The shadowy, silvery webbing raced across the floor, climbing the walls and ceiling. It fell upon the knights, seeping inside them and finding the joints in their bones, the fibers in their muscles and organs, vital even to vamprys. There was no chance for them to do anything with the swords they’d drawn, to shout out a warning to others. Or to even scream.
I tore them apart from the inside, not allowing myself to think about how similar it was to what Isbeth had done. They collapsed into themselves, falling to the floor in piles of limp armor and empty skin.
All but one.
A Revenant was among them, standing beyond the ruined bodies. I started forward, pulling the eather back in.
His dark laugh was muffled. “Harbinger.”
“Good evening.”
He charged me, and I dipped low, grabbing a fallen sword from the ground. A hand grasped my shoulder through the cloak as I twisted. The Revenant jumped back, expecting me to kick, but that wasn’t what I’d planned. I shot to my feet, spinning as I drew the sword through the air in a wide arc, bringing the blade across the Revenant’s gaiter-covered neck, severing the spine and the head.
As the Revenant fell, I really wished there was time to see exactly how they regrew their heads, but there wasn’t. I entered the stairway, leaving a hallway of death behind.
Racing down the wide, spiraling stairs of the turret, I started to count the seconds. Hopefully, my memory served me correctly, and this stairwell emptied near the kitchens and breezeways. If I were wrong, there would be a lot more space to travel…
And a lot more death.
On the third-floor landing, the door swung open, banging off the wall as Kieran walked through. Blood dotted his face and throat, but I picked up no sign of pain from him.
“You did that?” he demanded. “The mist?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know if it would work.”
He stared as I came down several more steps. “You summoned the mist, Poppy.”
“I know.”
“I know of only two things that can do that. The Craven,” he said, his eyes wide, “and the Primals.”
“Well, now you know of three things. Where’s Reaver?” I asked, knowing that the draken would’ve answered my will.
“Wherever those screams were coming from,” he answered, lifting the hood of his cloak.
Oh, dear.
“We need to talk about the whole mist thing later.” Kieran started down the stairs. “How much time do you think we have before we’re locked in?”
“Less than a minute.”
“We’d better hurry then,” Kieran said as a door flew open on the floor below, blown off its hinges.
My brows rose as Reaver entered the stairwell. His face and clothing weren’t sprinkled with blood. They were drenched in it as he looked up at us from the floor below.
Kieran sighed. “Well, I’m glad that wasn’t one of my shirts.”
The draken smiled, revealing blood-smeared teeth. “Sorry,” he replied as I sheathed the dagger. “I’m a messy eater.”
I decided that was something else I would think about later as we joined him, and Kieran hastily filled him in on the plans.
“About damn time we’re making a move,” Reaver said. “I was beginning to wonder if we were going to move in.”
I snorted at that.
“There’s going to be a lot of guards,” Kieran warned as we arrived at the main floor.
“I’ll handle it,” I said, not allowing myself to think about what that meant. If we didn’t get out of the castle before it locked down, I would have to blow through walls and people—walls that protected the mortals that served within Wayfair. Maybe the knights would simply step aside. Stranger things had happened.
“And if there are Revenants?” Kieran questioned.
“Then I’ll handle that,” Reaver answered as I pushed open the double doors.
A wide hallway greeted us, filled with the lingering scent of tonight’s supper. I turned to my left, relieved when I saw the darkness beyond the doors to the breezeways. The relief was short-lived. The heavy iron door had rocked into place, beginning to lower.
Kieran was right. Two-dozen or so knights packed the crimson-bannered hall. So did servants. They stood among the knights, clutching baskets and platters of empty dishes, their fear evident in their expressions and scratching against my shields. I wasn’t sure if it was the mist at the walls of the Rise, the knights, or…Reaver’s blood-drenched face. But there was no sign of any Revenants.
Where were they?