Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“You’re leading us further down into Inmost,” Death remarks, following her quick movements.
It is the only way, she says.
Death reaches out and yanks at her arm, pulling her to a stop.
“No. There is never only one way,” he says. “Tell me what you know, or I won’t risk my wife’s life in your hands.”
But your wife is the reason I am here, Raila says. I am loyal to her until the end of time. She lets out a sound that sounds like a ragged sigh, almost like a gurgle, and I’m reminded of seeing the spider thing from earlier, the one I fought off, the one set to eat Death’s Shadow Self.
I can’t help but shudder. That’s not what Raila really is, is it? She can’t possibly be a baby-eating spider monster woman beneath that cloak, can she? Then again, she did say she murdered her whole family—is it murder if you eat them?
Tuoni lets out a gruff noise of disapproval. “I don’t doubt your loyalty to my wife, Raila. However, I will do whatever I can not to put her in harm’s way again. Tell me what you know, Deadmaiden.”
Raila’s head swivels toward me. Tuonen has left with the party back to the castle. Tuoni’s Shadow Self is playing the part of Death, operated by Louhi, and Salainen is pretending to be you, Hanna.
Death growls. “Surely, my own son can tell the difference between me and my Shadow Self. Or Hanna and her twin?”
Perhaps he can, I do not know. I don’t doubt he’ll figure it out sooner or later. The question is, will he be safe if he does?
“Louhi wouldn’t hurt them,” Tuoni says, frowning deeply. “But Salainen has no such loyalty. How do you know all of this?”
Connections, she says. There’s almost a hiss to her voice. This used to be my home, master, before you graciously rescued me. I know the ins and the outs, and I have eyes everywhere. Many eyes. Which is why I need you both to follow me. All the other ways out are being watched and guarded. Salainen and Louhi have taken no chances just in case you came back to life or Hanna escaped her cell. Everyone knows that if you are sighted here now, you are merely impostors to be dealt with.
Tuoni grumbles his displeasure again but gives me a conceding glance. “It’s up to Hanna. She’s the queen you’re protecting.”
Great. Give me the responsibility.
I shrug, as if shrugging your way out of Hell is a thing. “I trust you, Raila. If you have a way out of here, then we’re going with you.”
I swear, I hear her smile underneath that black veil. Very good. Follow me.
She turns and starts walking down the grimy corridor. I look to Tuoni and shrug again. “Worth a shot.”
He puts his hand on my shoulder and nods sternly while ushering me forward. The tunnel in this direction is narrow, so we can’t walk side by side. Instead, he stays behind me with his hand holding me in place, as if he’s afraid to let go. I suppose after what we’ve just gone through, I don’t blame him.
“If anything should happen, I’ve got you,” he says into my ear.
“I’d still feel better if I had my sword,” I say.
We follow Raila down the corridor as it starts to wind around. The ground is slippery beneath my feet and tilting slightly, giving the impression that we’re going deeper into the earth. It feels colder too, and damp enough that I can feel the condensation in the air. Raila had grabbed a lit torch off the wall earlier, and the flames start to dance in the air, as if being weakened by something.
Luckily, I have the sunmoonstone in my hands, and the glow stays steady.
Not that I particularly want to see what I’m seeing: centipedes the size of my forearm crawling on the walls, hiding from the light, along with thick nets of spiderwebs above and tiny skittering insects that hop about brown-red sludge on the ground. I can feel them every time they jump on my bare legs, and it takes all my strength to try and ignore them, to keep walking forward.
Down and down we go.
At first, I was running on enough adrenaline to keep me going, but the longer we walk, the more I feel it wane. If there ever was a moment for my demi-Goddess self to come through and give me wings, if not just more strength, this would be it, but I’m feeling painfully mortal. The further we go, the more my body remembers the complete ass-kicking I took at the hands of my twin.
I know you’re not supposed to empathize with villains, particularly the one who literally just killed my husband, but I do.
How could my father do that to Salainen when she was just a baby? I knew my parents never had a happy marriage. I saw that firsthand. I lived through their divorce, through their epic separation. The idea of my father having an affair doesn’t really shock me—I never pretended he was an angel—but who he had the affair with, and especially what he did when that magical tryst ended in pregnancy, well, that’s the part I can’t wrap my head around. How could he conjure up a baby from dark magic, a literal living, breathing being, and then abandon it in the Land of the Dead? Did he really think he was doing it a favor? Did he really think it would be fine? Or did he not think the baby was real at all? Was he just returning dark magic to where dark magic is born? Did he know Louhi would take care of her?