“My world. My time.” The shadows seemed to lift from him. The stone pulsed, a dark heart over his. “And here, you are mine.”
“I’m not.” She got painfully to her feet, laid a hand on Alastar’s flank as he reared. “I’m Sorcha’s.”
“She sought my end, gained her own. It’s she who sleeps in the dark. It’s I who live in it. Give me what you have, what weighs on you, what it demands from you, what it takes from you. Give me the power that fits you so ill. Or I take it, and your soul with it.”
She lit the last candle. If they could come, they would come, she thought. But she couldn’t hear them through the rush in her ears, or sense them through the stench of the fog.
No retreat, she told herself. And never surrender.
She drew her sword. “You want it? Come and get it.”
He laughed, and the sheer delight on his face added a terrible beauty.
“A sword won’t stop me.”
“You bleed, so let’s find out.” She punched power into the sword until it flamed. “And I bet you’ll burn.”
He swept an arm out, and from feet away, threw her back, knocked her to the ground. Winded, she tried to push to her feet. Alastar reared again, screaming in rage as his hooves lashed out.
She saw Cabhan’s face register pain, and shock with it. Then he hunched, dropped to all fours, and became the wolf.
It leapt at Alastar, scoring the horse’s side.
“No!” Like lightning
, Iona surged to her feet, charged.
Her sword whistled through the air, but the wolf streaked to the side, then barreled into her with a force that propelled her, had her skidding on her back, and her sword flying away.
The wolf straddled her, jaws snapping. And became a man again.
“I’ll burn him to cinders,” Cabhan warned. “Hold him back or I set him on fire.”
“Stop! Alastar, stop!”
She felt his rage even as he obeyed. And felt the amulet she wore vibrate between her and Cabhan.
His gaze lowered to it; his lips peeled back in a snarl.
Then he smiled again, terrifyingly, into her eyes.
“Sorcha betrayed me with a kiss. I’ll draw what’s in you into me the same way.”
“I won’t give it to you.”
“But you will.”
Pain exploded, unspeakably. She screamed, unable to stop. Red everywhere, as if the world caught fire. She heard Alastar’s screams join hers. Ordered him to run, run, run. If she couldn’t save herself, she prayed she could save him.
Above all, she would never give up. She would never give her light to the dark.
“A kiss. You’ve only to give me one kiss, and the pain will vanish, the burden will drop.”
Somewhere in her frantic mind she realized he couldn’t take it. He could kill her, but he couldn’t take what she was. She had to surrender it.
Instead she groped, found her athame with a shuddering hand.
She wept, couldn’t stop that either, but through the screams and sobs she managed one word. “Bleed.”