Dark Harmony
Page 74

He snarls something incoherent.
“That’s cute,” I comment. My heart pangs when I realize it’s something Des would’ve said. “When I told you you’d be my guide, I meant you were leading me all the way down.”
He glares at me but obediently steps up to the edge of the Pit.
I follow after him, aware of the curious gazes of dozens of different fae, all of them watching what we’ll do next.
Des’s father stares down into the inky blackness.
“Go ahead,” I say. “Lead the way to the Thief’s kingdom.”
“You’re going to die for this,” he vows.
Before I can respond, Galleghar’s wings manifest. I feel something lodge in my throat at the sight of them. They’re dark and talon-tipped.
So similar to Des’s.
Galleghar steps off the ledge then, diving into the darkness.
I spare a final glance at Temper, whose skin is continuing to spark, her power barely under control. She looks devastated at being left behind.
I lift a hand to her, and then I step off the ledge.
My wings unfurl behind me, spreading out to control my fall as I spiral downwards.
I made a mistake, thinking Galleghar could lead the way. The darkness here seems to swallow everything up, including him. I’m the only thing illuminating this trench in the earth, and the glow from my skin is shedding light on the frightening fae that live here.
Hairless, naked creatures cling to the walls, their forms emaciated, the wings at their backs shriveled with disuse. One of them snarls at me as I pass, another sniffs the air, its mouth gaping open.
Truly, these fae are the things of nightmares.
Winged, pixie-like creatures with snapping teeth zip through the air, battering into me like bugs against a windshield, their forms drawn in by my light and my glamour.
“You are to let me pass unharmed,” I command. I have to repeat the order over and over again as I descend so that fae who were once out of earshot can hear my words and obey.
Down and down I descend, and there’s seemingly no end in sight. By all logic, the bottom of this pit should either bring me to the heart of the floating island … or it should cut straight through the island and empty out into the night sky below. Instead, this trench is supposedly going to spit us out in the Thief’s kingdom.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
The temperature dips, getting increasingly cold. The fae that live this far down are strange, sightless things, their bodies pale and fleshy, their eyes clouded over from disuse.
Eventually, the air grows still and I stop seeing fae at all. Every now and then I’ll hear a yowl or a piercing cry, but then those, too, die off.
This, this feels like death. Silent like the grave, the air stagnant. Even the dust motes caught in my light seem frozen in place, glittering in the air.
All at once, the ground rises up beneath me.
I land hard on a pile of bones, the brittle remains crumbling beneath my weight. A plume of dust kicks up, unfurling slowly in the molasses-like air.
I dust myself off, taking in my surroundings. I can’t see much besides bones and bones and bones. There are skulls and femurs and ribs and so many other bits of anatomy that I can’t identify. The longer I look, the more I begin noticing the tarnished armor amongst the bones. A crescent moon is stamped onto a metal shield. Another helmet bears the same mark.
Night soldiers.
Shit.
“There you are.”
My head snaps up as Galleghar steps out from the darkness. He’s bloody and his clothes in tatters. All across his skin are bite marks and, in some areas, missing flesh. It’s healing over, but each wound is a grim reminder of what might’ve happened to me if I didn’t have my glamour to fend off all the fae living in the Pit.
I glance back down at the bones.
“Why are there Night soldiers down here?” I ask.
Galleghar kicks a bone uselessly aside.
“Long ago, I invaded the Kingdom of Death and Deep Earth.”
Horror dawns on me. All of these bones, they belonged to fairies Galleghar had brought down here—brought down here to die.
“Illuminate this place,” I command him.
Galleghar stares at me for several seconds. Then, extending his hand, a ball of light forms. As I watch, it grows bigger and brighter before lifting off of the fallen king’s palm and floating into the air above us.
Now I get a good look at our surroundings. As far as the eye can see, the ground is an ocean of bones. There must be … thousands of bodies.
“Why?” I ask, my eyes searching the remains.
“The Thief needed a realm to rule.”
I glance sharply at Galleghar. “What do you mean the Thief needed a realm to rule?”
Des’s father gives me a cryptic smile. “He was an invader.”
My eyes sweep over the graveyard. “And you helped him.”
Galleghar brought an army here to take over a kingdom. He allowed these soldiers to die, all so that he could insert the Thief onto a stolen throne.
Jesus.
Someone else used to rule this place. Someone presumably who now is under the rule of the Thief. I shiver to think what the afterlife must be like for them.
“I did.”
Galleghar moves away from me, the bones of his former soldiers crunching under his feet. He pays them no attention. And why should he? In his mind, fairies are only as good as their use.
“This way,” he says over his shoulder. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
We stride on, wading through the frightening graveyard. Among the dead soldiers are skeletons of monsters who lived and died in this place. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something like this—or that I ever will again.
Galleghar’s earlier light bobs along above us, illuminating a massive stone archway ahead. On our side of it lay the bones of the dead, on the other side, thick, curling smoke obscures our view.
The fallen king passes under that archway without a backward glance, the smoke stirring as it swallows him up.
I hesitate.
I have no game plan, no grand knowledge that could be the Thief of Souls’ undoing. All I have is determination and a few weapons.
I hope that’s good enough.
Taking a deep breath, I pass under the archway and officially enter the Kingdom of Death and Deep Earth.
Chapter 41
I wasn’t expecting gardens. Gardens filled with plants that probably have names like Bloodroot and Devil’s Bane, but gardens nonetheless. They extend to either side of me, boarding the stone pathway I stand on.
Galleghar is twenty feet ahead of me, walking up the pathway, and he doesn’t even bother looking back. Far ahead of us a palace made from pale stone reaches up towards the night sky, its towers and spires looking like the bones of a monster. The castle sits perched at the edge of an ocean.
The afterlife has an ocean. My siren stirs at that.
The air is still icy and motionless, but this place, it looks like any other place in the Otherworld, with its manicured gardens and the night sky overhead. This is not at all how I’d imagine the afterlife.
I follow Galleghar up the stone path to the palace. The entire time we don’t see another soul.
The Thief is somewhere in this place. I can feel his dark magic pressing in on all sides, and I sense unseen eyes on me. But if he’s near, he’s not making himself known.
Galleghar steps up to two enormous doors. I stop alongside him.
“What now?” I ask.
In response, the massive double doors begin to groan open.