Page 118 of The Edge of Darkness

“With all due respect, High Lord, you have never been forced to flee your home and abandon everything you know. I may have escaped Skotos and made it here alive, but my entire existence had been called into question, and I had nothing but my guilt. I needed a purpose, and Aleris gave me just that. In the many years that I have served here, I have seen more than you could imagine. I have learned of things before they came to pass, and most importantly, I have found a way to redeem myself, at least in my own eyes. By performing the task that was bestowed upon me, I have saved lives, prevented wars, and given myself something I didn’t think I would be able to . . .”

“What’s that?”

“Grace.”

I looked up, wishing I could see him, or at least pinpoint his general location. “I think you are worthy of grace and respect, Eathril.”

“You are not mad that I’ve known all of this and never told you?”

“It was not your place to. And the timing wouldn’t have been right. Not until now.”

He remained quiet, but I knew he was content.

“The wraith, Sahren . . . does she know your entire story?”

“Not the part where I killed the god-king.”

I nodded, processing. “Do you know of her sacred pool?”

“I do. I happened to come across Sahren again many years after Aleris made me a part of this territory’s court. I was scouring the lands, seeking the whereabouts of a few missing prisoners, when I discovered the cave system she had been dwelling in. As it turned out, she had seen me when we came to this world with Torin, but I had vanished right after, and she never mentioned it to anyone else.

“When I found her, she was the only remaining wraith out of all that had come here. I thought all the wraiths had long-since died without having access to their source of energy and life, but she had discovered the spring’s water, and used it to sustain herself. She would offer me sips of it, but I never needed it to survive. My form does not manifest here. In this world, I am nothing but the breath of a shadow—everywhere and nowhere.”

“Would you take on a form if you were back on Skotos?”

“Yes . . .”

I let out an amused laugh, trying to picture what he might look like if given a physical form. “Indulge me.”

“My Lord?”

“In your physical form, what do you look like? Do you resemble a fae? A human? Or do you take on some other strange, monstrous form?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said, smiling through his words.

I smirked back and shook my head. “Guess it’s better left to the imagination.”

His deep, throaty laugh echoed through the trees.

Silence crept back in, reminding me of the topic at hand. The weapon that now sat across my lap seemed to look up at me with an unrelenting stare. “It is said that Gavrin was the one who found this weapon and gave it to his son Evander. Is that true?”

“Yes. Gavrin was a particularly curious Lord, always exploring, always monitoring his land for threats. That was one of the reasons Karios chose him and this court to protect the talisman of Lyceius. He was level-headed and righteous, with a warrior’s spirit and a kind heart. His son was much the same, except for the dark power that he was born with.”

“Ah yes, the dark power. It’s about time we get to that.” I lifted Erebus’s sword—my sword—and stared at my reflection in the blackened blade. Then I took the weapon and stabbed its tip into the wet earth. It wobbled beside me as I sank back against the tree and folded my arms over my chest. “The wraith told me she suspected my power came from Erebus, but she doesn’t know how that could be possible.”

“Mmm.” Eathril’s voice shifted, as if he, too, had to reposition himself. As if repositioning helped us think better. “That is something that has bothered me greatly ever since Evander’s birth.”

“So you know nothing of how the power came to be in him?”

“I’m afraid it is the one thing I do not have an answer for.”

Well, fuck.

“However, I can offer you a theory.”

I glanced up into the trees again. “I like theories.”

“My theory is that after Torin brought Erebus’s amulet here, she used it.”