A sudden biting sting in the right side of her neck had her flinching.
She reached up as the Empyreal removed a syringe, a familiar-looking coloured tonic inside.
Herfather’stonics?
‘What is that?’ Nicole slurred.
‘Just something to stop a nasty little transformation,’ Aífe answered from across the steaming water. ‘We found one of the vials left over from your little holiday in Verin’s house and had a play around to make them more effective. How does it feel?’
Like molten fire through her veins. Hot enough she nearly couldn’t stand it, strong enough that it blurred the world as it threw a cloak over her Empyrean power.
No.
No.
She willed her body to fight it, but she was suddenly soheavy. They must have given her a recklessly high dose, far more than her father had ever risked for fear of toxicity.
The Wake, of course, wouldn’t care what happened to her or her abilities.
‘I’m tired of waiting, Nicole,’ Aífe said, coming to stand before her father, the glint of her blade catching the light.
Then she brought the knife down, straight towards Nicole’s father’s chest.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
Nicole
NICOLE’S SCREAM ECHOED WITH BELLS’MUFFLED ONE ASAífe’s blade sank home. The woman had twisted her wrist at the last moment, which plunged the knife into Nicole’s father’s shoulder, not his heart. But it was close.
Too close.
Aífe yanked the knife out. Blood poured from his wound in such a furious dark tide that Nicole could barely breathe.
‘You win,’ she rasped, as her father tried to straighten, tried to keep his head up. They needed to get him medical attention,now. She had no idea how a Demon God healed. Not one who poisoned himself regularly to keep that power at bay.
How much time did they have?
Her vision blurred with furious, helpless tears as she looked into her father’s pained eyes, and struggled against the bruising grip the Empyreal had on her.
‘You’re right,’ Nicole panted. ‘There’s more and I can help you figure it out. Just please,please, let them go somewhere safe. Get someone to help him!’
‘And you’ll swear the oath?’ Aífe asked sweetly, the knife glinting a garish red with her father’s blood in the low light.
‘Yes.’
Bells sobbed. Their father swayed with the sudden blood loss.
Aífe’s eyes narrowed, pleased. ‘There. That’s all I wanted. And look at that, we’ve also discovered the difference between you and Freya.You’re just a girl. Angry, out of your depth. And outmanoeuvred. Now, get in the pool.’
The Empyreal behind Nicole dragged her up and shoved her closer to the steps, into the gently steaming water. The world spun and she staggered, her still-bound hands jerking.
She dug into herself, reaching for the gleaming power within that had saved her before, but it was weak, curled into itself in her solar plexus like a wounded animal.
She couldn’t even get a grip on a vision, an essence of Aífe’s past kills that could – if the woman wasn’t an Empyreal – transform Nicole. Last time she’d been in a life-or-death situation, her Empyreal had saved her.
But now … now that wasn’t going to happen.
Her heartbeat felt razored, each pump sending terror through her.
