Page 95 of The Edge of Darkness

A few seconds later, the mountain trembled again, and I had to catch myself on the bedside table.

I needed a weapon. Even though I had power at my disposal, a physical weapon felt reassuring, steadying. I yanked open the bedside drawer and was greeted with an entire arsenal of daggers. I fumbled around for one with a good, thick hilt, and found my prize at the back of the drawer. The rough marks on the blade, its granular surface, and its physical weight told me everything I needed to know.

Iron.

I flipped the dagger in my hand and quietly approached the door.

What sort of threat was out there? Was it close by, or further away? How could Niall expect me to just stay in here, blind to the world? I’d been taught that staying in place in times of turmoil was just as likely to get you killed.

I checked both my mental and physical shields.

Intact.

I opened the door and peered down the hall. No movement, other than a few pebbles and debris falling from the ceiling. The sconces were all lit, but no orbs drifted through the beautifully dark space like they normally did. Perhaps they had gone to hide.

I clung to the dagger and took a single step over the threshold, when a voice from the shadows stopped me.

“As your ally, I’ve come to warn you that something of great alarm is at the northern gate.”

I spun in search of the familiar voice. “Eathril?”

“My Lady.” His voice dipped, as if he were bowing.

“How are you⁠—”

“I am free to roam whenever and wherever I like. But now is not the time for technicalities. My allegiance is to this court and its High Lord. And to you. I’ve come to warn you⁠—”

Before he could finish, Niall appeared in a burst of shadows in front of me. “I thought I told you to stay inside my quarters,” he said, noting the dagger in my hand.

I gave him a look that said he should have known I wouldn’t. “Did you really expect me to stay put when it sounds like the roof is going to collapse at any moment?”

Another boom shook the earth, and Niall reached out to catch me as I fell into him. This time, a few gilded sconces clattered to the ground, their candlelight snuffing out against the black stone.

Niall steadied me in his grasp, then, his eyes lifted, narrowing on a direct spot within the dark hallway, as if he could see⁠—

“Eathril,” he said.

“My Lord.” Eathril’s voice filled the space, closer this time. “Whatever is at the northern gate, there is a presence along with it, and I’m afraid it’s one that is cause for alarm.” He sounded different from before, full of nervousness and concern.

“From The Lookout, it appears to be a handful of Lyceius’s creatures trying to bring down the wards,” Niall briefed.

There was a tense pause, an edge to the silence, then, “I am particularly attuned to certain things—certain powers—and trust me when I say that what I sense does not belong to the fallen god, nor does it belong here.”

Niall nodded, then looked down at me. “You’re safest here, in my chambers. I’ll deal with this.”

I held onto him as he turned. “No. I’m coming with you.”

“Auren, if one of them sees you⁠—”

“They’re here because of me. Hiding me won’t stop them. And I’m not going to cower behind stone walls. Where you go, I go. Always.”

He considered my words for a moment, then nodded. Somehow, he pinpointed Eathril’s presence again in the shadows and said, “Guard The Keep. No one enters or leaves.”

“As you command.” Eathril’s voice faded into nothing as he vacated the space.

Niall gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Let me do the talking.”

I slipped the dagger I’d procured into my pocket in space, and we spun away into darkness.