Her eyes go wide with shock, then rage. With a last, desperate gasp, she says, “I should’ve smothered you the moment you slithered out from between your whore mother’s legs.”
And with that, a final spark of dark magic surges from her wound, smashing into my chest, nearly knocking me off my feet.
I regain my balance quickly, and with great pleasure, I jerk the dagger out of her gut and watch the last of the hope—and the life—bleed from her eyes.
Eloise Avery, the woman who murdered my mother, who manipulated the man I call Dad, who paid teenage mages to bully me, who spent her entire adult life plotting to end mine… is finally gone.
And when I step back and reach up to clutch my amulet, I realize that’s gone too.
Eloise fucking destroyed it.
I have about three seconds to process the fact that the bitch got in one last cruel dig before the air begins to shimmer, a silver tear rending the space.
“Westlyn!” Draegan shouts, and Jude’s eyes go wide, and my witch sisters draw up their hands in preparation for another magical attack, and Rook and Auggie try to push me out of reach…
But it’s too late.
Verrick steps through the portal and grabs me, muttering a spell that feels like it’s sucking the magic from my very veins.
There’s a sound like a sonic boom, the ground rumbling beneath us as a wave of dark power rolls over us.
The witches are blasted into the air, falling back to the ground with sickening thuds. They’re either unconscious or dead.
And the gargoyles—their faces twisted in horror and pain, their hands still outstretched as if they might be able to reach me in time—turn to stone.
* * *
Consciousness returns to me slowly, my body frozen and unmoving, the blood sluggish in my veins.
I try to wiggle my toes, but I can’t feel them. Can’t move my fingers, either, which can’t be a good sign. Frostbite? Paralysis? More dark-fae drugs?
I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of my surroundings. I’m still outside in the town square—I can see the stone gargoyles, Eloise’s corpse slumped in the pillory, the unmoving bodies of the witches in the snow.
All of them are in clear view, but…
My world is upside down. Literally.
It takes me a few beats to realize why.
I’m strapped to the guillotine, my head dangling backward over the edge.
“Verrick!” I shout. The sound of it rips through the silence, making my skull ache. I try to reach for my magic—for even a whisper of it—but there’s nothing.
He stole it from me. And Eloise gave him the perfect opportunity by destroying my amulet—theonething that could’ve kept him at bay.
If I end up in hell, I’m going to hunt down her ruined soul just so I can murder her all over again.
“Verrick! Show yourself, you fucking coward!”
“Now, now,” comes the chilling reply. “There’s no need to curse.”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“I’ve already told you what I want. That hasn’t changed.” He lets out a put-upon sigh, then finally moves into my line of sight.
His clothes are well-appointed again, his hair gleaming, his silver eyes bright.
The gold crown sits firmly atop his head, cruel in its regal, red-jeweled beauty.
