Chapter 3
DAEMON
The girl’s magic had tasted like wildfire and starlight.
Even now, with her unconscious form draped across Thane’s massive shoulder, I could feel the echo of her power singing in my blood.
It called to the shadows that lived beneath my skin, recognizing something kindred in the darkness I carried.
Twenty-eight years I’d walked this realm, and I’d never felt anything like the raw force that had exploded from her in that chamber.
Before we deciphered what that meant for our plans, we had to make sure the children were safe. Two sat on Kael’s left forearm, which he held close to his stomach. The other two were in my arms. The torment Thaddeus had put them through had rendered them silent. Only their eyes screamed fear.
She was everything the prophecy had promised.
And that terrified me more than facing down an army.
“Passage is clear,” Kael murmured from ahead, his twin daggers still wet with blood.
My oldest friend and teacher moved like smoke through the tunnel’s darkness, checking every corner, every shadow that might hide an enemy.
Fifteen years of running missions together had taught us to communicate without words, a tilt of his head meant guards ahead, a raised fist meant stop, a gesture toward his belt meant someone needed to die quietly.
His relaxed shoulders told me we were safe.
For the moment.
“How much farther?” Thane asked, adjusting the girl’s weight with surprising gentleness for someone who could crush skulls with his bare hands. She’d fought us in the chamber, even drugged and weak, clawing at his face and trying to bite when he’d lifted her.
“Feisty little thing,” he rumbled with what might have been approval. “Thought she was going to take a chunk out of my throat.”
“Two more turns,” I replied, letting my shadows scout ahead.
They slipped through cracks in the stone, tasting the air for threats, finding nothing but rats and decay.
These passages had been forgotten for decades, built by paranoid kings who feared their own people enough to riddle their strongholds with escape routes.
Ironic that those same tunnels would be used to steal away their greatest weapon.
Zephyr moved behind us, fingers dancing through the air as his wind magic erased every trace of our passage.
Scents, sounds, even the warmth our bodies left behind, all of it swept clean as if we’d never existed.
Though the boy was proficient with a crossbow, he was an artist with his power, turning something as simple as moving air into magic that could fool even the most talented trackers.
“What do we do?” he asked softly, his voice carrying that faint accent from the eastern provinces. “We didn’t prepare for four children with the target.”
“She’s bleeding through the bandages,” Zephyr added, his pale eyes cataloging every injury as we moved. “The iron burns are infected, and those targeting sigils they carved into her skin need proper tending. Not to mention whatever poison they used to keep her compliant.”
I’d seen the marks when we cut her free, angry red welts where the metal had pressed against flesh, symbols burned into her arms and back with magical ink that still smoked.
The king’s mages had treated her like parchment to be written on, not caring what permanent damage they inflicted in the process.
“She’ll live,” I said, because anything else wasn’t acceptable. Not when we’d come this far. Not when she was the key to everything.
“Will she?” Thane’s voice carried doubt that matched my own. “Will we? That wasn’t normal magic back there, Daemon. What came out of her… it was power like we’ve never seen before.”
He wasn’t wrong. The power I’d felt radiating from her in those final moments was more dangerous than my entire team and I would ever be.
Veil-touched magic. The kind that had been hunted to extinction for good reason.
“The prophecy was specific,” I said, though the words felt like ash in my mouth. “The last daughter of the lost bloodline would awaken when the realm stood on the edge of ruin. Her power would either save the kingdom… or destroy it entirely.”
“And which do you think it’ll be?” Kael asked from the darkness ahead, never breaking stride but somehow managing to inject dry humor into the question. “Because based on what I just saw, I’m leaning toward the apocalyptic option.”
“Destroy,” Zephyr said. “Definitely destroy.”
“Cheerful,” Thane muttered. “Remind me why we’re helping to end the world again?”
“Because the alternative is letting my father continue his genocidal reign,” I replied. “If his tyranny isn’t stopped, we’ll be left with a world better off destroyed.”
We emerged from the tunnels into a night that felt clean after the oppressive weight of Blackstone Keep.
Stars wheeled overhead, cold and distant, while the forest around us whispered with sounds that had nothing to do with wind through leaves.
The Nightwood was close, I could smell it in the air, that distinctive scent of old magic and older secrets.
Our horses waited where we’d left them, hobbled but ready.
I’d chosen this clearing specifically because it sat at the boundary between the civilized world and the places where civilization went to die.
Close enough to the keep for a quick escape, far enough into the wildlands that ordinary soldiers wouldn’t follow.
Blackstone Keep had been built here because of the Nightwood. Those who escaped rarely survived long in these parts, but my team and I had survived much worse. We would be fine.
“Build a fire,” I told Zephyr as Thane lowered the girl onto a bed of soft moss. “A small one. Just enough to see by.”
“What about pursuit?” Zephyr asked, already pulling medical supplies from his pack. The boy thought like a healer first, strategist second, which was exactly why I’d brought him. Someone had to keep the rest of us breathing.
“There won’t be any. Not tonight.” I was certain of that much.
The king would be too busy dealing with the aftermath of our raid to mount an immediate pursuit.
Half his mages were dead, his primary weapon had been stolen, and his precious throne room was probably still smoldering from the magical backlash.
Besides, Aeron Thorne was a coward at heart. He’d wait for daylight and reinforcements before venturing into lands where his authority meant less than nothing.
Kael had already scouted the perimeter and returned with a shake of his head, no immediate threats. His pale eyes found mine across the clearing, and I caught the slight tension in his shoulders that meant he had something to report.
“The girl’s not the only one bleeding,” he said quietly, moving close enough that the others wouldn’t overhear. “Your glove is dripping blood. When did that start?”
I pulled off the glove and found it soaked through, my hand aching, black blotches festering across my skin.
The curse was accelerating, I could feel it in the cold that had settled into my bones, in the way my shadows moved with less precision than usual.
Her magical explosion had somehow catalyzed the process, draining more life force from me than I could afford to lose.
“It’s manageable,” I said.
“For how long?”
Before I could answer, Zephyr’s small fire crackled to life, casting dancing shadows that my magic instinctively tried to merge with. I forced the power back down, unwilling to risk waking our guest with shadows that moved wrong.
“Long enough,” I said finally. “We have more important concerns at the moment. We need to get these children to safety before we move forward.”
Kael’s expression said he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t press. We’d known each other too long for him to miss the signs of approaching death, but he also knew better than to waste time on problems that couldn’t be solved with blades and cunning.
“Thane and I will bring them to the safehouse,” Kael said. “We’ll have them returned to their parents as soon as we can. This complicates things. Moving through the Nightwood with our manpower cut in half is going to be a struggle.”
“Also, I have a feeling this one won’t be very sympathetic to our cause. She’s definitely going to fight.” Kael’s eyes filled with concern.
Of course she would. I’d have been disappointed if she hadn’t. We needed someone who wouldn’t give in to what was coming. If she surrendered easily, we’d have no chance.
Thane prodded the flames with a stick, his massive frame surprisingly gentle as he worked. “Speaking of fighting, what’s the plan when she wakes up? Because that’s going to be a conversation I’d rather not have without proper preparation.”
“We tell her the truth,” I said. “Most of it, anyway.”
“Which parts are we leaving out?” Zephyr asked, settling cross-legged beside the fire. At nineteen, he was the youngest of us, but his magic had saved our lives more times than I could count. He had a way of asking uncomfortable questions with perfect innocence.
“The parts that would make her run screaming into the forest,” Kael said dryly. “So basically everything interesting.”
“Let her,” I said, lowering myself beside the fire. “Fighting means she’s not broken. We need her strong for what’s coming.”
Thane snorted. “Strong enough to tear reality apart, you mean. Because that’s what the prophecy says, isn’t it?”
“Enough.” I let my voice sharpen. “At this point, we’re only speculating, and that doesn’t help.
This is the new plan. Kael and Thane will bring the children to the safehouse.
Zephyr, I want you watching our backs. The king will surely send his hunters after us.
Do not engage. Though they’re filth, they’re an elite force.
Track their movements and follow at a distance.
Meet up with Kael and Thane on their return, then regroup with us at the designated location. ”