Lakesedge (World at the Lake's Edge #1)(91)

The Lord Under kneels down beside me. “Don’t fight it.” The same words he said after I’d walked into the lake. He leans over me, until all I can see is his beautiful, cruel face, and takes my hand.

My mouth fills with more of the ink-dark water. I shake myself free of his touch, then gasp and choke and spit until I can finally take another labored breath. I put my hands against my face as I start to cry. I catch a muffled sob inside my palms, then swallow down my tears.

“You knew.” I hate how betrayed I sound, that I can’t hide how much he’s upset me. “You knew all along that I’d end up this way.”

His eyes narrow coldly. “Yes, I knew. I knew when you came to me that you would be able to do this. I needed your magic, but the spell wasn’t all of it. More than anything, I needed your willingness to invite in the darkness, to offer yourself up, to let it in.”

“You lied to me. You tricked me.”

“Have you forgotten what you asked?” His words change until they match the cadence of my own voice. “I just want to keep everyone safe. I have to make it stop. I need your help. This—your sacrifice—was the only way.”

“You know that isn’t what I meant.”

“I know what I promised.” Angered, his features shift for a moment. Too many eyes, too many teeth, diagonal slashes opening at his neck. Then his face resettles. “They’re safe. The Corruption is mended. I’ve never lied to you, Violeta.”

I push back my sleeve. There’s a deep, blood-slick cut through the center of the sigil on my wrist. I put my fingers against the mark and press down, feeling for the thread of magic that ties me to Rowan. A blur of emotions—mine and not mine—flutters through my mind. Faint and weak and far off, but still there.

“I just wanted to go home.”

“And I took you home. I let you see everyone you loved, one last time.” His implacable expression flickers, and for just a breath, he looks almost sorry. He tries to stroke my hair, but I push him away.

“Don’t touch me.”

The Lord Under takes a step back, then another, moving to the other side of the circled stones. “Don’t fight it,” he says again. “The darkness has to claim you. It will overtake you. You’ll die and turn to ash, and your soul will sleep in a heartwood tree. Only then will the Corruption be gone.”

As he speaks, I feel the poison snaring through me, tighter and tighter. It’s harder to breathe, harder to speak, harder to see. I close my eyes and try to draw on my magic. It’s past the full moon now, and my power is weak and small. Almost impossible to grasp. Every piece of me feels bruised by the effort, but finally, I catch hold.

Please. The Corruption writhes beneath my skin. My wrists, my throat, my heart, my lungs. Lie still, stay quiet.

At first, it fights. Pain sears through my bones, inside my chest. A flood of water fills my mouth. Please. I think of warmth and light. Of my skin, freckled and sunburned and unmarked by poison. I think of a deep, slow breath that doesn’t taste of lake water. Don’t hurt me. Let me go.

And then it all softens. The poison curls up, nestles between my ribs. The tightness in my throat and chest slackens. I take a desperate breath, run my hands over my skin to soothe the ache. But even though the Corruption has quieted, I can still feel its hunger. I know that soon it will reawaken, too strong for me to fight.

A drift of wind stirs through the needle-leafed branches. And the darkness whispers to me. I won’t hurt you. Let me claim you.

I shake my head. No. I look at the Lord Under, who watches me in careful silence.

“Come here,” I demand. My voice sounds like the lake. Deep, dark water that wants to drown the world.

He comes toward me, slowly, tensely, almost as if he’s afraid of me. Maybe he never lied, but he never told the whole truth, either. And now I want to know. I’m not going quiet into the dark until I’m certain there’s no other choice.

I meet his pale eyes with my own glare. “I’m going to ask you a question, and you will answer honestly.”

He waits, expectantly. I consider each word, weigh it carefully before I go on. “Can your magic mend the Corruption, now that it’s only inside me?”

He doesn’t move. At first I think he will refuse to answer, but then his mouth curves very slightly into the barest hint of a smile. “Yes, it could.”

“You could stop this?”

His smile widens until I can see the sharp points of his teeth. “That would depend on what you were willing to offer me.”

I know I only have one chance at this. I think of how he swallowed my blood, my fear, my memories. Everything I gave up to him at the altar. He could so easily let me be devoured. Whether he bargains with me now, or watches me die at his feet, either way he’ll win. I need to make him realize that there is value in my safety. To make him want me, whole and alive.

In the Vair Woods, I was small and frightened and powerless, and I thought I had nothing to offer him. But now I have so much. I have family and love and a home. I have magic and strength.

I feel the shape of the word in my mouth. Let it sit on my tongue, until I can taste it. Then I tell him my offer. “Power.”

He looks at me curiously. “Go on.”

“You told me once there is power in fear. Well, I won’t fear you. But if you can make me safe from the Corruption—take the poison from me—I will give you power.” I press my lips together, holding myself steady, though inside I am alight with desperation. “I will love you. I will worship you. I will never forget you, even after I go home.”