His voice was so human in that moment, so broken, I almost forgot he was the Prince of Hell.
“You can do that for her now,” I said, allowing him a one-time moment of my compassion. “But Trinity won’t do you much good if you don’t survive the night.”
“Speak plainly, Silversbane. I may not have that much longer to stay and chat.”
“I have the power to save your life,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “But I’ve got some terms of my own. And no, Sebastian—I won’t be negotiating.”
He nodded for me to continue, helpless to do anything but.
“I expect Ronan to be fully released from his contract, as I’ve already mentioned. He will never again be subject to your demands. Trinity will be handed over to you to do with as you please, so long as she is never released, and never returned to the earthly realm, in any form. You will also relocate your primary place of business back to hell, also never to operate from our realm again.”
“But I love Las Vegas!” he whined. “That’s where—”
“Furthermore,” I continued, “At a minimum of twice per year, or more if I deem necessary, you and I will meet on neutral territory to review the current conditions in both the supernatural communities as well as the demonic realms as part of an ongoing effort to maintain balance and ensure no one faction grows too strong again.”
“That is abigask,” he said, nearly panting now. “I can’t just—”
I held up my hand, cutting him off. “The hounds stay with me as well. They’re no longer your possessions, but my companions.”
Sebastian seethed, but he knew he had no choice. Not if he wanted to walk out of here tonight.
“And in return?” he asked. “How do you propose to spare my life, now that you’ve shot me full of poison?”
I saw the resignation in his eyes, and in that moment, I knew I’d finally won.
Sebastian would agree to every last one of my demands.
I was finally free of him.
I retrieved a vial of Asher’s blood and a syringe from my jacket pocket, holding it before his eyes.
“What is this?” he asked.
“It’s the only possible antidote for what ails you.”
Hope flickered in his eyes, but then dimmed. “Possible? You’re asking me to wager my life and business and future on a merepossibility?”
“Nothing is guaranteed, Sebastian. In this life or the next, above or below. But you know what I’ve learned?” I set the vial and needle before him, then turned and walked away, leaving him with one last thought to ponder. “Some things are worth taking a chance on, aren’t they?”
Thirty-Five
GRAY
After the snow stopped falling, after the blood stopped running in the streets, after the wounded had been treated, after the fires stopped burning, after the final clash of swords faded into the night, I stood in the middle of the warehouse district and took stock of my people. My home.
Blackmoon Bay was ours again. Everything we’d fought for. Everything we’d finally reclaimed.
But as we’d learned time and again, nothing came without a cost.
The city we loved, the city we’d saved… It had been gutted. Rebuilding would take months. Years. Not just the physical construction, but the slow, painstaking resurrection of trust among neighbors, supernatural and human alike.
We’d lost Reva. Two witches from the Bay had been killed by hunters. A fae soldier had taken down one of Elena’s shifters—a rookie cop I’d just met last week. Bex, one of Verona’s witches, was mauled to death by a hybrid shifter. And McKenna, perhaps most tragically of all, was wounded in a magical explosion caused by the Bay witches. None of them had known she was in the vicinity. By the time anyone realized she was missing, it was too late.
Every one of those souls had fought for me. For their sisters. For freedom. For all of us.
Every one of those souls was gone.
And still, the fight wasn’t truly over. We’d taken out the leadership, the base, but there were still sleeper cells in other cities that would need to be eradicated.
