The lands…. Which were tied to the Old Ones and their powers of nature.
But how? How does Charun fit into anything?
And then my breath catches.
I see the obliterated Hallow, those runes blown out of the stone, and its power weak and ebbing. Something drained them. Something massive. Nearly two thousand years later and the Hallow has barely recovered, as though it will always be a shadow of itself.
“Maia made a deal with the Mother of Night,” the grimalkin patiently explains, “when she went to fight Sylvian. She knew her armies and her own powers were barely a match for her sister-queen’s, and so she made sure she was going to win. Maia didn’t merely ascend to godhood, little princess. She bound herself to the Daughter of Three Moons’ Hallow and wrestled her power from her. And then she obliterated Sylvian and her armies. They say the light of her implosion swept from sea to sea.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with my daughter,” I snap.
Grimm’s eyes narrow. “You are going to the Black Keep to rescue your daughter from Angharad, who plans to sacrifice her to the Hallow in order to break the Horned One free from his prison, are you not?”
I can’t breathe again. But I nod.
Grimm stalks forward on predatory paws. “That is my child they plan to sacrifice, and while I am omnipotent, I cannot do this alone. If they raise the Horned One, then we are going to be facing an old god of unimaginable power.” His eyes flare gold. “If we fail, then bind yourself to the Hallow and I will get the child out of there. Wrest his power from him. You have Maia’s blood in your veins. You have the power of the Old Ones. It’s our only hope.”
“I am not a—”
“God?” Grimm curls his lip. “Well, neither was Maia. But every fae on the continent prays to that bitch at night, and I don’t hear her complaining about it.”
Bind myself to the Hallow. Wrestle with the Horned One. Steal his power.
I bite my lip as the others gather in the middle of the clearing.
I’m not powerful. I’m not a goddess. I’m just a woman who wants her daughter back.
And he was the most powerful of all the Old Ones.
Yes, something whispers in my mind, but he is also trapped. If he is freed, he will be newly reawakened in this world. Weaker than he ever was. Hungry. Possibly vulnerable.
I feel sick.
“Are you ready?” I ask as I stand in the middle of the Hallow.
Thiago slashes a knife over his forearm, drawing enough blood to power the glyphs that will take us north. He decided I should reserve my strength for the fight ahead. “Ready.”
He looks at me, and I see the question in his eyes.
Am I ready?
I step forward and capture a fistful of his shirt, hauling his mouth toward mine. It’s a kiss born of passion and desperation. A kiss meant to convey everything I feel for him.
I love you, I tell him with my lips.
And then we’re both breathing hard, foreheads pressed against each other’s. His hand slides through my hair, as if he too feels the weight of the future upon us.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “For everything.”
He gave me freedom when I could not see it for myself. He’s offered me nothing but love, ever since the first moment we laid eyes upon each other.
“I am honored to be your wife.”
His eyes narrow. “What are you planning, Vi?”
“Planning?”
His fist curls in my hair. “That sounds like goodbye. That sounds like you’re plotting to do something foolish.”
“We go to face Angharad and the Horned One. Is that not foolish enough?”
He looks at me.
I close my eyes and breathe him in. He’s moonlight and darkness; smoke on the wind; the scent of burned cinnamon. My promise. My hope. My dream.
He’s been there at my side at every step of the way.
And he deserves the truth.
“There’s a possibility I could bind myself to the Horned One’s Hallow,” I whisper, “and wrest his power from him if he rises.”
“He will not rise,” Thiago growls. “I will not lose you. I will not lose Amaya. And if that bitch thinks she’s going to harm either of you, then she knows not what she faces. We just have to get to Amaya and protect her. Angharad will have her bound within the Hallow. The second we’re all within its circumference, use the Hallow to get us out of there.”
It’s a simple plan.
They’re always the best.
I nod, and he kisses my forehead.
“Vi.” One last kiss-roughened word. I look up, and Thiago’s eyes turn sultry as he strokes my cheek. “Promise me you will get her out. Promise thrice.”
To promise three times locks me into a vow I won’t be able to break. “I promise—if I get a chance—that I will get her out of there.” And then I repeat the words twice.
“Even if I—or one of the others—isn’t within the Hallow.”
My lips stutter over the words.
“Done,” he whispers, and I feel the vow grab hold of me.
“On one condition,” I add.
Thiago goes still.
“Promise me thrice that if you’re the first to reach her and everything is going badly, then you will do the same.”
His jaw tightens.
But he gives me his oath, and then we both lean against each other.
“It’s time,” Eris says behind us.
I break away from him, breathing hard. It’s done. No matter what happens, Amaya will be safe.
Thiago tugs on the gauntlet that will conceal his powers. It makes his magic a mere whisper, and I can barely feel him through the bond we share, but his powers brew within him, and the second he needs to unleash his full strength, he can.
“Are we all ready?” Thiago calls.
“To serve the Darkness, I am ready,” Finn replies.
“To serve the Darkness,” Eris says with a nod.
“To serve
