Page 272 of The Edge of Darkness

Relief washed over me, so potent and overwhelming that I doubled over, catching myself with my hands on my knees.

Niall, I’m here! I’m all right!

Are you hurt? Where are you?

I’m fine. Stronger than ever, actually. We’re on our way to you.

Hurry, I said.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to calm down, calling my shadows back to me. When I felt my heartbeat settle enough to allow me to speak in a more respectful manner, I lifted my head. “Who did you say was with her?”

Before the queen could answer, there was a commotion behind me. I whirled just as Auren’s arms flew around my neck and her body crashed into mine.

I wrapped her in my embrace, and my hand slid into her hair, cradling her head to my chest. “Fucking hell,” I whispered. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Gods, if I had lost this woman, this looming war would be the last of the world’s worries.

She hugged me tighter, with what I swore was more physical strength than she’d ever possessed before. When she pulled away, I noticed that even her skin seemed brighter.

“Are you⁠—”

“Killian’s dead,” she blurted out. “And Skadi—she—she has the amulet! Well, the queen had it, and then gave it to Skadi, and⁠—”

“It’s all right.”

“No! No, it’s not all right! If she has it, that means⁠—”

“Auren!” I took her face in my hands. “The amulet was a fake. It wasn’t real.”

“W-What?”

“It was a decoy, in case things went wrong. I gave it to the queen for safekeeping after Fallon had a vision.”

“A decoy? But . . . I felt it. I felt your power attached to it.”

“That’s because it was originally a locket. I tucked a sliver of shadow inside it before we closed it up and resurfaced the exterior to look like the stone.”

Her jaw opened in disbelief. “So, Skadi would sense your power—the same power as her father’s—and think it was the real thing . . .”

“Precisely.” I scanned her body, noting her shredded vest and shirt. My hands immediately went to it, lifting the fabric and searching for wounds that . . . weren’t there. “Tell me what happened.”

“I barely escaped her shadows. They were like knives. I—I thought I was going to bleed out. But the water healed me.”

“So it really can heal?”

“Yes. Even if you’re on the brink of death.”

I stiffened.

Sensing my panic, she grabbed my hand. “I wasn’t referring to myself. I was referring to him.” She stepped aside, giving me a clear view of who stood in the center of the room.

There, shirtless, with soaked hair and pants, and . . . newly shrouded, stood Breck, with two Dionach’s at his side. If he had been on the brink of death, as Auren said, he sure didn’t look like it. But the freshly-inked marks on his chest confirmed that he’d nearly given everything.

“It wasn’t Breck that brought us that message,” she explained. “It was Killian. He poisoned Breck and became him in order to trick us. But Breck survived and tracked Killian, which led him to me. He shifted into a cù-sìth and saved us.”

I held Breck’s stare and let Auren’s words sink in.

It hadn’t been him in the tent.