City of Darkness by Karina Halle

Author:Karina Halle [Halle, Karina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Tuonen

The Dungeon

Ididn’t go back to sleep after I visited with Sarvi. We decided that the unicorn would fly to the Hiisi Forest to see Tapio in the morning, and we stayed up talking, figuring out what could have possibly happened to my father and Hanna. Unfortunately, none of the scenarios we came up with were anything but horrifying.

As a result, I’m tired as fuck, and when I’m tired, I’m not at my best. I’m in my room, afraid to leave. My father—ahem, my mother—knocked on the door once to ask if I would be down for breakfast, something my actual father would never do, since eating around the table together as a family is something to be saved for special occasions, not for shoveling toasted grains into one’s mouth in the morning hours.

But I managed to mumble a reply through the door that I was tired from the match and wanted to sleep in. If I had said that to my actual father, he probably would have kicked down the door and told me to smarten up and act like a god (“Gods don’t get tired! Straighten up!”) but now that I know it’s my devil mother, she’s a little softer.

It’s all an act. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe my mother does have natural motherly instincts when it comes to her children. She’s never really showed them, but perhaps during this charade, they’re coming out.

Either way, she left me in peace.

If you can call this peace.

I need to get in touch with Lovia. She’s down on the river, ferrying the dead to and from Death’s Landing. With everything that’s happening, will Tapio have his son take over for us? If he does, then Lovia will be free to come back here—but what if she’s walking into a trap? What if the best place for her is remain in the north with the rest of the gods?

I can only hope Tapio has told her his suspicions about the situation, and I hope Sarvi can find them both and tell them the truth.

There is no sun at the moment, hidden behind thick clouds that cover the tops of the mountains, the sea below calm and dull. There’s nothing particularly unusual about this weather—the gloom has always followed my father. But since he met Hanna, the sun has been out more and more each day. The old man must really be in love or something.

But to see the clouds again is troubling. The winter storm is gone, but this static gloom and darkness doesn’t bode well for my father being alive and well.

How did Louhi dispose of him? I thought no one could kill my father. If my mother always had this power, why didn’t she use it earlier, from day one, or whatever day she decided she suddenly hated my father and wanted him dead?

None of this makes any sense. When Sarvi mentioned that Hanna had a twin of sorts, they noted that she might have some sort of powers or dealings with dark magic, but no dark magic should ever be able to take down my father.

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