“Now,” Madde cried. “Now, now, now!”
The choker scraped bone and split flesh before pain spiked down to the heart of me and—it tore free with a spray of blood. I wasn’t brave enough to look at what it had done to me, so I panted through gritted teeth and waited for Cruelty’s next torment.
When the pain eddied away to nothing, I dared to crack open an eyelid. I jolted at the sight of the mangled metal that rested on Madde’s hands, sheer panic making me rush forward a step, my hands coming up.
Death caught them and squeezed, while Pain stroked my neck with his thumb as his hand rested over my chest. Mending the damage, I realised as my skin began to warm.
“It’s over,” Death said with a gentleness that made my throat ache.
CHAPTER 9
CAT
Iwatched the choker melt to liquid metal in Madde’s hands, then blue shadow-fire consumed it until there was nothing left. No sign at all that Cruelty had used the choker to punish me for disobeying her.
Madde rubbed his hands, looking pleased with himself. I grunted, every part of me tender, when his soul rammed into mine with the force of an overenthusiastic, ten-stone cat. His love and excitement burned literal heat across my insides pulsing almost giddily.
“What was that fire?” I asked, staring at his empty hands, letting the fire of him soothe my battered soul as Pain mended my body.
“Not a clue.” Madde bounced on the balls of his feet. “A little madness, a little darkness, a bucketload of my love for you.”
“Your love gives you power,” I realised, brushing my hand to Pain’s arm when he let go of me, all my hurt swept away.
“Yup. It’s magic.” Madde booped the tip of my nose, smiling with pride.
“Maybe you really are Love, not Madness,” I mused, rubbing my chest and a little baffled to find smooth, unblemished skin. No choker for the first time in forever, no pain, no magic hanging over the back of my neck like an executioner’s blade. “Shall we do the trackery thing now?”
“Cat needs rest,” Miz said with a shake of his head, coming closer to peer into my eyes, searching for something. “We’re going to talk soon.”
“I’m f—”
A flicker of darkness went through his eyes. He stroked the back of a finger down my cheek. “You’re not arguing, surely. Because if you did, if you intentionally stopped me protecting this perfect mind, or this miraculous body, I would be extremely unhappy.” He lips brushed the shell of my ear. “I may not have my wand here, but there’s plenty of rope to tie you up with. I could play with you for hours.”
My breathing sped, heat pooling between my thighs.
“Why do you look excited, my universe? I never said I’d let you come.”
My brows slammed down in a scowl, and if I couldn’t so easily remember the way he’d looked laying in his bed, dying, I would have shoved him. Instead, I glared. “You’re forgetting, my husband, that it’syourturn to be tormented, and Death promised we’d ruin you together.”
“That’s true, I did,” Death agreed with a strained smile.
“When Tor’s back,” I promised, holding Miz’s golden stare and ignoring the jagged rocks that scraped my throat with every word. “Maybe we can all ruin you.”
“Can I buy a ticket to watch?” Madde asked, stealing me away from Miz for a squeezing hug.
“Why would you pay for that?” Pain muttered, shaking his head.
“I like tickets.” Madde flicked his hand, and a shadow floated above his palm and formed the shape of a ticket. “I have scrapbooks full of them. Stamps are good, too. Those orange train tickets people throw on the floor. Ooh—receipts.”
I buried a smile in his shoulder. So my husband was a hoarder. Good to know.
“How does tracking work?” I asked, looking from Pain to Death since they seemed to have all the answers. Pain shrugged though, ruffling his mousy curls as he gazed towards the window, his shadows tracing things I couldn’t even see from here.
“I know how to do it,” Miz sighed, riffling through the ornate chest and lifting out a gold-link bracelet with a coin stamped with an elaborate T. “I’ve seen Tor do it enough times to copy him. He’s hardly a magical genius.”
Madde nodded seriously. “Not like me. You could never copy anything I do.”
Miz blinked. “I’m struggling to find an argument against that.”
