Page 28 of A Court of Ravens
A shiver racks my spine. My breath stutters. No. No, this isn’t real.
Another whisper, closer.“Niall will cheat on you. Everyone leaves you.”
My stomach lurches. The shadows pulse, stretching toward me, whispering things I don’t want to hear.
“Stop,” I whisper, clutching my head. “Stop it.”
Niall moves in an instant. Steps between me and the dark. His voice is like a whipcrack. “Sluagh.”
I go rigid. The word shakes something loose inside me.Sluagh.A deep, primal memory stirs. Half-formed. Half-remembered. But there’s no time to process. The shadows lunge. The whispers become screams.
And Niall? He draws his dagger. His body locks into something ancient and ruthless. His head turns just enough to catch my eyes, and the storm in them is terrifying. “Stay behind me.”
“Make it stop!” I scream.
“It’s feeding.” Niall’s voice snaps me out of the spiral. His arms spread wide, wraith-like tendrils reaching out to combat the darkness.
“They won’t stop!” My voice trembles as the whispers coil tighter, suffocating me.
“The mark,” he says sharply, his amber eyes locking onto mine. “It’s more than a brand. It’s a ward—bloodline magic, but this one marks our bond. Call it. Let it protect you.”
“I don’t know how!”
“Yes, you do.” His voice softens, steady as an anchor. “You’ve always known. Trust me, Shadow Witch. Trustyourself.”
The Sluagh close in, shadows stretching toward me like jagged claws of despair. My knees buckle. I drop to the floor, clutching the mark over my heart. Its warmth pulses faintly. I close my eyes, blocking out everything but that heat, the connection between us, when I let myself trust him.
The mark flares suddenly, a burst of searing light that sends the Sluagh skittering back like an insect exposed to the sun. The whispers fade, replaced by an eerie silence as the shadows shrink and retreat.
Niall kneels, his hands gentle as they cup my face. His gaze searches mine. “Are you okay?”
“What the hell wasthat?” My voice shakes as I try to catch my breath.
He helps me to my feet, steadying me as the reality of what just happened sinks in. “I told you. Sluagh. They are drawn to fear, doubt. They’re relentless. And this—” his eyes drift to the window where the light streams faintly through the glass— “this is only the beginning.”
I swallow hard, dread curling in my stomach. “The beginning of what?”
“The end,” he says, his voice heavy with something deeper than fear.
ChapterTwelve
NIALL O’LEARY
“Defying the wisdom of ancestors can be a path to ruin.”
Aisling Talamhain, Revered Clan Seer
Twilight wraps Inis Mór in its dusky embrace as I walk Felicity back to Pier House. She’s ahead of me, her strides clipped, her shoulders drawn tight like she’s trying to outrun something she can’t quite name.
I feel the tangled mess of emotions she’s too stubborn to admit thrumming through theceangal. Confusion. Frustration. Fear. It slams into me like a riptide, dragging me under with her. She wants to pretend none of this happened, to shove it into some neat little box where she can ignore it, but the bond won’t let her.Iwon’t let her.
“So, what’s got you running?” I ask, my tone deliberately light.
She doesn’t stop walking. Doesn’t even look back. “I’m not running.”
“Sure, and I’m not fae.” I flash a smirk she can’t see, but I know it’ll piss her off anyway. “You always storm off when you’re totally fine?”
Finally, she stops. Turns around when we reach Pier House. “I need a shower. I need to check in with Cyn. Not everything’s about you, you know.”
