Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,149

I have seen the power she holds, and it is akin to the Dark Mother’s own. I have seen her kill, countless times, but for a daughter of Death, that is nothing. What I have also seen her do is to call death from the body, as if coaxing a fox to eat out of her hand. I have seen her own blood work magic on the souls who linger. I have seen her, time and again, wrest hope from the darkest of hours. I tell you, she is the Dark Mother’s, even if she does not know it yet.”

As he speaks, the black pebble inside my pocket grows hotter and hotter, pressing its heat into my leg so that it runs through my entire body, causing me to tremble. Lazare’s words terrify me, even as they feed something deep inside me that is hungry for such nourishment. I didn’t just lose a father when Mortain passed, but my very identity—if I am not my father’s daughter, who am I? Perhaps the Dark Mother is answering.

* * *

Beast finds me later, leaning against one of the trees, staring out into the dark forest. He silently slips his arm around my waist, pulling me closer, and I allow myself to lean against him instead, soaking up the comfort and solace he offers.

“He is not wrong, you know,” he murmurs. “What is it you have always claimed? That you take Fortune’s wheel and give it a spin to turn disaster into triumph? Is that not the very essence of what the Dark Mother does?”

“Yes, but that is an entirely different thing from being compared to the Dark Mother herself.”

He heaves a great, dramatic sigh. “Not to mention that now I’m going to have to do something truly spectacular to deserve you.”

* * *

When the charcoal burners have finished discussing the matter, they return to the fire pit, this time with an older woman accompanying them. Her gown is the color of leaf mulch, as are her eyes, and while they are old, they are not clouded with age. On the leather cord around her neck hang three acorns. A mark of some high office?

“Let me see the girl,” she says, and the charbonnerie open a path among themselves. Beast gives me a reassuring nudge, and I make my way past all the soot-covered faces and curious gazes to the woman. As I draw closer, I see that Kerrigan holds a giant oak gall in his hands.

“Come here, child,” the woman says, “so I may look at you.”

I angle my face closer to the fire so she can better find whatever it is she is searching for. As she studies me, her gnarled fingers gently trace the bones of my face. “You have lived long in the darkness,” she murmurs, then presses her parchment-like hand to my brow. “But the fire burns bright.” She nods, then looks at the rest of our party, who sit just inside the light of the flames. “The fire burns bright in the ugly one as well. And in that girl there”—she nods in Gen’s direction—“it has recently begun to burn.” She steps away. “They have the Dark Mother’s blessings upon them. Let us consult Brother Oak.”

Kerrigan sets the oak gall upon a stone near the fire, then removes the ax he wears—like every charcoal burner—at his waist. He holds the blade over the flames and murmurs a prayer, or blessing. When he stops, he lifts the ax up and brings it down, splitting the oak gall open.

At first, I think it is empty of either grub or moth, but then a piece of the darkness itself dislodges and flutters into the air, like black ash from the fire. When Kerrigan looks at me, there is new respect in his eyes. “The Dark Mother has spoken. You will have our full support in all that you ask.”

 Chapter 83

The next morning when we resume our travels, our party includes a number of charbonnerie. Now that he’s received permission to help us, Lazare’s plans practically spill out of him. “Fire,” he says. “Fire is the great equalizer, and the best way for a small force to take on a larger one.”

“Yes,” Beast says, “but far better to prevent the forces from landing in the first place and avoid having to fight them at all.”

“So we use the fire against their ships.”

Beast mulls that over as he ducks a low-hanging branch. “There will be a wide expanse of water between us.