2. Two

Two

I stepped into the courtyard of the Aether. The four wells were still dark. Teleportation between worlds had stopped after the battle. Portalkeepers were stuck in Eranor, and Cyrus was too afraid to teleport after what he’d seen in the Aether.

I activated my masking rune and carefully picked my way over the rubble of the once grand marble tower on my way to the conservatory.

I’d been visiting almost every day, taking the little mana I’d gathered from the dead of Qaanir to the Aether. I’d seen Enoch release his gathered mana to the courtyard, but I had yet to master that move. It was easier to channel it into something alive.

I paused on the stone path to the conservatory. The dome towered before me, the dead foliage of the ancient tree barely visible through the dirty glass. A black haze gathered on the horizon behind it.

Each time I emerged in the courtyard, the sky was darker. The darkness circled, creeping closer like gathering clouds of a storm. But it wasn’t a storm. It was death.

We needed a reaper. We needed Enoch.

I lowered my gaze as I walked through the archway to the base of the ancient tree at the center. Its grand limbs stretched the length of the dome, shading the rest of the conservatory under its canopy.

I pressed my hands to the dry bark and closed my eyes. The Aether’s pulse beat faintly against my palms. It grew weaker every day.

I opened my barriers, letting mana flow out of me and into the tree. The lifeforms here didn’t need water or sunlight. They lived on mana. And there wasn’t enough of it to go around. I felt it as the mana surged through the tree’s roots, joining the web below the earth before it dissipated into the parched ground. The Aether eagerly drank, but I clenched my teeth and closed my barriers before I gave too much and left myself too weak to leave this place.

The corrupt mana was still with me, leaving me cold and empty. It was a void. An empty, gnawing hunger that settled in the pit of my stomach. At first, I’d tried to get rid of it, but no matter how much I pulled at it, it wouldn’t budge, sticking to my insides like thick tar. Raw mana became a part of me, and controlling it was like breathing. But the corrupt mana was a dark passenger.

I opened my eyes, and my gaze caught on a wilted leaf beside my hand. All the new growth that had burst from the tree when I’d broken the daeva curse had died, its mana feeding the Aether’s starving heart.

I backed away from the tree and dragged myself to the dark wells, my legs heavy. The Aether still pulled at the little mana I had left. I summoned the last of my power, igniting the Earth well as I vaulted over the side.

My boots crunched on the snow-covered forest floor as I crested the hill. Pale light from the full moon glittered on the icy valley below. Winter had arrived in Oregon, but the hunters of the Titus family still patrolled the walls of their compound. With the Ardens gone, they were the last hunter family in Oregon.

I rubbed my arms and called on my fire elemental magic, willing some warmth into my freezing body. Maybe I should have stopped back in Qaanir first to grab a warmer set of clothes.

I braced my hand against the trunk of a pine tree and watched the guard closest to me. His leather duster’s hood was down, revealing the face of a boy. He looked young, and he didn’t have any visible hunter marks. His breath misted in the frigid air. He held his crossbow in front of him, aiming it at every snap of a twig or crow’s caw.

I pressed closer to the shadows of the tree and reached out with my awareness. I’d visited dozens of hunter compounds on Earth since Ari gave me the lead that hunters were the only thing Enoch truly feared, but I hadn’t felt anything of his presence yet. Cyrus may have been afraid to teleport, but as long as I had a little mana, I could still safely use the Aether’s wells—direct lines to the four worlds.

I’d restored Draqaar’s well and returned some of the daeva’s magic, but many daeva still hadn’t had their connection to the Aether restored. There was still so much work to do. And it started with Enoch. It started on Earth.

But I didn’t feel his presence. If he was held at a hunter compound, this wasn’t it.

I rested my back against the tree trunk. Snow covered the hills like a thick blanket, weighing down the fir boughs and dampening the sound of the forest. I’d gotten so used to the sounds of Qaanir. There were no bells, no constant hammering of blacksmiths, no chugging of steam engines. It was almost peaceful, if not for the homicidal hunters in the compound below.

I hadn’t heard a peep from Enoch since the final battle at the well on Draqaar. Not for lack of trying. I’d gone back to the Sea of Manandi, I’d tried praying again, I even had Skye freeze me in a block of ice until I was on death’s doorstep. An activity Skye had taken a little too much enjoyment in. Had my connection to Enoch been severed somehow?

Shadows shifted beside me. They condensed, and a dark, cloaked form stepped into the snow beside me. Ari.

“Shadow-walking uses corrupt magic,” I said. It wasn’t a question. I’d witnessed enough corrupt magic to see it now. Sebastian had summoned the darkness and shadow-walked to escape us at the battle for Draqaar’s well.

I doubted Ari would explain. Ari’s touchy subjects included corruption, me, his past, and whether he was more of a cat or dog person. I’d tried to get that last one out of him during the ship’s journey to Valeria’s estate, but he refused to divulge his precious secrets.

Ari didn’t say anything, but his silence was my answer.

“But I don’t sense corruption in you.” I reached for his aura. The spicy scent of gingerbread was a comfort. After the daeva lost their magic, I’d been so afraid I’d never sense his aura again.

I was corrupted in my past life. Ari’s gravelly voice flowed through my mind.

“Do you still feel it?” My whisper was barely audible, but Ari would hear it.

I paid my price. It no longer holds power over me. When it whispers my name, it falls on deaf ears.

I bit my lip. “But you still have corruption? You’ve had it this whole time?”

His head dipped. Even death didn’t release me. Not entirely.

Great. Swell.

“Then how did you get control over it?”

I paid my price.

“What was your price?”

He was so still for a long moment, if I didn’t know him, I might have thought he’d turned to stone.

A pensive sound echoed in my head. My life.

I swallowed thickly and returned my gaze to the hunters below. Braziers had been lit on the walls, bathing the valley in flickering orange light. “And my price?”

That remains to be seen.

Something caught the light of a brazier and a hunter disappeared from the wall. The sound of clashing steel bounced off the trees, making me stand up straight.

Ari and I shared a look. Trouble.

He stepped closer. “We should leave.” His aura brushed against me, dragging down my skin like blunt nails.

“Not before we see what’s going on. No otherworlders would be stupid enough to attack a hunter compound.”

I pushed away from the tree and crouched low to the ground. I crept closer. Ari followed silently behind me.

Flames from overturned braziers spread over the walls. A battle raged inside, but there were no blasts of magic. Just blades and arrows.

“Do you sense it?” Ari’s raspy voice made me jump.

I shook my head. “Sense what?”

His violet eyes narrowed on the burning valley. “Corruption. A lot of it.”

Adrenaline shot through my veins. Sebastian was targeting compounds on Earth. And that much corruption meant he must have brought his undead with him.

A desperate scream ricocheted through the falling snow. My heartbeat pounded in my ears. The discordant wails of a baby cut through the sounds of battle. I surged to my feet, but Ari caught my arm.

I spun on him. “Let me go or I’ll drain you.”

No, you won’t. He eyed me, almost looking bored.

I glared at him and forced a big breath into my tight chest. He was right.

A grappling hook whizzed overhead, wrapping around a tree limb high above us. My gaze followed the taut rope to the wall of the compound, where a figure in a duster was silhouetted against the flames.

I let Ari drag me back into the shadows as the figure swung from the wall, one-handed. He held the other arm close to his body. His grip slipped, and he landed in a heap in the snow close to the tree line.

He groaned and rolled onto his back. The boy from the wall. He couldn’t have been older than thirteen. Silver blood poured from a gash in his sleeve.

I wrenched out of Ari’s hold and rushed to the hunter boy. It seemed whatever chaos was going on inside allowed the boy to sneak out unnoticed. “Can you walk?”

“Get away!” He rolled away from me. “I won’t drink your blood!”

“I’d never ask you to.” I looped my arms under his armpits and dragged him farther into the trees.

“Let me go!” He struggled against me, but he was weak.

I helped him stand once we were in the safety of the shadows. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Who are you?” He cradled his injured arm and eyed me warily. “You don’t look like one of the bad ones.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m a Morgan.”

He regarded me skeptically. “You’re a Morgan?”

“Technically, yes.” I gave him a wide smile, showing my blunt teeth. “See?”

His gaze flicked to my druid marks on my hand and my bennu runes on my arm. “You’re Arsyn Morgan. The elders told us about you. A traitor to the blood.”

He staggered backwards, right into Ari. Ari held him tight to his chest and covered the boy’s mouth with a gloved hand, muffling his screams.

“I don’t think you’re really in a position to judge at the moment.” I gently placed my hands on his bloody arm and opened my barriers, pushing the little raw mana I had left into his wound.

The boy struggled in Ari’s hold, but it was solid. I knew from experience. Ari was even stronger than he looked, and he looked like a professional football player.

“I wonder how the undead got into the compound.” I bit my lip as I worked. The boy’s bleeding finally stopped as his hunter healing kicked in and the skin began knitting back together. “They’re supposed to be impenetrable. I would have expected hunters to fight them off pretty easily unless the undead have gotten a serious upgrade.”

The boy’s brow furrowed, and he tried to speak.

I crossed my arms. “If I tell my associate to remove his hand, are you going to scream again?”

The hunter boy shook his head, and I nodded. Ari released him, and he took a step away, regarding Ari warily.

“Undead? You mean like zombies?”

“You’d know one if you saw one, trust me.” I tilted my head. Ari said he’d felt corruption. Maybe he was wrong. “If undead aren’t the ones attacking, then who is?”

“The blood leads this way!” A deep voice yelled from the wall.

I pulled the boy to a crouch against a tree trunk. A new figure stood on the wall. He jumped to the bottom of the twenty-foot wall and began running up the hillside to the boy’s grappling rope, his blood leading straight to us.

I felt it. Ari was right. Corruption oozed from him. His silver hair glinted in the moonlight. A hunter. A corrupt hunter. And he was getting close.

I pushed the boy behind me. “Stay here.”

“No. I’m better now,” the boy said a little too loudly. “I can fight for my family.”

I shushed him, but the corrupt hunter’s head snapped to where we were hiding.

Shit.

“Ari. Hold him,” I said through clenched teeth. I didn’t have any time to argue.

I jumped out of the shadows, landing a few feet from the hunter. Silver blood dripped down his chin. He grinned at me, baring his filed fangs. “You’re a pretty one. Are you sure you don’t want to join us?”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” My hands hovered over my daggers strapped to my hips.

The hunter’s black eyes scraped down my body. “You don’t look injured.”

I smiled. “I’m not.”

I drew my whip and charged. Ted burst from his handle in a golden arc. Ted’s gleaming metal tail whistled through the air, aimed for the hunter’s neck, but the hunter was quick, pulling his sword and blocking my attacks. His dark aura engulfed me, buzzing around me like a swarm of flies.

It felt just like Sebastian’s. I hesitated, and he brought his pommel to my ribs, knocking the wind out of me. I fell to my knees, gasping for breath. He was on me in an instant, his fangs against my neck. I elbowed him in the face with a satisfying crunch. He staggered back, eyeing me hungrily. Fresh gray blood dripped from his nose.

“What the hell, man?” I rubbed my neck. “Did you just try to bite me?”

A shadow streaked through my peripheral, colliding with the hunter. Ari sliced at him with his knives, but the hunter was too fast, and he was already getting the upper hand. Ari struggled to keep up with him. I’d never seen anyone move so quickly.

Except maybe Sebastian. Which meant …

“It’s the corruption.” I climbed to my feet, my knuckles white as I strangled the life out of Ted’s hilt. His golden runes flickered. I was too weak from releasing all my mana to the Aether and healing the boy.

I sheathed Ted and unclasped my bloodforged iron choker. The only thing that could match a corrupt hunter was another corrupt hunter.

My dark mana rose immediately, shooting through my veins like liquid fire. It rushed down my arms and out of my hands, engulfing the hunter in flames.

The silver blood-soaked threads of his duster absorbed some of the magic, but the leather caught on fire. He dropped to the ground, rolling in the snow.

Yells, screams and clashing steel echoed in the valley. Corruption choked the air like soot. More of them were coming.

We have to go. Ari’s raspy voice cut through my racing thoughts. Can you teleport?

I glanced at the injured hunter boy, cowering under the trees. “I’m not leaving him.”

I could try to teleport with him like I had with Sebastian, but Cyrus had been right. It was risky, and I wasn’t sure if I had enough mana left to get us out of the Aether.

Ari strode to the boy. He yelped as Ari threw him over his shoulder.

“Hey! My legs are fine!”

“It’s faster this way,” Ari rasped. He picked up his pace, disappearing into the dark woods.

I moved to follow.

“I know who you are,” the dark hunter growled from the ground. Burns covered his face and now bald head. “The Morgan bitch. Sebastian told us all about you.”

I paused. Sebastian. The map of the hunter compounds ... corrupt hunters.

“I didn’t know I was so famous,” I mumbled.

“Sebastian has a bounty on you.” He spat blood at my feet. “You can’t hide forever. I’ll drag you to him dead if I have to.”

The dark mana rose again. It was an inferno in my heart, flushing my heated cheeks.

I’d beaten him, and he dared to threaten me. He was nothing. Worse than nothing.

A waste of blood.

A waste of power.

I turned to him as dark mana surged down my arms and gathered as red fire in my hands. “No, you won’t.”