Page 243 of The Edge of Darkness

I was panting, eyes wide, blinking as I listened to what he was saying. Niall’s mouth was moving, but all I could hear was Lyceius’s voice.

I will be at The Stones, waiting.

As quick as it came, his voice was gone, and the pain disappeared, leaving a dull throb in its place.

“Auren? Talk to me! Can you hear me?” Niall was frantic, grasping onto my shoulders as he searched my eyes and fought for my attention.

I sucked in a sharp breath and jolted out of my stupor. “He said he wants to meet. He has terms to offer.”

Niall glanced up, briefly meeting Roirdan’s stare with a look that said this was probably a dangerously bad idea.

His eyes darkened as he lowered them back to me. “Where?”

“Gabbath. The Stones.”

Around us, everyone watched, shifting uneasily on their feet.

“Are you all right?” he asked, cupping my cheek with his hand.

“I’ll be fine.” I drilled my fingers into my temples, wanting to rub out the lingering evidence of the fallen god. “What do we do?”

His jaw shifted as he contemplated our next move. “I thought we’d have more time . . .”

Roirdan stepped up to our sides, arms crossed, ready to hash through options and strategies. “Half the armies aren’t even here yet. Did we miscalculate?”

“No.” Niall shook his head. “He’s doing this to throw us off. And if he’s offering terms . . .”

A nervous twinge spun through my gut. “You know that his only terms are going to be that I surrender myself, and that you all bend the knee.”

“I didn’t say we’d go there to meet his terms. We’ll go there to feel him out.”

“And if things go wrong?”

“He cannot cross The Veil. As long as none of us cross, he cannot touch us. Now, Skadi is a different story. But as far as how we handle them . . . we stick to the original plan. If we don’t go, they will see it as weakness, and we run the risk of them attacking sooner. At least if we show up, there’s a chance we might prolong the inevitable and give the other territories time to get here.”

No one objected.

“I want every High Lord there,” he added, looking at Laurent, Fallon, and Vanir. “A show of force. Aremis, Roirdan, Maeson, you’re on me. Remic, Silas, and Nivelle, stay close to Auren. Morah, take whatever steps need to be taken on behalf of your brother to ensure Benmoor gets here in time.”

“At your command,” she said, before turning to her brother and placing a hand on his arm.

He shifted his pale eyes in her direction. “Get everyone here. Rally them.”

“I will.” With one last look at the rest of us, she ported.

Those that were left stepped closer, filling the empty space around the table.

“When do we go?” I asked, steeling myself for the answer I knew was coming.

Niall took my hand in his. “Now.”

The sun hung low in the sky, casting out a blanket of fire over the horizon and bathing the stone steps in a wash of orange.

The eleven of us emerged from the mountain pass where the statues of Calledan’s founding brothers stood immortalized in stone.

What was about to occur was unprecedented. Never in any of the previous wars had the fallen god offered terms. Perhaps this time was different because I was here. I was the real threat—the thing he wanted the most. And perhaps he was truly worried about what I was capable of.

We descended the steps and approached the wall of iridescence that rose from the dirt. The Veil. On the other side, a group of figures were waiting.