Page 14 of Spring's Descent

Sobs tore through me,tears spilling down my cheeks as I pushed my body to its limits. Lark’s blast of magic carried me through a large portion of the forest before it fizzled out, but I needed to reach Willowcrest before Cyrus and his witch caught up.

The muscles in my legs burned as the cold night air pricked the dozens of cuts covering my body. My cloak had long since been ripped away and the thin material of my dress was reduced to tatters held up by the laces of the corset over top, but warmth pulsed from the fire opal around my neck, spurring me on.

Lark was alive. She would be punished for this. In all actuality, she might bekilledfor this.

For me.

I should turn around. I should be fighting for her. With her. And if my lack of powers were the reason I was killed, then I would die beside the only person who’d ever cared about me.

But I was a coward. Turning around would seal my fate. I’d be Cyrus’s toy until he was finished with me. He might wait until my awakening to lay claim to whatever powers manifested, but once that was done, he would kill me.

And in that moment, I realized I very much wanted to live.

Somewhere along the way I’d accepted my life would end on my twenty-first birthday. That the entirety of my existence would be rendered down to a few stolen nights of fun amid years of misery.

But Lark had just given herself up for me, expending the whole of her earth magic so that I might escape my fate. I wouldn’t let that be for nothing.

My boots pounded the ground, snapping twigs and crushing leaves as I raced through the night. Tears streamed down my face, falling freely as the cold night air burned my lungs with each stolen breath, but the forest was thinning. I could see the moon through the tops of the trees, illuminating the world around me.

A few yards more and I would reach the tavern.

A dark chill swept through the air, drawing a gasp from my lips and snapping my attention toward the east. It felt like ice was slithering beneath my skin, like little pieces of it were breaking off into my blood and pumping through my body. And then the cold was replaced by yearning.

My heart shuddered, my pupils dilating as I searched the trees for the source. In that moment, all the panic, the shame, the fear swirling through me was gone.

The trees shifted into fields as my feet carried me forward, deviating from the path toward a tall cliff in the distance.

I blinked, realizing that I had no idea where I was going. The village was less than a mile away… but the forbidden darkness on the edge of the mountainside was calling, drawing me closer with each passing second. I tilted my neck as the towering thick pines opened, finding a shadowed figure poised on the edge of the cliff.

My heart thundered against my chest, hammering as if it were trying to break free, as I gazed upon the chiseled body and broad shoulders clothed in black. The stone wall was bleached white in the moonlight, but shadows wove around him, shrouding most of his face from view.

Something in my soul yearned to reach him, to banish the darkness holding him captive and bring him back to life.

A forceful gust of wind swept down the cliffside, causing the branches of the trees to whip back and forth. I covered my eyes against the worst of it, looking toward the shadowy figure up above, only to find the darkness had gone.

Clouds blew over the moon, dimming its light. My arms came around my chest as a deep chill filled the air. My breath puffed out in ragged pants rising up before my eyes as frost grew across the forest floor.

I searched for an escape from the encroaching cold, my battered limbs tingling with the need to move. To run.

Turning toward the town in the distance, I stumbled through trees and shadows, feeling as if they were purposely trying to hold me in place, until I came to a small clearing. The only signs of life were the blooming white narcissus flowers sprouting among dark tendrils. They waited until I was in the center before winding up my legs, surrounding me in their deadly embrace. But it didn’t feel painful. If anything, their presence dulled the sting from some of the cuts along my ankles.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your freedom, little witch,” a deep voice rumbled. I jerked my head to the right, to the left,searching for the source, but it was like the night itself was speaking. “Because now that I’ve found you, I’m never letting you go.”

My vision spotted as the darkness grew, forming a taloned claw. The shadow limb reared back before striking the earth, splitting it beneath my feet. A piercing scream wrenched from my chest as I fell into the chasm, surrounded by nothing but air and the infinite night.

9

HADES

I’d finally foundmy little witch. I tucked her into me, one of my hands wrapped around her shoulders while the other was positioned under her knees as crumbling shards of onyx crunched beneath my boots. Vast mountains composed of volcanic stone and thick forests stretched high into the sky, closing off the north. Heavy mist clung to the lowlands set before them, the ancient swamplands littered with gnarled trees, their bone-white bark stark against the black backdrop.

I turned south, already knowing what I’d find. The dark, onyx pebbles glinted in the early morning sun, the ground growing lighter the closer it got to the flowing river a few paces ahead. The river ignited under the sun’s rays, casting the entirety of its surface in a brilliant yellow glow as the citrine gems glimmered. Its enchanted waters sprang from the Cave of Dreams, winding south along the western region of my kingdom.

The Lethe.

I’d captured my little witch only to drag us to The Darklands of the North. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have mattered, but with my powers waning, I couldn’t be caught on the edge of Hypnos’s territory, especially not with my little witchclutched to my chest. She was the key to restoring the full might of my power, and that was the last thing the north wanted.

My grip tightened around Persephone as I called on my wings, ready to fly us both out of here, but they didn’t come. I tried again, still moving toward the river, focusing on bolstering my shadows, but only small tendrils answered my call. The rest of my power evaded me. It was there, hovering just beneath the surface, but I couldn’t reach it.