I can see the fear in his eyes.
Shadow bursts from the stone.
Only it doesn’t fly at Vorat.
It flies at me.
It knocks the lighter from my hand.
It falls to the ground, its flame extinguished as the shadow wraps around my wrists.
Cold bites into my flesh.
“What?” I try to escape, but the shadow tightens like a vice. “No!”
My stomach drops as I gape at Rafe.
His eyes are pinned on Vorat.
“I did what you required,” he says, gritting the words through clenched teeth. “I upheld my end of the bargain. She is alive. She is yours. Now release me.”
54
THE TWELFTH HOUR
Shadow binds my wrists. I try to squirm out of them as I’m pulled through the Overlay against my will, grappling with the truth.
Jude was right.
All along.
I should have never trusted Rafe.
He made a deal with the devil.
“This is how you got out,” I say, spitting the words. They taste like bile on my tongue. “This is why you saved me.”
But he doesn’t answer.
He refuses to even look at me.
An explosion bursts through the twisted trees, illuminating the gnarled canopy. A flock of winged creatures circle above it.
With a hair-raising howl, the hounds race ahead.
I want to run with them.
I want to know why an incendiary was required.
I also want to run away.
I want to give them more time.
But Simon drags me onward and when we step into the clearing, my heart plummets.
Blood-red vines thrash and screech like the birds in the sky.
Despite the blazing fire, they refuse to recoil. They refuse to relinquish the prisoners.
