enough and focused enough. We'd better head back."
We waited a long time after they'd walked off, just in case.
"Well," Adrian said, "things are definitely not boring with you around."
I laughed nervously. "Likewise. Come on, we'd better get going."
The kid shook his head. "Nah. You're safe now they’re gone. You go on. I’ll head home."
To Sessona’s, the orphanage, without being properly thanked. I couldn’t abide that.
"Look, they could spot you. I don't feel comfortable leaving you to deal with them after everything you've done for me. Didn't you see what the smallest of them did to that tree?"
"They're not after me. I doubt they even saw me up there. And if they did, they probably thought it was—" He stopped himself.
That was when it hit me. I knew that power. Or rather,ofthat power.I hadn’t seen it performed properly but there was only one family known for shadow magic and the ability to make people live their nightmares.
"You're a Nachtigall."
The kid straightened, bristling. "I'm a Night, full stop."
It was none of my business, and I owed him a hell of a lot, so I should drop it. But smiling, I said, "You know, that's what he calls himself. Ronan. He goes by Professor Night.”
Those golden eyes narrowed on me.
Ronan's eyes were green, and he was always smiling unless he was wearing that weird professor mask, but as I watched the kid, it surprised me I hadn't connected the two earlier. He must be a cousin.
