Page 4 of Song of Night

I stare at her for several long moments. “You will call a halt to the battle and swear your loyalty to House Daemonium for the next three centuries.”

“One century, and we have an accord.”

She extends her hand, and after a moment I grab it, squeezing hard enough to break her bones had she not deflected me with magic.

“Shall we drink on it?” Ellielle says with a smile, not in the least bit perturbed.

She calls to someone, and after a moment a woman steps from a doorway a bit further down the hall, an Incantrix judging by the purple hue of her eyes and the magic spiraling off her. The Incantrix approaches, and when she reaches my side, she pulls her hair away from her neck and exposes it for me.

A wave of hunger rushes through me. Ellielle wasn’t wrong about that part—I am on edge. The blast from the magic weapon took more out of me than just my magic. I feel like I haven’t fed in a hundred years.

I hesitate only an instant before stepping up closer to the Incantrix and bending her head away from me. She winces as my teeth slide into the soft skin of her neck and her blood fills my mouth, hot and metallic. I expect a wave of relief, satiation, but all I can see in my head is Zara. All I can think of is how her blood tasted, her magic flowing within it. The most enchanting elixir I’ve ever had… the moans she elicited as I fed from her, the feel of our bodies intertwined as we shared of each other.

The blood now coursing down my throat tastes like ash.

I recoil a moment, and I see Ellielle’s face flash with surprise. This has never happened to me before. While Zara’s blood is special, I’ve never not enjoyed someone’s blood before. Not in all my centuries.

But I need sustenance, whether I like the taste of it or not.

I continue sucking until I feel the Incantrix buckle beneath me. Stepping away from her, I make sure she can lean against the wall on her own before letting go of her. Then I turn to Ellielle.

“Was that… to your satisfaction?” she asks with a cocked eyebrow.

I ignore her question and the hunger that still burns inside me. I should feel more energized from that feed. While blood is only a temporary fix, souls being what I truly need, blood usually takes the edge off.

I feel barely better than before.

I don’t voice this, however. Instead I say, “We need to ride out and call a halt to the battle. I want to be sure my people are safe before we continue our plan to deal with Vyrin.”

Ellielle smiles and nods. “Yes. But don’t forget—they’re our people now, Asher.”

Chapter Three

ZARA

I lose track of time beneath the earth. I know it’s only been a few hours since I was dragged down here to the cells and thrown roughly to the floor, but it seems an eternity.

With my magic, the darkness was never truly dark. I could see just as well as during the day, and the velvety shades of night were comforting, warm almost.

Now, however, I am truly blind for the first time in my life. The blackness that envelopes me is so complete, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face. I’d panicked the first few minutes after they’d thrown me down here, but I’d forced myself to breathe, to remember that the dark isn’t any different than it’s always been.

I am the one who has changed.

My body is covered in bruises from the Animus guards dragging me down here, making sure to bang me up as much as they could on the way. Then several of them stayed behind to throw balls of magic at me, taunting me for losing the great power that made me teacher’s pet to Kieran. The others had always been jealous of my control of the wild magic. I’ve been an outsider in my own home from the moment I arrived. Never has that been more clear than today.

For the first time, I understand why people pray to the dark goddess, why they burn effigies in her name. Because when it seems that all hope is lost, the only thing left to do is surrender.

Kieran betrayed me.

Asher now hates me.

I’d been reunited with my sister whom I thought to be dead, only to then be knocked unconscious by an explosion which has brought enemies to our doorstep.

And my magic is gone. All in the course of a few short hours.

If there was ever a time to pray to a deity, it’s now. I wonder, with a strange sense of surrealness, if the reason I never have before is because I had Night. That ever-present connection to the source of wild magic, that violet glow like a living thing beneath the city, vast and powerful. I’d never needed to believe in a higher power because Night was that power.

But now it’s gone from me, and I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t get that connection back.

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