Page 262 of The Edge of Darkness

A cù-sìth.

Shaggy, black fur lined its muscular limbs. The long, crinkly mane that grew around its face and neck was thicker than the animal I’d seen in the highlands. It pawed at the ground anxiously, its perfectly sharpened claws ripping through moss and vines, waiting for the shadow to make its move. When it did, the cù-sìth launched, becoming a blur of black. Giant paws swung, and this time, they made contact with the creature. Darkness was ripped away from the shadow’s form like flesh from a mortal body, and the entity let out an ear-splitting screech. It whirled on the cù-sìth, swiping its talons with fury.

They traded blows, colliding in a mass of claws and chaos.

The creature dodged the cù-sìth’s next attack, dipping low and catching the animal around its ribcage. Bones cracked as the shadow’s long arms squeezed, and the cù-sìth let out an agonizing yelp. Its long tail whipped around like a spear and struck the shadow’s unformed face, causing it to lose its hold. The moment the cù-sìth was free, it leapt, scaling a nearby tree and using it as a launching point.

By the time the shadow being steadied itself, it was met with its doom. Teeth flashed. The cù-sìth’s body slammed down upon the shadow’s, and its open maw closed around its neck. The shadow went limp, its form evaporating into nothing. But the moment of victory was cut short as the cù-sìth staggered to the side.

The animal turned its body in my direction, revealing three puncture wounds near its ribs—a final blow from the shadow’s clawed fingers. It let out a pained exhale, followed by a heart-wrenching groan as it swayed. Then . . .

A flash of light . . . Flesh and bone . . . A human form . . .

Bronze hair and forest green eyes . . .

All the breath left my chest.

Breck stared back at me, standing where the cù-sìth had just been.

He was . . . a shifter?

The revelation blindsided me, but what truly concerned me at that very moment wasn’t the fact that he’d hidden this information from me . . . It was that he still bore the same three puncture wounds in his transformed flesh. They were twice the size now that he was in his human form, and . . . they weren’t healing.

I broke into a sprint, willing my legs to move, trying to get to him as his legs gave out and he collapsed to the forest floor.

“Breck!”

He lifted his head, but the pain in his eyes suddenly turned to panic as he glimpsed something behind me.

“NO!” he cried out, thrusting his arm toward me.

I whirled to find two spears of black shadows shooting in my direction, but then the other Dionach was there, spinning between me and the shadows, deflecting the onslaught.

Neither of us saw the second wave as it sped past him and reached for me. I jumped back a moment too late. The shadows slashed across my abdomen like blades, ripping through fabric and flesh. Warmth coated my skin, turning my tunic red.

My heartbeat became a pounding drum in my ears. I clutched the wounds, watching the blood pour through my fingers . . .

Too much blood.

I wasn’t healing, either.

I looked up, meeting Breck’s eyes. He was only a few feet away, but the distance seemed so far.

“Auren . . .” My name was a whisper on his lips as he slumped to the grass, still reaching out for me.

“No—NO—” I tried to take a step toward him, but my legs faltered. Warmth coated my hands again as more blood spilled over them.

Skadi’s deep, gravelly laugh tainted the atmosphere from where she lay, watching. “Perhaps you should have tried to bargain for your husband instead, witch,” she said to the queen.

“You will die the same way he did!” Corinne snapped.

The goddess smirked, clearly not taking the threat seriously. “I always find it funny when a mortal makes a threat against a god.”

“You speak as though you are immortal. But gods can cease to exist just the same as we can.”

Skadi’s nostrils flared, her irritation hitting its breaking point. “When the war is over, I will revel as I look down on your pathetic, broken bodies.”

“No. You will not,” was all Corinne said.