Eldritch (The Eating Woods, #2)

by Keri Lake

“An ancient power…loosed…from thrall. Two worlds smothered…by a pestilent…pall.” The Lyverian mother’s words were broken by her dying breaths. “From the tree of rot…the insects…crawl. Decay and blight…unslain by steel…will bring…the strongest men…to kneel.”

Eyes of silver and deathly pale skin. The child her priestess had prophesied would arrive with a new moon.

“The will of your god will be your demise. For, one day, it is you who will become The Banished. Maledicio tej’per nomed vetusza deosium.” I curse you by the name of the ancient gods.

“Clearly, you have no idea how irresistible you are if you imagine I can lie next to you even one night without the longing to touch you.”

“How can I convince you that the only thing that could possibly force me away from you is death? And even then, I’d find a way to get back to you.”

“It isn’t staying to protect you that’s going to kill me. It’s staying away from you.”

“Yours is not derived from the sun or moon. It lives in the heart of Aethyria. It is the molten blackness that pumps through the veins of our world. Few gods take physical form, but this one lives within you.” Zevander puzzled his words. “Who?” “Deimos. The god of sablefyre and destruction.”

“My grandfather insisted on it. He always said a well-read woman is a beautifully fearsome creature.”