Shadow Magic (Darkling Mage 1)

“Enough to draw a circle,” Prudence said.

Thea smiled, holding her hands out, spinning in place like a triumphant child.

“And what’s the circle for, Thea? Are you planning to destroy Valero?”

Thea stopped spinning. “You’ll find out soon enough. You’re so clever and all.”

“Not as clever as you,” I spat, the taste in my mouth bitter. “You set me to find you. You were the murderer, and you wanted me to find you.”

“And you failed, until it was too late. Not quite the best Hound at the Lorica, then.” That stung more than it should have. Why, I couldn’t say. Maybe I even believed her all those times she praised me. “But I can’t say that you were ever a bad dog, Dustin. You always wore the collar I gave you, like a good little puppy.”

I reached at my throat for the gem that was no longer there. “You used me,” I said.

“How melodramatic. Putting you on the altar, though? Turning you into a sacrifice? Now that was using you.”

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My nails dug into the palms of my hands.

“That blade was never meant to kill you, Dustin. It was only meant to plant something inside of your heart.”

I staggered, clutching at my scar. I looked down at myself, at the back of my hands, then up at her again. Is that why it hurt all those times? Or was Thea bluffing again?

Her smile went wider, the black of her eyes gleaming. “Then you know, don’t you? Do you feel it even now, growing inside you like a cancer? And now that you’ve ripened, now that something as powerful as Hecate has granted you her favor, your blood has sweetened, perfect for closing a circle as grand and majestic as this. You’ve served your purpose, Dustin, and in time, you may have other roles to fulfill.”

She always spoke in puzzles, but this was the only time her obtuseness ever truly frustrated me. I groped at my chest, feeling for my scar, for my heartbeat. What was growing inside me? What other purpose could I possibly have?

“You killed me,” I said. “You took everything away from me. My father. My life.”

Her smile turned piteous. “Which never really amounted to much, Dustin. You said so yourself.”

More hushed whispers came from behind me, the Scions still at work. I had planned to buy them time at first, but now I was angry.

“Why me? At least tell me that. Why did you plant your filth in me? What made me so special?”

Thea folded her hands together, hovering even closer to the ground so that she was barely feet away.

“You aren’t special at all, Dustin Graves. There was nothing deliberate about your selection. You were just – an accident.”

An accident. All those times Thea said I was worth something, I’d believed her.

Then the noise of the pillars, the jet engine clamor, even the rumbling of the storm all came to an abrupt stop. Thea whipped about, her ears pricking up at the silence.

From somewhere behind me, Bastion gasped. “What – what’s happening now?”

Thea spoke softly. “It has begun.”

Each of the six pillars around the city shot into the sky, meeting in the clouds and coalescing into a sphere far above us. The ball stilled, for a second, then unleashed a singular beam of illumination that fell shrieking back to earth, a half mile away. Backlit by the massive shaft of light, Thea looked like a goddess herself. A demon. An entity.

“This I do for the glory of the greatest of all beings, for those who came before the others, before us all. For the Old Ones. For the first among them, and the last among us, who shall survive when the sun dies and the stars wink out.”

The pillar wavered. A black spot at its heart began to grow, tearing larger and larger, like a hole in reality. It was a gateway. The wailing, the screaming, the cacophony of alien music built to a piercing pitch.

Thea smiled. “This I do for the memory of my children.” And from the rift probed a single tentacle. “This I do for the very Eldest.”

Chapter 20

The keening began again. The gap in reality widened ever larger as an unspeakable noise poured out of it, a clamor of shrieking metal, discordant music, of inhuman voices chattering and muttering. Thea floated higher above the ground, her hands clasped together as she watched the rift expectantly, a beatific smile on her face.