Page 318 of The Edge of Darkness

I turned, bringing my palm and its light in front of me, just in time to see blood dribble from the corner of his mouth before he was ripped from the swarm.

“NIALL!”

I frantically clawed my way through the mass, desperate to find him, and when the darkness peeled back, I was met with a horrifying view of what stood beyond, of who stood beyond.

Niall was on his knees, blood dripping onto the dirt, and standing behind him was Skadi.

She smiled—a thing of nightmares.

Lyceius flicked his hand toward me, and the chaos dispersed, fading into nothing, leaving me, once again, shaking with rage.

“Seems you’ve all found yourself in a very unfortunate situation,” Skadi said, surveying the space. She lingered on Silas, who was groaning, and rolling onto his side.

Silas! I called out, but he didn’t answer.

Light flared at my fingertips, but the goddess held up a single finger, shaking it as she tutted, “Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Her shadows were holding Niall by his wrists, keeping him from getting to his feet or porting. Blood continued to fall from his mouth as he panted through clenched teeth, and . . . there was something lodged in his side—a blade of some sort.

The pain he was experiencing rattled down the bond.

When he lifted his head, his eyes met mine, and he mouthed one word.

Poison.

My heart plummeted to my feet.

“What a nice, new adornment you have there,” Skadi said, glancing at the talisman on my forehead. “It seems the two of you are fond of taking what doesn’t belong to you.”

Lyceius took a step closer. “Hand over the talisman, now.”

Skadi rolled her eyes. “She’ll never hand it to you, freely. But if you have something worth bargaining for . . .” She leaned around Niall and gripped his chin between her fingers.

“Don’t touch him!” I yelled.

“Oh, I don’t think you’re in a place to be making demands.”

With her other hand, she pulled the decoy amulet from a pocket in the armored corset she wore, and pressed the stone into Niall’s cheek. “It was clever, your little trick,” she said to him. “Where is the real one?”

“You’re holding it,” he gritted out.

The goddess jerked his chin upward, her nails biting into his jaw. “You played me for a fool once. You will not do it again. Tell me where my father’s amulet is, now!”

This time Niall pushed against her hold, and smirked. “Like I said, you’re holding it.”

Skadi searched his eyes, then realized what he was saying. “You lie.” She let out a harsh laugh, but the longer she stared at him, the more it seemed like she might be considering that he was telling the truth. “You’re a fae. Only a deity can transfer power from an object to a physical being.”

“I know,” Niall said.

Skadi clutched the amulet in her hand and squeezed, as if trying to destroy the stone and prove its worthlessness, but the amulet remained whole. Her eyes shot to it, narrowing with frustration. She dug her fingers into it again, and nothing. The shadow within drifted on a phantom wind, unaffected.

With a grunt, she flung the necklace into the dust and set to stalking a circle around him. “No more games,” she sneered. “Tell me where the true amulet is.”

Niall only growled, his shoulders now trembling from the effects of whatever poison the goddess had tainted the weapon with. The color of his skin was growing paler by the minute.

Skadi looked at me. “What about you? Care to divulge its whereabouts?”

I didn’t respond.