It was my home, for a time. A place where I felt welcomed. A place where even the Devil was allowed to belong.
A new ache blooms in my chest for all the things that could have been. All the things I held in my hands, in my heart, and then swiftly lost.
Now, as I look out across the vast rivers of molten fire that cut through the black landscape in gleaming ribbons of orange and gold, all I can think about is how much—for the first time in my immortal existence—this place feels like myownversion ofHell. An inescapable torture of my own making.
“I’d forgotten how beautiful they are,” Finn says beside me, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s talking about the rivers. “This place… it’s deceptive, isn’t it? Endless torment for the ones who sell their souls. A supposed paradise for those who broker the deal.” He sips his drink, his tone uncharacteristically melancholy. “Ever since your father banished us, all you wanted was to come back home. It’s what you—whatweworked for all these long centuries. Days, years, all of it blurring together in a mind-numbing replay of sex and drugs and parties and…ugh, the people. The desperate, depraved people.”
“That’s all over now, Finn. We did it. Achieved our impossible ends. Corrupted a million souls, earned our way back, and here we are.”
“And yet?”
“Yet I can’t for the life of me remember why it ever even mattered.”
Finn sighs. We’ve been friends for so long, he can read my thoughts almost as well as Violet could read my emotions. “If you leave now—for a mortal witch, besides—your father willneverlet you return. You’ll be forfeiting your position, your power, your throne. Your immortality. All of it, gone. No more impossible tasks, no more deals. Just gone. You know that, right?”
“For fuck’s sake, Finn. What good is an immortal life when the woman you love is bound to the mortal realm? When all you’ve got in front of you is an eternity of misery and loneliness and a broken heart that will never heal because the only one who can mend it has cast you away?”
His eyes widen, and I mirror the shocked gaze. It’s the first I’ve ever admitted it to anyone but the witch herself.
“Yes, I’m bloody well in love with her. Is that what you needed to hear? The kind of love that makes you do crazy things. Take big risks and fail even bigger. Nowshe’sin the Bay andI’mhere and I’ve got everything I’m supposed to want—everything I sacrificed and killed and deceived and danced and fucked for—and I’ve never felt so bloody hollow. So utterly dead inside. So you know what? I’m done. Done with this existence. With this place that feels like a stranger’s home. I want something better, Finn, and I’m daring to say it out loud. I want a quiet life. A good life. One where I can make the same woman laugh every single night, over and over and over until we collapse in our bed, tired and happy. I want to grow old with her, as ridiculous as that sounds, watching her brew her magic teas and joke with her sisters and take care of her aunts and maybe have a few adventures together along the way.”
“It sounds like a nice dream,” he says, no mocking in his tone. “But what about your family?”
“Family.” I scoff. “The so-called family who continues to reject me even after I’ve spent centuries trying to make amends for a crime I didn’t even commit? The so-called family who will continue to punish me for eternity simply because they all got together one day and decided I was the prized fuck-up of the bunch? And remind me again what terrible crime I committed? Loving the wrong woman? I was practically a child.”
Finn puts a hand on my shoulder, his eyes full of a sincerity and understanding I’ve never seen before. Or maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.
“Love isn’t a crime, mate,” he says softly. “Even when you fall for the wrong person.” He tips back the last of his drink. Stares back out at the rivers. Sighs. Turns back to me. And then, at long last, the old smile slides back into place. “But now that you’ve fallen for therightperson, I assume you’ve got a plan to get her back? Preferably one thatdoesn’trequire me listening to any more of your weepy blathering? Devil’s balls, mate. You really did step right out of a Hallmark movie on this one. I tried to warn you, didn’t I? As a matter of fact, do you stillhaveyour balls? Or did you let your witch boil them up in a tea for the good neighbors?”
I cast him a deadly glare. “Don’t make me smite you. I’m still in a mood and you’re pressing your luck, demon.”
“I’m touched, Devlin. I can feel the love. Should I fetch us some tissues? I sense a good cry coming on. But not a sappy one. A manly cry. Very becoming. Now, about that plan? What do I need to pack, and who do I need to kill along the way?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
VIOLET
I haven’t been back to the scene of Mr. Wiggles’ murder since my botched presentation, and the sight of the Town Hall fills me with a dread that threatens to send me bolting back to the safety of Kettle and Cauldron. To the familiar comfort of a nice, stress-relieving cinnamon tea, Stevie Nicks on the playlist, a crackling fire, the soft purr of the cats as they stretch out on the hearth and…
Poof.
The moment the vision coalesces in my mind, it’s gone. Because that’s exactly what will happen if I don’t see this through. If I don’t find a way to set one foot in front of the other, march into that meeting, and demand justice. Not just for me, but for Ricci and Paul and Mavis. For the shop owners those monsters have already run out of town. For my sisters and aunts who run their own small businesses too—businesses that Brandt and his cronies are already plotting to crush under their filthy boots.
“Violet?” Ricci asks, her hand warm on my elbow. “You ready?”
I take a deep breath. Ground and center. Send out a pulse of magic—a silent spell for clarity and guidance and success.
And in return, the Devil card flashes through my mind. A reminder of what we had. Of who I am when I’m with him. Stronger, somehow. Less inhibited. Less afraid.
Devlin and I are over. I know that. But I feel him with me now anyway, whispering in my ear. Cheering me on. Reminding me that Icando this, that I have a voice, that people will listen if I’m willing to take the risk.
He was my friend before I fell for him, and it’s that friendship I think about now, drawing on his strength, borrowing a bit of his charisma. His big Devil energy.
I smile at Ricci. Nod. Take one more deep breath.
Together, we march into the mayor’s office—ignoring the half-hearted protests of her vampire assistant, Margo—and straight into the mayor’s private conference room. The place where she holds the budget meetings.
All heads turn to us. The Mayor herself. Brandt. A half-dozen other members of the town council—some of them owners of businesses on Brandt’s list, completely unaware that their fellow council member is working to sabotage them.
