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Spotting an opening as he rambled on, I lunged.
He caught and twisted my blade, knocking it aside. We circled each other, lunging and parrying.
Adrenaline would only keep me upright for so long, especially if the toxin eating my arm continued to spread. Good thing I had a host of anger issues to back me up.
“Who else could I turn to but the Winter Court?” he continued. “As all proud seelie do, I’d derided them my entire life only to discover they weren’t the monsters everyone claimed them to be. No, the monsters were everyone else.”
Oh, yeah. I was sure Colin wasn’t to blame for his banishment. It must have been someone else’s fault.
He launched into a series of attacks, forcing me into purely defensive moves. “They taught me how to harness magic thought long gone from the world. I was a quick study with necromancy, earning their respect, moving up in their ranks.”
Gods, he sure loved hearing himself talk. My breath was getting raspier without saying a word. With any luck, he’d talk himself to death.
Sweat glistened on his forehead as we backed away, eyeing each other’s movements. “I befriended the unseelie clans next and learned to control more of their shadow and ice magic. I united them with a singular goal. Then I met William and Galina and encouraged their grand plans until they blossomed. Manipulated them into doing exactly what I needed to enact my revenge.”
A growl rumbled from my throat. “So you encouraged them to murder my family?”
His gaze raked over me, lust clouding his eyes. “Had I known you would grow up to be the perfect queen at my side, I would’ve convinced them that your parents’ fleeing was enough.”
“How very noble of you,” I spat out.
“It all came together perfectly when I heard a rumor that changed everything. I discovered this.” He twirled the sword in his hand. “Abaddon’s Last Hope. My last hope.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t ask for your pathetic life story.”
“Still so impatient, I see.” He chuckled and shook his head, not taking my bait to rile him up. “Sophia was eager to please, believing she’d enjoy life as an angel rather than become the instrument that would form the greatest weapon of all time. She and Emilia turned out to be colossal disappointments.”
Hoping to catch him off guard as he babbled, I feinted a lunge, then swung Lisa at his legs. As he attempted to deflect my swing, I drew a knife behind my back.
His sword struck against mine at the last moment, but I thrust upward with the knife. The blade sank into his side, and he bellowed in pain and anger.
I dodged his counterattack and spun away. “Let me guess where you’re going with this long-winded rambling: I fucked everything up for you. Boo-fucking-hoo.”
Snarling, Colin grabbed the knife’s hilt and pulled it out, then tossed it to the side, where it clattered against the floor near Angela.
As if I didn’t have plenty more where that came from.
Her arm lifted feebly toward the blade before dropping back to her lap, empty.
At least I knew she was still awake, still holding on.
A thunderous explosion shook the castle, and shards of broken glass clinked against the marble floor. I sent a quick prayer to Dazhbog, Ognebog, and sweet Mother Mokosh that everyone else was holding on, too. The longer this idiot delayed his inevitable death, the more others would die.
“I thought so at first,” he said, his wound already healing thanks to his fae genetics. “You and Xavier. At each step, you two thwarted my plans. Xavier needed to die, but the more I studied you, the more I came to admire you. Your bravery and impulsive selflessness, your determination to succeed, no matter the odds stacked against you.”
Remembering the vampire’s sacrifice and dying words, I gripped Lisa tighter. This needed to end, and this traitorous, narcissistic fae needed to die.
If he got in a lucky strike with that sword, my soul would shatter into oblivion. Not that it mattered anymore—my heart had already fractured beyond repair.
Why not shatter my soul, too?
My legs quivered, and I almost crumbled to the floor. A trickle of overwhelming agony had slipped through my mental wall before I closed it up tight again. I needed to ensure his end before I joined my mate in death.
Tensing my muscles to pounce, I arched an eyebrow. “Your admiration is not a compliment.”
“It should be. For thirty years, I’ve fooled everyone, including that ancient archangel and your precious ex-reaper.” His lip curled into a vicious snarl. “Whatever you think you feel, Thane is—was not your mate.”
My heart stuttered to a stop, and the distant sounds of battle faded away.
