I shake my head, trying to form the right words, the right questions. “I don’t understand. How are you here? How did you get up here? There are wards, aren’t there?”
“And shamans can break through wards,” he says with a cocky smirk. “The right shamans anyway. Like me.”
“So, what, you can fly now?”
He frowns, his blue eyes turning glacial. “For some reason I thought you would be a lot happier to see me. I’m rescuing you. And before you try and tell me that you didn’t need rescuing, you’re wrong. You do, and it looks like just in time. I’m here and I’m getting you out of this castle, out of this land, for good.”
“Are you doing all of this?” I ask, gesturing to the air around. “The attack?”
He gives me a secretive smile. “There will be plenty of time for questions later. If you want to leave, we need to leave now.” He clears his throat. “Come with me if you want to live,” he says in the world’s worst Arnold impersonation.
“But how?” I ask, peering out into the thickening fog. “You got wings?”
“Just trust me,” he says.
But that’s the thing…can I trust him?
I don’t have a lot of time to figure that out, because he turns his head and lets out a piercing whistle.
Suddenly a dark shape comes flying out of the mist, right at us.
I scream again. I can’t help it. My nerves are shot.
It’s a massive unicorn like Sarvi, silver-colored, beating the air with its long wings, my hair flowing back from the draft.
“You have a unicorn too!?” I exclaim.
“Actually it’s your father’s,” he admits. “He’s the one who learned how to master them while he was here.”
I gasp, clutching my chest. “My father! Where is he?”
“He’s waiting for you. Now come on.” Another sharp look. “Don’t tell me you want to stay here with Death. This isn’t your world, Hanna. It never was. You belong with us. With family. Back home where you belong.”
He’s right. Of course he’s right. This is all I ever wanted. This was the whole point of it all, so my father could be free, and so that I could escape. And now Rasmus is giving me the opportunity to do so, right here and now.
So why do I feel guilty? Why do I feel like I’m leaving Death when he needs me? And when did I start caring about his feelings like that?
“Hanna, please,” Rasmus says. “You have a choice. Make the right one. Make the smart one.”
I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Okay,” I whisper. “Yes, of course I’m going. You promise you’re taking me to see my father?”
“I am,” he says, motioning for the unicorn to come closer. “We just have to get out of Tuonela first. He’s just on the other side of that waterfall, waiting for you.”
Rasmus holds out his hand for me.
I put my hand in his.
He helps me through the window, onto the gargoyle, and then we’re slipping down until we’re on the unicorn’s back.
I grab the mane for dear life, and Rasmus holds me from behind.
The unicorn flaps its wings and we take off like a rocket through the fog.
Leaving Death and Shadow’s End behind.
But they aren’t the only things that are being left in the mist.
A part of me is left behind too.
* * *
Not the end…only the beginning.
* * *
Flip the page to read the prologue for
CROWN OF CRIMSON （Underworld Gods #2）—coming May 2022
* * *
Need to vent about that cliffhanger? Bug me about the next book? You can always find me on Instagram （@authorhalle）
* * *
There is also a novella prequel called GOD OF DEATH （Underworld Gods #0.5）， which showcases Death’s life in Tuonela far before the events of River of Shadows. It will be releasing February 2022.
* * *
Crown of Crimson （Underworld Gods #2）
A sneak peek at the prologue
Death
* * *
“Have you gotten cold feet?” the deep voice of reckoning booms across the walls of the cave.
“That’s a rather modern phrase for someone so old,” I respond, adjusting the blind mask. I wish I didn’t have to wear this ridiculous thing every time I seek out the giant, but because I can see in the dark, Antero Vipunen takes no chances. They say there’s no way to kill the God of Death, but there is…and he’s in the cave with me. Sometimes I think that Vipunen’s power rivals that of the Creator, and he could destroy this whole world if he wanted to.