Raya rose from the chair and drew her wand, blinking as her vision cleared of stars.
Nathan stood in the center of the room with a self-satisfied smirk on his face and Lizzy by his side. A net of green light radiated from his wand, billowing up and over the assembled demons before descending along the perimeter of the room. “Raya. You’re just in time to join us.”
Trapped within the net, the demons at the bar and tables remained in a silent tableau where only their eyes moved.
Nathan didn’t appear to notice the angels—they kept themselves hidden, flanking her, awaiting her signal.
“I’m not here to join you, Nathan.” She aimed her wand at the center of the magical net.
“There’s enough for all of us. I’m willing to share.” He glanced at Phoenix, frozen in the magic. “You can have this one—although God only knows why you’d want him.”
“Go to Hell, Nathan.” She silently probed for weaknesses in the net. When would Lizzy make her move?
“Your loss.” Nathan shrugged. “Lizzy, lock it in. We’re wasting time.”
A look of annoyance passed over Lizzy’s face and was swiftly hidden by a look of adoration so over-the-top it approached parody. “Of course, Nathan.” She placed her hand tenderly on Nathan’s cheek, then slid it to wrap around the back of his neck.
He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “What are you doing?”
A sad smile lifted her lips. She kissed his cheek. “What I should have done all along.”
He gasped in shock—and not just from her words.
Raya felt Lizzy lock into Nathan’s power the same way a fisherman sets a hook in a fish.
Nathan dropped to his knees at the impact. “Please—Lizzy—don’t—”
“You were wrong to think I would follow you blindly.” Lizzy backed away from him and slipped her hand into Raya’s.
Raya squeezed her hand in solidarity as the magic linked them together. Lizzy’s maneuver made it easier for Raya to seize Nathan’s power as it sizzled through the air like superheated vapor. He’d extended himself severely in his attempt to bind all the demons at once. “Justinian!”
Justinian brandished the flaming sword and allowed himself to be seen.
Nathan registered the angel’s presence with wild-eyed confusion. “What—”
But he had no time to complete the thought as Raya grasped the magic and hauled it in. The power barrelled toward her. She ignored the instinct to duck the impact—instead, she twisted the crashing wave into a concentrated stream and directed it to Justinian, whose sword crackled and spat fire as it drank the magic.
Raya trembled as wave after wave washed through her. She looked into Nathan’s eyes as they filled with tears of rage and helplessness.
She knew what he was thinking.
She could drain it all, if she wanted to. She could leave him powerless and alone, bereft of the one thing that gave his life meaning.
She could even take the magic for herself, if she desired. Enough power to end the nightmares forever.
But would it?
A woman’s silvery laugh echoed through her mind as images from the six medieval tapestries whirled through her vision, ending on the cryptic phraseÀ Mon SeulDésir.
To My SoleDesire.
All the power she ever wanted lay within her grasp—and yet her thoughts left the magic behind and turned to a certain dark prince in the crowd.
A spell is a flap of a butterfly wing in the right place, at the right time …
And so is love.
All the bickering, the fighting, the teasing and insults—they’d used anything to keep their feelings at bay, to prop up the walls between them, to refuse to acknowledge that not only did they truly, affectionately, passionately like each other—theyneededeach other.
