Chapter 30 - A Dangerous Bargain

The woods were a tangle of shadows and murmurs, patches of moon and silver slicing through the canopy above. Facing the Blackfang territory, I felt my boots sink in the sodden soil, felt my heart pound till it seemed to pound against the pines. The air reeked of moss and blood, but also of something else—something darker—magic, wild and untamed. The crescent scar on my wrist made itself known, a hot pulse that had started as soon as I decided to come here on my own. Kael would murder me if he found out, but I knew I couldn't wait for his advice or for the never-ending debates at the camp. Gavyn's promise to Jace and Mara was a knife to my throat, and the curse was murdering Kael, sucking him dry with each day that passed. I needed to make a move, even if it meant making a deal with the devil herself, Isolde the Blackfang witch.