Page 136 of Riftborne
Laryk turned his full attention on me, narrowing his eyes. His hand moved to my thigh, sliding up the slit in my skirt. “You know we’re not,” he murmured, leaning over to nip at my ear. His breath left my face flushed. I shifted in my seat as his hand traveled further up my leg, his eyes piercing into mine.
And then the trumpets started, announcing the arrival of the King and Queen. He dropped his head, pulling away his hand as we both turned our attention to the doors in the back of the hall.
I watched their familiar, imposing silhouettes glide across the room, making their way to their thrones. They were surrounded by their personal security—guardsmen in emerald uniforms. I dipped into a bow with the rest of the room, only rising once they had stepped onto the dais.
The King turned to face his subjects, lifting his hands in a triumphant gesture. “Be seated.” His voice boomed through the space.
“We now face perhaps the greatest threat that our kingdom has ever seen,” the King said, lowering his head. He paced across the dais.
“Aossí of all kinds have given their lives to protect the Isle against an enemy that is imperceptible, unrelenting, and savage in their quest to destroy our home. But we will not let them win. We will fight to the very end for Sídhe. We will not succumb to the darkness.” He lifted his chalice high in the air, and the room all joined him, pressing their drinks towards the cathedral ceiling.
The sound of a wooden door creaking open pierced the cheers. Then silence.
A chill ran through the room, followed by a subtle breeze. And one by one, the candles were snuffed out. Only the filtered, greenmoonlight remained. Everyone was still, eyes darting around the space.
One of the Royal Guards accompanying the King and Queen stepped forward, placing his hands on them, and with a wave of energy, their forms disappeared from view.
My breath caught in my chest.
They were here.
They were not going to Stormshire.
The Wraiths were coming here the whole time.
That’s why I saw them passing the crescent tower.
My pulse quickened, and for a moment, I felt like I might faint. But I couldn’t. The time had come. This was the war, and I was right in the middle of it.
Laryk grabbed my arm, gripping it tightly as the energy shifted. A snap sent our eyes flying to the back corner. I could hear the breaths of every soul near me.
Shadows pummeled through the room, shifting and expanding, shrouding it in complete and utter darkness.
A mind-shattering scream echoed through the halls, and a familiar metallic smell filled the space around us.
Blood.
CHAPTER 50
My fears were broughtto life as the inky swirls swarmed the hall. Darkness erupted in bursts around them. Intentionally, strategically… as if they were controlling it, passing the void back and forth between them.
The darkness seeped from the shadows, black tendrils reaching out to meld with other shades of nothingness, enveloping the entire room in a cloak of night.
The lessons had taught us that the Wraiths and the darkness were one in the same. But if my eyes were to be believed, the Wraiths were their own entity. The darkness was just a symptom of their presence… it was following them.
I looked to Laryk in a panic. His eyes were tracking the room at an impossible speed. He pulled out the dagger he kept against his hip and dropped to his knees, yanking my skirts towards him and ripping through the fabric with his blade in quick slices. The dress fell just below my knees.
I could run.
I could fight.
“Fia, can you sense them?” He spoke in a rushed tone, tearing off his jacket.
I tried to quiet the overwhelming fear in my mind enough to draw out the tendrils of my focus. When they didn’t immediately begin their ascent, I yanked them up by sheer will, casting them around us.
Hundreds of glowing orbs shot through the darkness. In the chaos it was hard to differentiate between Wraith and Aossí.
The minds all looked the same.
