“I’ll admit this wasn’t part of my plan until hours ago,” continued Maeve, as visions of Darius, the literal feelings of his trauma, penetrated what was left of Shadow’s soul. “I didn’t tell Reeve or Mal I’d be forcing you to watch the way you forced me to watch. That I’d ensure you felt the helplessness I felt. To have to watch the soul who completes you be violated, mutilated, and degraded. To have his birthright of free will stripped from him. To watch as another, born Shadow just like you, chooses to torture and suffocate a man she’d never met. Simply because of the Magic that lies in his blood. Simply because she lost her humanity.” Maeve shook her head. “I have this desire, Shadow—and I hate it—to spare you. To end the never-ending cycle of death and destruction rooted in revenge, because if I don’t, then who will?” Maeve paused. “But then I realized the most glorious thing. . .you’re all alone. No one is coming to avenge your demise. And truthfully, that has set me free in my desire to hurt you. If someone must dirty their hands to end this, then I will take the stain of your blood like a trophy and wear it like a badge of honor.”
She moved her physical body, the one outside of Sanctum, a fraction of a second before shattering the illusion, and collided withShadow. Her bright white hair sprawled behind her on the snowy terrain as Maeve bared down on her. With a twist of her wrist, the Dread Dagger appeared in Maeve’s raised hand.
Shadow screamed, all throat and gut, as Maeve sliced the Dread Dagger through the stolen sapphire-blue iris. Blood, so crimson it was nearly black, spurted from her eye, from between the tissue Maeve carved away. Maeve pulled more of the Aterna towards her, holding Shadow down. Her body trembled beneath Maeve, unable to thrash fully away from her, forced to endure the dagger as Maeve carved out each of her eyes with jagged and haphazard force.
“Forever wounded,” said Maeve hotly, her voice hissing between her teeth. “Though I don’t think you’ll have much longer to heal.”
Maeve’s grip on her Aterna Magic faltered as a surge of Shadow’s own power knocked her backwards. Her back slammed into the icy ground as a blast of tainted Magic landed square in her chest.
It rippled through her like a shockwave.
She pulled Mal’s Dread Magic from the ring on her finger and Obscured with haste, landing on her feet as Shadow advanced on her again. She blocked successfully, a wall of Magic, swirling between them.
“Damn,” said Maeve, observing her bleeding eyes, “looks like I only got one eye fully out.”
Shadow snarled, and they began a series of slices and blocks, slams of Magic and twisting in and out of mist, moving through space in quick blinks between advances.
Maeve released her Shadow Magic, latching onto her opponent and searching for Mal’s own Magic, ready to reclaim it as she promised.
“You think I haven’t learned all the tricks?” she asked hotly. “You think I don’t know how to take back what you took from him?”
“Take it,” said Shadow, licking across her teeth. Her shoulders slackened, and she stood tall. That heinous giggle bubbled in her throat. Magic moved towards Maeve, given freely.
Ice drained across Maeve’s blood, alert and confused. Shadow offered Maeve Mal’s Magic without deception. It was his, the distinct Magical signature was purely Mal.
Shadow smiled, dried blood coating her cheeks like melted tar.
Mal’s Magic. . .it was shattered. Not usable. No longer viable.
Her heart ached. That wasn’t part of the plan.
Mal needed that Magic back. He needed it to be strong to—
Silence filled her ears. No, not silence. A sharp ringing. The sound that comes after your head makes a hard impact.
Maeve lifted her head, the earth and her body spinning at once.
Another blow from above. Below? She didn’t know. Shadow’s Magic ripped through her, cold and relentless. Maeve’s fingers curled under, refusing to abandon her plan, even if this demon of darkness had ruined part of it.
She slid into her son’s mind, where he lay protected and asleep, and woke him with a single thought:
It’s time, Maxius.
She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut, and prepared to make herself even more vulnerable to Shadow’s attacks in order to show Maxius what must be done. To show him his Shadow Magic.
As she took hit after hit, her body becoming one with the snow beneath her, a beautiful male voice echoed clear across her mind, cool and low.
Get up, Little Viper. This isn’t your time to die.
Chapter 55
Get up, Little Viper. This isn’t your time to die.
Maeve’s Magic kicked back at Mal in response to his command, dousing his senses in her intoxicating presence through the bond they shared. He breathed heavily as she returned to her feet, her Magic slamming against Shadow’s once more. His Little Viper was extraordinary. She’d freed him.
And now sealing Shadow was within her grasp.
But that only delayed the inevitable.
