Chapter twelve
Fallyn
What in the name of the gods?
That screech again just on the other side of that wall shook me out of my reverie, signaling how much time I’d wasted.
This was it. I could hear the demon scratching at the wall with the same finality as fate itself, the same as I did to get in here.
I searched for anything to use as a weapon—the dagger in that male’s heart.
My very soul reacted violently against the idea of touching that thing.
Even the frothing shadows around it seemed to hiss in warning.
Rocks trembled and fell. I was defenseless and nearly out of time.
I eyed the dagger hard before throwing caution aside.
I took a deep breath, rationalizing that I was out of any other options. I reached for it—
The moment my fingers made contact, black sparks of electricity shot at me, driving me painfully away with a surprised yelp. I tried once more; the force of whatever spell was in place nearly sent me flying backwards. Well, that settled that issue; the dagger wasn’t an option.
Panicked, I searched the room, but found no other openings, no loose rocks, no foot holds. There was no way out. I truly had no weapons. I lamented the dagger lost to the spider's silk, my father's dagger, and the sword. My magic was waning and far from helpful here.
I was well and truly fucked. I fell towards the back of the room as far away from where the demon hacked at the entrance, the shadows welcoming me like the touch of a blanket. All I could do was wait as the terror rose up and grasped at me with clawed hands, leaving no part of me unscathed.
“Fallyn…” Its foreboding voice from the other side of the wall was the perfect split of a hiss and whisper. “I found you!”
I did the only thing I could do.
I screamed. And I cried.
I waited for the giant spider monster to rip me apart and devour whatever was left of me. What a wretched fate. And it was my own fault.
“Gods, if you’re up there, I could use some help.
” I prayed, truly prayed, for the first time since my mother met her dismal, fiery end.
To the gods, the Fates, anyone who might be listening.
Even Hades below would hear my mournful cry for help.
A fitful, deranged laugh fell from my lips.
At least I could say I’m not marrying that retch of a prince.
And at least the male that haunted my nightmares wasn't going to get the satisfaction of ending me.
I had wished for a way out only this morning, the reminder sizzled on my mind.
Perhaps this was the gods answering my prayer in retribution rather than good faith for my lack of believing in them all these years.
Tears poured down my face as I watched the creature’s face grin maniacally at me from the newly formed hole in the wall.
The air pulsed around me, followed by tension so thick it was hard to breathe.
Even the creature on the other side of the thinning wall stopped.
Another pulse echoed around the room, like that of a heartbeat.
MY eyes tracked to the male skewered by the dagger.
A breeze from only the gods knew where circled the him, ruffling the raven hair off of his forehead.
But that wasn’t the most noteworthy thing. My mouth parted on a shriek.
The male’s eyes were open.
Everything from the moment of the earthquake to the tolling of the bell until this moment was fast, a blur in my mind.
This moment came slowly, foreboding omens and inevitability colliding in a landslide that threatened to topple me.
I balked at it, time slowing down enough for me to process the pandemonium before it sped up against my will, rushing up to savagely greet me all at once.
His eyes were open.
And his head was raised.
How were his eyes open? I gawked, trying to understand, trying to find reason in the madness.
But he craned his head to appraise me from where he lay in the center of the room.
His gold-flecked gaze pinned me to my place, the heaviness, the sheer gravity of it.
Like golden stars on a blanket of night. I couldn’t move even if I’d wanted to.
“You.” His deep voice filled the space between the shadows. “Step into the light.” Not a request. A command.
I stared mutely at him, intentionally not obeying.
His features were now cast half in shadow as he turned his head to me, bringing to mind the male from my nightmares, freezing me in my tracks.
Another shriek from the demon alerted me that it had resumed its efforts to get to me and was finally making headway.
I still didn’t move, resulting in a chuckle from whoever was swathed in darkness ahead of me.
“Into the light,” he repeated. The command of someone used to getting his way.
I numbly stood up, taking a step into the waning daylight.
“What’s the matter, little shadow? You don’t look so good.
Like a bug caught in a web.” I glared at him, his assessment far too accurate for my liking.
And he knew it, if his deep throated chuckle were anything to go by.
He looked over at the spider breaking into this place as if he’d only just noticed, and then looked back at me with a strange calm and a raised brow. “Do you want to live?”
What kind of question was that? His casual tone stunned me, as if he weren’t currently in danger too. Though as I eyed the dagger in his chest, there was something strange about him even aside from that. Maybe he wasn’t in danger.
“Yes,” I breathed. I just want to be safe.
“Then I need you to free me.” He indicated the dagger in his chest as if it were merely a simple obstacle in his way.
As if it weren’t impaled through his heart and into the stone behind him.
As if that probably wasn’t the most painful thing he’d endured, which was also on some level cause for alarm. “I can’t touch it.”
Earlier taught me neither could I, but he’d just come out of a death-like sleep, so what did I know?
I looked closer at the dagger. A golden hilt with a black, curved blade that absorbed the light in the room.
On the hilt were scrawlings I hadn’t noticed earlier, in an old, very angry language.
Very dark. And something I’d seen before.
From previous things that had been born from the chasm.
From the warnings of the new god’s temples.
The language of the Morningstar’s Hell.
“Who are you?” I peered at him and the seal with distrust. “What are you?”
“Does it really matter?” His eyes flicked to my ruined arm.
“Your arm is about to melt off, and the rest of you is about to follow suit if you don’t pull this dagger.
" At his mention, the burn in my arm flared white hot, snapping my attention to it. I grit my teeth against it, bracing myself against it. My eyes flit between him and the spider monster. I could see it through a tiny crack, watching. Waiting. Gleeful in its triumph. "So, what’s it going to be?”
“Why does it feel like I’m making a deal with the Morningstar himself?” My voice was measured, weighted, despite the tension constricting my throat. I didn’t like how his grin turned riotous. Borderline manic.
Excited chittering alerted me that the demon was moments away from breaking through.
“Fallyn…” Its monotone voice was the cold splash of fear I’d needed.
I looked at the male before me pleadingly. “You’ll not harm me?”
His widening grin was nothing short of depraved.
“Not in a way you’ll dislike.” His response didn’t make me feel any better.
Trepidation made my limbs grow heavy and my heart feel light as it thundered in my chest, the rushing of blood in my ears prevailing against all other sounds, even my own thoughts.
But I was out of time and options. “You have my word that if you free me, you will live. Is that good enough, little shadow?”
My head spun so fast, it swam as rocks exploded and the thing finally burst forth into the room.
I rushed. Digging my heels in hard, I resisted the push of the spell that had sent sparks flying at my touch, much weaker now that he was awake, and I grabbed the dagger and pulled with everything I had at the same time the spider lurched at me.
Light and shadows swirled together before pulsing once and exploding. I flew backwards, pain sparking and igniting everywhere my body collided with the stone wall, the dagger still in my hand.
A deep chuckle sounded that had me holding to the dagger like a lifeline and retreating as far from either entity as possible.
The male stepped between me and the spider, who took a step back in caution.
The burning at my shoulder was finally beginning to win.
I slumped, my knees hitting the rock below hard with a crunch.
My vision blurred, making the fight before me abstractly nightmarish.
I fought to see, scanning the details I could see.
I screamed weakly as his face sank in—no.
Only half. Half of his face turned ghostly.
Spectral features blending seamlessly with the skeletal, beauty with horror, showing once and for all that he was other.
Or, with how fuzzy everything was getting, I’m hallucinating.
The spider’s response was immediate, locking onto this new threat. All of its eyes widened, and it began retreating with the same tenacity it had to get in here.
I watched as long black claws erupted from the male’s fingers, so black it looked like they’d been dipped in ink, all the way to his elbows. Shadows continued to writhe around him, resembling black, shivering flame.
My consciousness was fading fast, now along with the feeling in my arm. A blood circling scream rang out in my hollow ears, followed by the wet, squelching sound of blood and a heavy thud. The spider was dead, just as the male had promised. Unfortunately, I feared I would be too.