Darkness Splintered (DA 6) Read Online Free PDF

than I already had, it was looking more and more like there was no other choice. “And the price of your help is no doubt the key.”
    “No,” he said, voice so ominous it sent chills racing down my spine. “The price of the key is the life of your friend.”
    And just like that, the facade of civility snapped.
    Power surged, an energy so fierce it momentarily felt like he was trying to pull me apart. Amaya screamed in response, and flames leapt from the point of her blade. But they swirled around aimlessly, as if she couldn’t find anything to attack.
    And she couldn’t, because my father had disappeared. Completely disappeared.
    A heartbeat later, Ilianna screamed.

Chapter 2
    Oh fuck, no !
    I spun and raced out of the kitchen. Ilianna’s screams stopped as abruptly as they’d started, and the only noise in the house now was the thunder of my footsteps as I raced up the stairs. If he’d hurt Ilianna in any way —
    I swallowed heavily – as much against fear as fury – and followed the tendrils of power that was my father’s presence.
    “Enter,” he said, as I approached a door near the end of the hall. “And witness what awaits should you fail.”
    I flexed my fingers, my palm suddenly sweaty against Amaya’s hilt, then opened the door and stepped inside. The room was a mirror image of the one I’d woken in, although lilac rather than roses seemed to be the dominant theme here. Ilianna and Mirri stood in the middle of the room and, despite my fears, both were not only alive, but apparently unhurt.
    But this was my father we were talking about. He was perfectly capable of tearing one or both of them apart in an instant.
    I hoped to god that wasn’t what he was planning now.
    My gaze met Ilianna’s, and in the green depths I saw fear and fury combined. She didn’t say anything – maybe she couldn’t – but her gaze flicked toward her mate. I stepped closer, and saw the luminous blue threads that had been wrapped around Mirri’s neck.
    Only it wasn’t any type of thread found here on Earth. It was energy.
    I stopped and stared. “What the hell have you done?”
    “It is what you would call an insurance policy.” His voice was heavy with menace. “I have threatened the life of both the witch and the wolf, but it hasn’t appeared to make much difference to your actions —”
    “ My actions?” I all but exploded. “What about your fucking actions? If you’d been up front about what Lucian was and who he was working with, the damn sorcerer would not have grabbed the first key, nor would he have gained access to the second. That blame lays on your shoulders, not mine.”
    “Indeed,” he continued darkly, as if I hadn’t spoken, “one could almost think you do not take my threat seriously.”
    “That is not true —”
    “And yet, you appear to fear the Raziq more than you do me. That cannot be allowed.”
    I clenched my fingers against Amaya’s hilt, but resisted the urge to throw her into the haze of energy that was my father. I had no idea what that thread around Mirri’s neck was and, until I did, I had to practice restraint.
    Thread bad, Amaya muttered.
    I knew that without asking. Can you destroy it without hurting Mirri?
    Know not, she replied. Taste first .
    And if you taste it?
    Kill might.
    Mirri, or the thread?
    Amaya hesitated. Both.
    Then there’d be no tasting. “What the fuck have you done, Father?”
    “If you wish this shifter to live, then you must not only retrieve the second key, but find the last one.”
    “As I’ve repeatedly said, I can’t find the second key without your fucking help,” I spat back. “And I can hardly find the third key when you haven’t even told me where the fucking thing is.”
    “I will send directions for the third key, and a means of getting into our temple rooms,” he said. “But the latter will require several hours to construct. You are not an initiate, so I will also have to create a means of circumventing that particular