Fate’s Destiny: Heart of Darkness Book 3 Read online

  The gancanagh yelped, and I couldn’t help but back away from the spider-like fey.

  I swallowed my disgust. “Who are you?”

  “I’m your way out if you promise to take me with you.”

  The wizened man made a sound that was part disgust, part protest. “Don’t do it. You make a deal with that thing, and ye might as well slit your own throat.”

  The spider woman cocked her head at an angle that would have been impossible on a human. “You didn’t come here to die, did you, little one? You came here to kill. But your story will end here if you don’t take my offer. I can help you.”

  The gancanagh shuffled closer to me and away from the spider woman. “She wants to ride you. To dig her spider limbs into your body and become one with you. To hide in plain sight. She’s a parasite.”

  “And you’re not?” the woman asked. “You would have trapped her in a carnal dream and fed off her desire until you were sated and youthful once more.”

  My gaze shot to the little man. “You do that?”

  He shrugged. “A man has to eat. And this isn’t me at my best.” He looked down at himself. “You’d be falling at me feet if I were fully fed.”

  “She’d be falling at your feet dead.” The spider woman sniffed. “Listen to me. I can show you a way out, but you must take me with you.”

  She needed me to get her out. “Why can’t you just leave?”

  She shook her head as if fed up with the question, even though it was the first time I’d asked it. “There are wards on this place. Wards to keep those who belong to Nadine in.”

  “You belong to her?”

  “A pet, a captive, a prisoner. Nadine was always a selfish bitch even before the infection that trawls this land got its hooks into her. Truth be told, it’s almost ironic how the puppet master has become the puppet. I can’t escape without a host to carry me out.”

  Host.

  My stomach turned. “Why can’t you use him?” I jerked my thumb in the little man’s direction.

  The spider woman glared at him as if he was an offense to her senses. “He is unworthy.”

  The gancanagh shook his head. “How are you even alive? I know about your kind.”

  “You would, fellow fomorian.”

  He hissed at her, and she hissed back.

  Okay, this was getting us nowhere. “What does he mean? Why wouldn’t you be alive?”

  An opaque film flipped down over her eyes and then shot up again – lids, she had eyelids, and for some reason, that made her even more grotesque.

  “She needs a host to survive,” the little man said. “Just like I need to feed on sexual energy.”

  So, who had been her host? “Nadine? Nadine was your host?”

  The spider woman made a raspy sound of annoyance. “She wanted me. Wanted the union.”

  “Of course, she did. You need consent,” the little man said.

  “If you weren’t so disgusting, I’d eat you,” the spider woman said with an earthy rasp to her tone. She turned her attention to me. “Nadine has been my host for over a century. We were … friends. She valued the power I gave her. Procreation doubled, her strength tripled, and she received the benefit of my excellent vision.”

  Her head exploded into a mass of tiny beady eyes. I slapped my hand over my mouth because … yuck.

  The tiny eyes snapped shut, and the spider fey scuttled back slightly as if embarrassed by my reaction.

  Guilt prodded me to take a step toward her. “I’m sorry. That was a shock.”

  “It was disgusting,” the gancanagh said. “That’s what it was. No need for it. No need.” He shuddered.

  “I felt the taint in her before she did, and it repulsed me,” the spider fey said.

  “Repulsed you?” The tiny man choked on a laugh.

  The spider fey ignored him. “I felt the danger, the death, so I detached myself. I tried to warn Nadine, but the infection, the new power, the voice in her head were too seductive. She succumbed, and she threw me in here. I suppose it’s a small mercy she didn’t kill me. It’s a small mercy she still has the kelpies feed me.” Her eyes gleamed, and the penny dropped.

  We were food.

  The tiny man and I.

  Food for her.

  A black tongue peeked out of her mouth and swiped over her lips. “You’re lucky you’re worthy, little human. You’re lucky I see you.”

  The gancanagh shuddered. “All this time. The last four days … You were watching?”

  “And getting hungrier. Another few days and I’d have succumbed to my primal nature and feasted on you, tiny wizened morsel.”

  He turned to me. “You need to get us out of here.”

  And according to the spider fey, there was a way out, but to get the information I needed to play host to this creature. I needed to let it touch me. My skin crawled, and gooseflesh broke out across it.

  “I will get you out of here if you allow me to help you,” she said. “To help us all.”

  “And you give me your word, on your honor, that you’ll release me once we’re free from this place?”

  “Specific,” the gancanagh said. “Be specific.”

  The spider fey made a low, menacing sound.

  Oh, right. Yes. “Give me your word that you’ll release me once we’re above the lake. Once we’re above ground.”

  Her thin lips curved in an empty smile. “I suppose I have no choice but to agree. There are creatures in abundance above ground which I can claim to carry me where I need to go. Very well, you have my word.”

  “How will you get us out of this cell?”

  “The kelpies will be along shortly, to take away your bones. We’ll attack then. As one. They’ll be no match for us once we are bound.”

  I was putting off the inevitable now.

  She scuttled forward. “Are you ready?”

  No. “Yes.”

  “Turn around.”

  Oh, God. I was doing this. I was really doing this. I showed her my back, and the hairs on my neck stood to attention as she approached.

  “Do you give me permission to ride?” Her voice echoed sibilantly in the chamber.

  My pulse thudded hard in my temple and at the base of my throat. “Yes.”

  And then pain tore a path across my back and sliced into my torso before my vision exploded in crimson.

  Wynter? Wynter, what’s happening?

  Berstuk?

  Chapter Five

  The Raven

  The wind howls mournfully. Its icy fingers rake at my flesh, and its frozen breath kisses the nape of my neck. A chill shoots through me like an icicle aimed for my heart. It can’t hurt me. The elements have long ceased to have any effect on me, yet I revel in the sensations because they tether me. They stop me from fracturing and falling to pieces because there is nothing we can do to save Wynter.

  Mirage is still unconscious, but her pulse is strong. She’ll live because Wynter risked her life to save her, and now … The impotence of our situation tears at my soul, and yet … I feel her. She is alive. She is alive, and so there is hope.

  I open my mouth to tell Veles this, but his roar of anguish cuts me off. It shakes the ice from the reeds and challenges the gusts of frozen air with fiery heat.

  Veles stamps and smashes at the ice. The lake is smeared with blood and the remains of the undines that we slaughtered. The god of death crushes them beneath his boots as he tests the surface of the ice for a weak spot, any access to the domain beneath.

  His dagger flashes, again and again, clinks over and over against the unyielding ice. Part of me hopes that he will find purchase even though my gut is confident he won’t. This is no natural winter, and this lake is no natural body of frozen water. There are enchantments and magic in the air—deep and powerful and strong.

  Voices drift on the air toward us, and then Fenn and his men come into view.

  Veles turns on them, more beast than man in his fury, and the king comes to a halt at the edge of the lake. He brings hi
s hands up in a placating gesture, his gaze scanning the surroundings.

  “Where’s Wynter?” His voice is calm and authoritative.

  Veles lets out an agonized wail and falls to his knees on the ice. His shoulders slump as if he’s finally accepted the truth. That there is no way to get to Wynter.

  “Raven?” Fenn looks to me. “What happened?”

  “Wynter’s down there. A kelpie took her.”

  Fenn strides onto the ice and slams his sword into it.

  “I’ve fucking tried that,” Veles snaps. “Nothing works.”

  Fenn shakes his head. “What do we do?”

  There is no way down. There is no way to get to her. “She’s alive. I feel it, so we wait. I have faith in her. I have faith in her story. It can’t end here.”

  But even as I say the words, claws of terror sink into my heart. Because what if I’m wrong?

  Chapter Six

  Wynter, what’s happening?

  Berstuk’s voice pulled me out of the crimson haze the spider woman had dragged me into. He’d been silent ever since the attack at the keep, ever since Oblivion had evicted him, but he was here now, and my heart swelled with relief at his presence.

  Get out. Leave!

  “Someone else is in your head already?” The spider woman sounded irritated. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “You didn’t ask.” I clutched the bars, acclimatizing to the weight on my back. To her body pressed to mine, to the fact that her limbs were inside me.

  Inside me.

  Oh, God.

  Wynter … what did you do? Berstuk’s tone was soft, as if communicating with a skittish pony.

  “She did what she needs to in order to survive,” my rider answered for me.

  Parasite.

  “Interloper.”

  “Enough.” I released the bars and stood, swaying slightly as I adjusted to the imbalance of her on my back. “Let’s just get this done.”

  “Agreed,” the spider fey said.

  I cleared my throat. “What’s your name?”

  “Ah, yes. I suppose introductions would be helpful. You may call me Celnith.”

  “I’m Dareth,” the gancanagh offered.

  Berstuk was silent, but his disquiet prodded at the back of my mind.

  I needed to focus. I needed to get us out of here. “How long until the kelpie comes to take away my bones?”

  I felt Celnith shrug in my mind. Invasive and unwanted. “Soon.”

  Where are you? Berstuk asked.

  I filled him in quickly, about the griffin, the rescue, my trip through a frozen lake and ultimate bargain with the spider fey. “Celnith believes she can get us out of here.”

  He was silent for a long beat. Your options were limited, so I understand your decision. Let’s hope Celnith keeps her word.

  A shiver ran through me because what if she didn’t? What if there was a loophole I’d missed?

  “Too late now?” Celnith’s voice was a silky caress that raised my hackles.

  But then boot falls were echoing off the hard-packed earth.

  “He’s coming,” Celnith warned. “Into the shadows. Quick.”

  I tried to move using my usual gait and stumbled. Crud. I needed to adjust my balance to accommodate the added weight on my back. I shuffled quickly across the chamber and into the darkness where Celnith had been hiding. A pungent smell hit me, forcing me to gag—a fecal odor mixed with something sweet, sharp, and cloying.

  “Breathe through your mouth,” Celnith said softly. “And be ready to attack.”

  Dareth pressed himself to the wall to my left and then slid down into a crouch, tucking his chin in. It was the same position he’d been in when the kelpie had thrown me in here.

  There was a rattle of chains and the chink of a lock being disengaged. From my hiding spot in the shadows, we had a clear view of the kelpie who stood on the other side of the bars. It was the same one I’d stabbed in the shoulder. He hadn’t bothered changing his clothes, and the tear in his shirt was soaked in blood even though the skin that peeked from the hole in the fabric was unmarred and smooth.

  Celnith had been right, they did heal fast. I’d need to do some serious damage.

  The door to the cell swung open with a lazy creak, and the kelpie stepped inside. His gaze swept the ground—searching for my corpse, no doubt.

  Celnith’s heart beat faster against my back. “Now.” Her breath brushed my ear. “Attack.”

  My limbs grew warm with a mixture of her intention and my power, and then I was hurtling across the chamber, straight at the startled kelpie. His face would have been comical under different circumstances, bug-eyed and slack-jawed, but then he was on the ground, and I was on top of him, and his shock turned to rage. He fought back, slamming a fist into the side of my head, showing me stars and dots. Power surged through my limbs, and my ribcage pulsed where Celnith had a grip. My vision cleared quickly, and I brought my bone dagger up, aimed at the kelpie’s throat, but Celnith’s head whipped past my cheek, and her mouth latched onto the kelpie’s face with a sickening crunch. The kelpie’s scream was cut off into a gurgle, and then Celnith’s body began to pulse against my back.

  Was she … Oh, God, she was feeding.

  Bile rushed up my throat, sharp and hot. I swallowed it and turned my head away, my mind rebelling against the warmth that bloomed across my back, which meant Celnith was filling herself with the kelpie’s insides.

  “Stop. Stop now.”

  There was a soft pop as the suction seal of her mouth broke contact with what was left of the kelpie’s face. Withered, drawn, and skeletal. He was skin over bones now.

  Bones.

  Was that the fate he’d had in store for me? Bastard.

  He deserved to die like this.

  “Better.” Her voice was stronger. “Get up. We don’t have much time. You can be sick later.”

  But the nausea was gone, and a strange calm filled me.

  “Right now, we have an undine mother to kill,” Celnith said.

  Her words registered, and maybe I should have been alarmed, but instead, my fist tightened on the hilt of my bone dagger in preparation for what I needed to do.

  “What?” Dareth’s tone was high-pitched. He shook his head frantically. “Kill Nadine? No. No, that weren’t part o’ the deal.”

  Celnith’s hiss of anger sprayed moisture across the back of my neck. “I made no deal with you, weasel. We kill Nadine, and we stem the taint.”

  She was a monstrous parasite, but she obviously had some moral compass because she was right. If we were here and we had the chance to weaken Oblivion, then we needed to take it.

  I took a fortifying breath. “Where is she?”

  “You can’t be serious?” Dareth said.

  I ignored him. “Celnith?”

  “Across the quad, in the huge cavern. It’s usually guarded, but it’s feeding time for the kelpies, so they’ll be busy. We go now. The exit to topside is also in that cavern. We kill two birds with one stone.”

  Dareth mumbled, “I don’t like this.”

  Neither did I. “We have no choice. If we stay, we die.”

  I stepped out of the chamber and made my way quickly through the tunnel that led outside. The quad was empty of bodies, but the air was filled with moans and screams.

  “They’re feeding,” Celnith said. “They used to lull their prey into ecstasy and keep them in that state while they fed on them—meat tastes sweeter that way—but now they don’t care. The prey is eaten alive without the haze of euphoria to dull the pain.”

  The mouth of the cavern that housed the undine mother was directly opposite us, and like Celnith had predicted, it was unguarded.

  “Now.” Celnith’s command propelled me across the quad in a sprint.

  Any moment now, someone would cry out in alarm. Any moment now, a guard would appear. But nothing happened. We made it across and into the dim interior of the cavern. It was lit by the same fungi that had illuminated our prison.
It crawled along the wall in neat lines, as if pointing the way.

  “Take a left,” Celnith instructed.

  I obliged and stepped onto a long, narrow tunnel where the fungi grew only on the ceiling, reminding me of the tube lights they had in hospitals.

  “The third opening on the right,” Celnith said.

  “Openings” was the right word because the gaps were too small to be called archways and too irregularly shaped to be called doorways. I stopped at the third one, wider than the others, but still, I had to duck to get inside.

  Dareth followed.

  Careful, Berstuk warned.

  Having him with me, even if it was just his voice, gave me confidence. He was a tether to the world above. A world I was desperate to get back to. A pungent, sweet smell hit my nostrils. Sickly sweet.

  “She’s asleep,” Celnith said.

  A short tunnel opened out into a huge chamber with a high, rocky ceiling and walls riddled with mini craters, and sitting in the center was a naked mass with the head of a woman but a body that looked like mounds of dough had been pushed together into tire-like folds. The pale body was covered with the inky black veins indicative of the taint. Two arms protruded from the sides of the dough mass, but there were no legs visible. On closer inspection, there were four root-like protrusions snaking out from her body and sinking into the earth.

  “She’s like a tree, rooted to the spot,” Dareth whispered. “Look at her body. Urgh.”

  The nausea I’d been holding at bay resurfaced because her skin was moving. Rippling and pulsing in several spots as if—

  “She’s gestating again,” Celnith said. “More undines. More minions. These will be tainted too. We have to stop her.”

  “How?”

  “The roots,” Dareth said. “We cut the roots.”

  I pulled the dagger from my waist and moved stealthily toward the nearest root. My heart was beating way too fast, and so was Celnith’s.