CHAPTER 75

Faye shielded her eyes as a cold gust of wind whipped her hair. She blinked, gazing over her new surroundings. The morning was too new to warm the rocky cliffside. A dense sea of trees stretched over the acres beneath it.

She stood with Rune in an overgrown field, and at the center of it was a simple stone altar. It was familiar, as though she'd been here before, but there was no comfort in the feeling. Faye took a step back. Everything in her urged her to run. Her heart raced as her apprehension steadily grew.

"Are you well?" Rune stood close, not touching her as he studied her face.

Faye nodded, forcing herself to take a step toward the altar. Fear prickled her skin, like she approached some great sleeping beast and expected to be devoured.

"I don't like how this place feels," Faye said, forcing another step toward the altar.

"How do you mean?" Rune moved with her, remaining at her side.

Her breaths came faster as she drew closer. Dread fell over her in a net, suffocating her. She kicked a dead shrub from the altar's base.

A link protruded from the altar's foundation.

"There were chains here." She knew this with certainty, could feel it.

Rune waved his hand, and all at once, the debris and brush were cleared from the altar. There were words carved in it, the deep grooves visible but too worn to read. The stones seemed to hum with energy, and Faye tentatively stretched out her hand, gasping as her fingertips crossed over the foundation's threshold.

For the first time in her life, Faye felt power.

There was no strain to feel it, no effort. It was there, and this altar pulsed with it.

Faye perceived the ripples of raw energy as she moved her fingers. She glanced back at Rune and asked, "Did your alter radiate power when you invoked your blood?"

Rune tensed and pulled her hand away. "Altars serve as a gateway for a connection to the Darkness. The altar itself holds no power." He opened his hand as she had, remaining still for several heartbeats. "I do not feel anything. Your strength is immense, you may be feeling the power that awaits you."

"This power is mine, so it can't hurt me," Faye spoke the self-soothing words before glancing up at Rune. "If I summon something, you'll protect me."

"I would burn the realms for you."

Faye turned toward him and was met with a solemn expression. The man was serious. She crinkled her brow and said, "No. We don't burn realms."

The corner of his mouth lifted as he inclined his head. "As you command."

Faye clutched the white box her sister had given her. Moments passed and she couldn't shake the feeling of dread that gnawed at her.

"This does not need to be completed today," Rune said. "I could research the area. Chains at an altar is disconcerting."

This is my power, and it can't hurt me.

With a final deep breath, Faye stepped onto the foundation. Power hummed through the altar and its foundation, licking up her skin.

To welcome or consume her? She didn't know.

Her eyes narrowed with determination.This is my power, and it can't hurt me.

Faye poured the soul shards over the altar. Taking the knife, she cut her hand, letting her blood pool at the center of her palm.

It can't hurt me.

This power is mine.

Faye turned her hand. Her blood splashed against the altar, pouring over the shards.

Her blood hissed and boiled.

This was wrong.

Before she could step off the altar, Faye sucked a sharp breath. Her spine bowed, rigid. She couldn't breathe. A rushing force far below her charged upward. It slammed into her body, stealing her breath. Her shirt pulled painfully tight before it gave.

Everything faded to black except the altar. The ground became the Darkness. The black mist churned, coiling into itself, lit by the glow of the purple tendrils. Thunder boomed and in a cascade of lightning the sky opened above her. Red and angry.

She perceived something from above. Falling.

Power crashed over her. Pain beyond her imagination wracked her.

Sharp, acute. Tearing.

Something inside her gave, breaking. The sound of shattering glass filled her ears.

A scream ripped from her throat as raw power plummeted, crashing over her.

One after the other.

Then the void came.

"Morbid!" Rune bellowed through the Familiar King's twisting mansion.

Panicked fear knifed through Rune's mind as the Ra'Voshnik wailed, forming no intelligible words. He shook uncontrollably, clutching Faye to his chest. Her body hung limp in his arms. Strands of her hair pulled across her too-still face as her head lobbed to one side. The vacant stare of her lightning-streaked midnight eyes threatened to shatter his sanity.

"Morbid!"

An invisible force strangled his yell silent. He was slammed into the wall behind him, knocking the breath from him. The crushing pressure on his throat continued, pinning him a few feet off the ground. Phantom hands held him captive. One gripped across his face, covering his mouth as others held his wrists and pressed his chest to the wall.

Faye floated in place. Her clothing and hair drifted around her as though she were submerged in deep water. Her iridescent wings opened behind her, their clawed tips nearly scraping the floor

Rune turned inward, frantic to well power, intent on breaking whatever kept him from his queen.

Morbid appeared next to Faye. His voice as ominous as the ever-present storm clouds over his realm. "Do not come into my home, raising your voice and frightening my wife."

And do not challenge me, Shadow Prince.

Rune jerked as Morbid brushed against his core, the innermost part of his mind housing his power. Impossible. His shields were intact. But Morbid moved through his mind— Through his mental barriers, before leaving.

"I will overlook your outburst since you're afraid for your woman." Morbid held his hand over Faye's chest. A thick black cord extended out of Morbid's hand.

A tendril. Rune blinked. Only females had tendrils. Morbid was many things, but female was not among them.

The cord unraveled, opening into a multitude of threads, which moved over and passed into Faye's body.

Bring her back to us. Please, the Ra'Voshnik pleaded.

"Are you finished scaring my wife?" Morbid asked as he continued his work.

The moment Rune nodded the hands released him. He approached Faye and Morbid, studying the strands. There were more than a hundred of them, all moving independently. "You have a tendril."

Morbid looked up at Rune and smiled. "I'll just say you were drunk. Who would believe you?"

"How?"

Morbid winked at him and returned his attention to Faye before saying, "You have your secrets, Shadow Prince. I have mine."

Rune caressed Faye's cheek, his hands tremoring with relief. "What happened to her?"

"She fought," Morbid said as he withdrew his tendril, drawing it back into his hand.

"Fought what?" Rune adjusted his stance as Faye's body floated toward him and gently cradled her to his chest.

Morbid turned, walking away. "Ask her when she wakes, Prince."

"What are these?" Rune called after Morbid, floating a folded handkerchief from his pocket.

"Her shards," Morbid answered without turning.

Rune lowered his gaze to the frail beauty in his arms. She leaned into him. Her eyes closed in sleep. They would have much to talk about when she woke. Her strange soul shards being the first subject.

Rune phased back to Anaria, materializing on the road before Faye's cottage. A flicker of his mind opened her front door, and Sparrow met him as he stepped into their home.

"Faye?" Sparrow shook her sister's shoulder.

Rune stepped around the little blonde noting Vashien at the table. "She invoked her blood and was injured. Morbid healed her. She needs rest."

Sparrow trailed behind him as he took Faye to her room. He hesitated at her bed. "Vashien." The large male stepped into the room. "I do not possess wings. Does it pain you to sleep on them?"

"Lay her on her stomach or her side and spread her wings out," Vashien said.

Rune adjusted her in his arms and laid her on her side. Faye's eyebrows came down for a moment, but she didn't wake. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"Get away from her," Sparrow growled, shoving at his side, and stepping in front of him.

Rune relinquished his position and stood at the end of the bed while Sparrow took another pillow. She lifted Faye's arm, tucking it to her chest. His night breeze sighed, clutching it closer in her sleep.

Sparrow pulled the blanket over Faye, covering her to her chin. She turned and stopped short. "You can leave now fang boy."

Rune inclined his head at her. "I would ask to stay and help care for her."

Sparrow's mouth spread in a toothy grin. "She doesn't want you. Go the fuck away."

"Please."

Sparrow narrowed her green eyes at him. "Kneel and ask again."

Cold, furious anger rose in him. Rune choked it back, as the Ra'Voshnik circled his mind, seeking violence. Vicious and brutal. If the blonde harpy wanted him to debase himself, so be it. Holding Sparrow's gaze, he lowered himself to one knee.

"Stop!" Sparrow held her hands out at him, looking away. Acting as though he did something repulsive. "Darkness, I thought you were going to call me a bitch and go away."

Rune stood once more as Sparrow took a sideward glance at him. The blonde harpy shivered dramatically before turning to face him again.

"You can stay. But if you make her cry again, I swear to the Darkness, I will cut your balls off and feed them to you." Sparrow jabbed him in the chest with two fingers as she walked past him, exiting the room. "And you're not sleeping in her bed," Sparrow called from the hallway.

Rune's gaze fell to Vashien who somehow looked both relieved and terrified. "Is she always like this?"

The large male looked apologetic. "Yeah."

"Harpy," Rune called into the hall.

"Did this motherfucker just call me—"

Sparrow fell silent, her eyes locked on the talisman Rune held out. Her gaze lifted to his as she swiped the obsidian talisman from his palm. She pointed at him. "I'm amending my statement, shadow dick. You make her cry, and I'm still chopping off your nuts. Then I'm going to have the chefs at Obsidian cook them before I shove them down your throat." She wiggled the talisman between her fingers before ducking out of his view.

Rune glanced at Vashien once more. "She has a colorful way of speaking."