But there on the cold, wet ground before us, Cass—my professor, my friend, my brother—finally coughs out a breath. It’s labored and bloody, but the life hasn’t left him yet. He’s still fucking fighting. And as long as that’s the case—for however long it lasts—I’m not going anywhere.
The Black Sun shoves the end of the Wand into Cass’s bare chest, right over his heart. The mark of Judgment flares to life.
XX. Trump Twenty.
Cass’s body spasms in pain, but he makes no sound. I run to him, dropping to my knees beside him and reaching for his hand, but he can’t feel me any more than the others can see me. I’m no more substantial than the mist.
As far as the Dark Arcana are concerned, Ansel McCauley is dead and gone.
“Leave him,” Judgment says, and the fiery mark fades into a charred black wound. “I have preparations to make with the others, and you must return to the Fool’s Grave to await the professor’s companions.”
“Why are you so sure they’ll be there?”
“The Light Arcana are not so foolish to believe they can win this war without the sacred objects. They will most certainly attempt to retrieve them.”
“But they’re sealed in protective magick. They can’t unlock it without my blood. Or his, for that matter.” He kicks Cass’s leg, unleashing another dreary moan from the wounded man’s lips. Even in the dimness of the cave, the black blood shines wet on the back of his skull.
Goddess, what I wouldn’t give for even a breath’s worth of magick right now…
“Precisely,” Judgment says. “Take what you need from the professor, then go to the Fool’s Grave and wait. When the others arrive, you will play the part of their beloved Ansel.”
He crouches beside me and retrieves a small vial from his pocket, then helps himself to the fresh blood still leaking from Cass’s wounds.
“The Light Arcana are reckless and emotional,” Judgment continues. “The moment they believe you’ve returned to them as their former friend and brother, logic and reason will flee. They’ll trust you to help them unearth the objects, and then you’ll valiantly offer to lead them back to Cassius Devane.”
“You want me to bring them here? To the cave?”
“The Star would never resist a rescue mission. Especially when it comes to the men she claims to love.” Judgment shows his teeth again, but his smile quickly turns into a sneer of mockery. “Her unabated feelings toward her precious Moon Arcana will be the final nail in her proverbial coffin.”
His disdain and contempt toward the woman we love fills me with a fire so intense, I’m surprised I’m not glowing with it. Beneath my touch, Cass flinches as if the same fire burns inside his veins, but he doesn’t open his eyes. Doesn’t take another breath.
Judgment begins a tiresome speech about victories yet to be earned, magick yet to be harnessed, but I don’t need to eavesdrop to understand his plans.
They’re going to lead my brothers and our woman into a trap.
And then they’re going to obliterate their souls, just like they did mine.
With the Keepers of the Grave turned dark and the sacred objects in the Magician’s possession, their armies can easily tear the thin veil separating our realms. They will gather their undead soldiers and break upon the campus of Arcana Academy like a tidal wave unleashed on an anthill.
Once the Academy has been destroyed and all who live annihilated or enslaved, the armies will move on to the wider world.
The Magician will control magick for an eternity.
And everything around him—everything that doesn’t serve him—will burn.
“So you mean to kill her then?” the Black Sun asks with a twisted grin of his own, and my heart—what’s left of it—slams against my chest. “Gotta admit—didn’t see that coming. I figured the Magician would have some other use for the Star.”
“He has plenty of uses for her, none of which require her to be alive. At least not in the way that humans think of the word. Alas, as much as I’d love to be the one to redeem the fallen Star,I’mnot going to kill her.” Judgment glances down at the lump of human formerly known as Cass. “We’re going to watchhimdo it. But not until he drives her to the absolute brink of madness.”
“The professor? He’s as lovesick as the rest of them. He’d die before he hurt that woman.”
Judgment reaches for the man’s shoulder again, his eyes full of an ancient wisdom so dark and deep—socertain—it fills this fading heart of mine with ice. “In the end, my Sun, every last one of them will atone. Only by seeking absolution for their sins will they come to know peace. But before such peace can be granted, first theymustbe broken.”
The deadly, ominous warning echoes across the cave, and the vile assholes finally leave us—one to go kiss the boots of his master, the other to lead our brothers—and our bright, beautiful Star—to their deaths.
I close my eyes, and with everything I have, call on the very last shred of my magick, hoping to goddess I’ve got enough ofsomethingleft inside me to reach across these forsaken realms and make him hear me.
“Cass? You need to wake up. Now.”
