“I’m sorry, sir.” Another young woman stumbled in behind Ronan, breathless and trembling. “I tried to stop him, but he was very insistent that he see you.”
“Indeed. And what have I told you about Ronan Vacarro?” he asked.
“That’s R-Ronan?” She quivered, bowing her head low. “I didn’t realize it was him, sir. He never said.”
“Ignorance is not your savior, child.”
“I know, sir. I’m very sorry.”
“As am I. Now I’ll have to find a new assistant.” He whispered a brief incantation, and then she vanished, leaving nothing but a black wisp in her wake.
“And to what do I owe this honor?” Sebastian drawled. “What an unexpected surprise.”
He couldn’t hide the raw pleasure on his face as he approached Gray. Here in the flesh, after all this time, was the witch he’d been patiently stalking her entire life. Longer, even. From the moment he’d heard about the Silversbane prophecy, he’d known she was special.
Ronan and I remained silent as Sebastian looked her over, barely keeping his greed in check. With her head resting peacefully on Ronan’s shoulder, Gray was warm and alive, the color high on her cheeks, her curls glossy despite her ordeal in the Shadowrealm.
But her soul was gone, just as I’d known it would be. And unless I could find it and successfully reunite the two, her body would decompose, and everything about her that had ever existed would simply cease.
A world without Gray Desario… It was incomprehensible.
Though I didn’t deserve to touch her again, I reached out anyway, brushing my knuckles along her jaw. Her skin was silky-soft, but it felt wrong—a great void where before there had been vitality and warmth and pure magic.
“Do something,” Ronan barked at me, ignoring Sebastian. “Fix this.” His commanding voice broke into something helpless and desperate at the end, heartache soaking his every word.
“I shall do my best,” I assured him, but hopelessness was contagious, and the longer I stared into his desperate eyes, the faster I felt myself slipping into the same dark oblivion.
Neither of us had the luxury of giving up or checking out.
“I see you two are already acquainted,” Sebastian said. “Excellent, that saves me the trouble of introductions. Ronan, your friend and I were just having the most fascinating conversation. I understand the witch’s soul is lost in hell. Can you imagine? What are the chances that my sharpest demon guardian would make the mistake of bringing a demon sworn through the hell portal?”
“We were out of options,” Ronan said, his jaw tight. And swollen, I now noticed. Blood dried in the corners of his mouth, and along a deep gash above his eye.
“Well, I’m nothing if not generous,” Sebastian said. “It turns out thereisone more option. One way—and only one—to retrieve Gray’s soul and reunite it with her body.”
Ronan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, composing himself. “What’s it gonna cost me this time?”
“Not a red cent, boy.” Sebastian grinned, jerking his head toward me as he slapped a meaty hand over my shoulder. “This one’s on him.”
Ronan’s head turned slowly, his eyes blazing with twin flames of fury and fear.
“What,” he whispered, “have you done?”
I opened my mouth intending to explain, but there was no time.
And at the moment, I was severely low on courage and valor.
I nodded once, my form of an apology, then vanished without a response.
Gray’s demon guardian would have his answer soon enough.
Four
Gray
I knelt in the bottom of a small wooden boat blackened with rot, floating on an obsidian lake. A striking orange-red sky bled across the horizon, beautiful like the dawn but for the faces looming in its dark gray clouds. They were the ghosts of hell, each mouth stretched and howling in torment, every one of them reflected endlessly in the black-mirror lake.
Their screams roared like the wind, but caused no ripples. When I reached over the side of the boat and trailed my fingers through the water, I felt nothing but air.
