Page 112 of The Edge of Darkness

Niall looked particularly concerned. “You all right?”

“Got lost there for a moment,” I said, unsure of how long I’d been swept up in my thoughts.

“It is only natural to wonder about that which we do not know,” the wraith mused. “But if I may offer some advice . . . Do not let your worries consume you. They are often far more detrimental than the things we anticipate.”

Easier said than done.

Auren didn’t seem to be finding peace of mind in any of this. I managed to offer her what I knew was a pathetically sad smile, if only to ease us both away from the depths of despair.

It didn’t convince her.

“We should get back,” Niall said. “Storms will be here soon.”

I nodded.

“Witch.” The wraith reached out and grabbed onto Nivelle’s arm, something like desperation in her eyes. “Please, if your goddess ever returns home, tell her to take me back with her. I wish to roam free once more.”

Nivelle glanced at the wraith’s hand and the whitening of her knuckles as she held on. “And what makes you think she would go back?”

“If Skadi has come for her amulet, then she has also come for revenge. And when war blooms here, there is no guarantee that anyone—wraith, human, or fae—will be safe. If Torin flees again, do not forget about me.”

“She wouldn’t leave our world to suffer the same fate,” Auren said.

Auren always saw the best in everyone. She even gave those she didn’t know a chance to prove themselves. I admired her greatly for that. But from what I’d gathered out of this entire encounter, there were things about Torin that even her own witches weren’t privy to. There was a reason they respected, yet feared her. Whether or not that meant she had something to hide, I did not know. But if she did have something to hide, then no one knew what she was truly capable of.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Nivelle murmured to Auren in response. She raised her eyes to the wraith. “But regardless, I will not forget you.”

The creature nodded slowly, letting go of her arm and latching, instead, onto the promise in the witch’s words.

If I were in her position, I would probably be just as eager to step out into the world again too. To feel the wind on my face and see the stars in the night sky. Even if I were the last of my kind, it would be of some solace to my lone existence to live out the rest of my days where I could be free.

It seemed the wraith and I were more alike than I cared to admit.

“Thank you for what you’ve given us today,” I said. Wraith or not, foreign being or not, what she had told us was information we might have otherwise never known.

Niall reached into his pocket in space, and to everyone’s surprise, he withdrew a glass-paned lantern. He held it up in front of him and opened the hinged panel. We all watched as a cloud of shadows gathered in his palm and wafted into the lantern. Darkness pressed against all sides of the glass until the space was filled, and the door was latched shut.

“It’s all I can offer at this time,” he said, staring at the lantern. “Not an ideal vessel for it, but it’s what I have on hand.” He extended it to the wraith, whose eyes widened in shock.

She took the object, her pale, veiny hands gripping it like it was a treasure chest containing the most precious of gems. When she met his eyes, something like respect and admiration reflected in them. Her voice wobbled as she said, “You are a gracious lord. I am forever grateful.”

“Don’t use it all in one bout,” he said, offering her a grin.

She clutched the precious vessel to her heart. It would probably never leave her sight until she’d fed on every last bit of the shadows.

Then, she held up her hand. “Wait! There is something you should know. The witch who died trying to release the Aether . . . she befriended a wraith, and a fae female, not long after we arrived here, back when the witches dwelled in these lands with the fae for a brief time. The fae was a healer, and the witch was known for testing the limits of her magic. I remember the three of them keeping close tabs on a book. It was with them wherever they went, and they were always scribbling notes in it. I am not saying the answers you seek for the unbinding spell are in there, but perhaps it could point you in the right direction.”

“Where is this book?” Niall asked.

The wraith hesitated. “I do not know. It was last seen in the hands of the fae female after their group was . . . separated.”

“Separated?”

“The wraith had spent so much of her time with the fae and the witch, that when the witch died in the process of unleashing the Aether, the wraith’s clan became fearful that perhaps the curse had latched onto the wraith and cursed her as well. Out of fear, they . . . sacrificed her.”

“That’s terrible,” Auren said.

The wraith nodded. “It was the beginning of internal strife between what was left of our kind. I know nothing of what happened to that fae female, but she lived in these mountains. If she retained the book, it could be nearby as well.”