Page 246

Lunara swallowed, missing their bond more than ever. He was right there, and she had no idea. Just like when he was taken. Gone from her, but not even that far away. Not anywhere they hadn’t already been together and she had no idea.

Soon. He’ll open it again soon. He’ll let you in soon. He’ll be ready soon. It’s fine. You’re fine.

Assuming it was there at all. That he had any say in the matter. That it wasn’t broken forever.

She crept closer, tiptoeing despite there being no way for him to know she was there. The back of Brand’s head appeared first, his hair finally skimming the crook between neck and shoulder, followed by the bulk of his shirtless torso. He was sitting in the middle of a worn and dusty game trail, so still that she almost wrenched herself from the ether to make sure he was alive.

The only thing that stopped her was the lightest snuffling sound beyond him, and she craned her neck. A scrawny excuse for an orb fox was staring back at him with a wary look in the glowing eyes it was named for—or, rather, staring at whatever Brand was trying to offer to it.

Well, you did say he should do whatever he believed would be best for himself. It doesn’t get much simpler than sitting with forest animals.

Lunara knew she should go before she did anything to ruin the moment, but…

Sisters save her, she couldn’t help herself. Careful to gather the tiniest bit of magic, a speck really, she sent out a single thread to search for his heartbeat. To hear the fierce pound a couple times before she left.

It was slow. Regular. More relaxed than she’d heard in an age. Maybe ever.

Go on, then, ninny. Leave him be. You promised.

Right.

With her own heart clenching somewhere between ill and elated, Lunara leapt back through the ether and straight into her likeness, turning shining eyes on Fern.

Soon. If Brand kept that up, it would be soon.

Lunara’s fang wiggled loose and fell, landing like a boulder on the obsidian floor of the Hollow.

Blood poured from the wound, chasing it, a sea of crimson waves, and the shimmering black stone guzzled it down. Greedy. Insatiable. The other fang went next. Then her front teeth, top and bottom. Her molars, one by one. Until her mouth was an endless, gushing void, locked open in a scream that wouldn’t end.

The Hollow spun, more than five hundred stares whirling around her. Their gazes were mocking and vacant at once. To her face, they pointed and laughed. When she turned away, they raised blades to her back. ‘Round and ‘round like that, until the blur of them was an angry snake ready to strike.

Its head snapped down, and Lunara was devoured whole. Through the darkness, she rode the ribs of the beast, swooping side to side. When its tail whipped towards the sky, it sent her hurtling through the Unknown, burning, heavy, too fast towards a familiar edge.

Lunara landed against it with a thud, the air slammed from her lungs as bare feet sank into diamond rock. Below, the falls roared her name. They beckoned her to the depths. Spoke sweetly of the Veil that would save her. Save all of them. Save him.

The only thing that mattered was him.

A whisper in her recesses screamed against that lie. Ran gentle hands through the cold sweat on her brow. Laid sweet lips to the poison in her veins.

A monster. She was a monster.

And how could a monster ever matter?

Just one step and the water would hold her. Cradle her body the way she deserved. Feed its fluid fingers into mouth, nose, and lungs. Just one step. One step. One step.

But the heat at her back kept her planted. It yearned in the same way that she did.

Why, then, was it dark when she whipped around to claim it? Why was it cold when she sought its warmth with her sight? Why did it taste of nothing on the longing tip of her tongue?

Forgive me! she screamed, hoping the abyss would carry her pleas.

It didn’t, though, and she made the mistake of looking down.

Down at that one fang on the ground.

The other fang went next.

Then her front teeth, top and bottom.