Page 311 of Sorrow & Strangers

“Just give her a minute.”

Rafe sighs, closing his eyes. “I don’t like it.”

“Well, I’m sure she doesn’t like that ‌you’re going to Hell.”

“I didn’t know she wouldn’t be able to visit,” Rafe snarls, lifting his head from the door.

“Would that have stopped you?” the stranger asks, his hand tightening on my hip. “From making the deal?”

Rafe doesn’t answer, but we all know it wouldn’t have changed anything. Rafe presses his back to the door and slides down it to sit on the floor. It reminds me of when Connor did that last year after his brothers stood outside his room recording the sounds of us having sex at some stupid party.

I sigh and squeeze his shoulder before going back to my room. The stranger closes the door as I sit on the bed before coming to sit next to me. I feel comforted in the way the mattress dips beneath his weight. Brushing my fingers over the halo, I twist it around my wrist until I find the small dent, lost in thought.

“What is it?” the stranger asks.

“Were we right to do it?” I ask, still looking at the halo.

“To fight?” he asks, wrapping his arm around my back and pulling me against his side.

“It was the only way for Alice to gain her birthright,” I say with a small nod. “But Rafe’s going to Hell and the dark fae⁠—”

He cups my cheeks and turns my head to face him. “And Alice now has a home. A home that you gave her. Rafe made a deal, and as stupid as it was, I would have made a deal ten times worse to save you.” I blink back tears, and he leans in to press his lips to my forehead. “You made the right choice, but it is a bittersweet victory.” The stranger drops his hand, and I look back down at the halo. “It’s a heavy choice,” he says, brushing his fingers along my hip. “There is no other result that could have been but this one.”

I nod, a tear sliding down my cheek. This summer, I will be without Alice. There is a possibility I could go to Drãculea, but it wouldn’t be fair of me to pull her away from her work, and now I will also be without Rafe. The stranger scoops me into his arms and sits me on his lap, nuzzling his face against my head.

“I’m here, princess.” The tears start to fall in earnest, and he digs his fingers into my hair, pressing my face into his neck. “I’m here.”

“I know it’s stupid, but I feel like I’ve lost both of them,” I say between small hiccuping sobs. I’ve been alone before. Truthfully, I’ve been alone most of my life, but to be alone now? Knowing what it feels like not to be?

“I know, little fae.”

“I don’t want to be alone again.”

“I’ll be here.”

He’s right. I do have him, and I have the Morningstars. I even have Mira, though I don’t know her all that well yet, but if she’s Rafe’s, then she is also mine. It’s comforting to know that I will never be alone again. Not with him here, not with my family in Eden, and even if Alice and Rafe are physically gone, I know they will always be with me.

Chapter One Hundred Thirty

Rafe

“You prepared to make this deal, sweet boy?” Uncle Lu asked, even as the battle raged around us. No one dared come close to him, not even the crazed vampires or reckless dark fae. This is the King of Hell here for his heir, and even if they didn’t recognize him, they felt the sweeping power that stirred within him. “There is no going back once a deal is struck with me.”

I grit my teeth, keeping my eyes defiantly on my uncle even as I hear Mira whimpering in pain somewhere. His onyx eyes and hair stand out even within the chaos of the throne room, swallowing all light that comes close. I can’t hear Alice or Summer, so I don’t know if they are . . . No, I can’t go there. I still have time.

“For a month, I’ll serve as your heir,” I grind out.

He tsks. “You’ll need to do better than that.”

Fuck, I knew he would try to haggle, and right now, he has me in a position where I can’t exactly say no, and he knows it.

“Fine, the entire summer break,” I offer desperately. I don’t want to think about how long that will be in Hell for me. Time works differently there.

He smirks, his eyes flashing that deadly black-red combo. Hellfire in its purest form lives in Uncle Lu’s eyes. Since I am his heir, will it live in me too? “And in exchange?”

“Kill them all.” I don’t know who said the words, me or the demon inside me, but I don’t call them back or ask him to spare anyone, because they do not deserve to be spared.

His smirk turns menacing, and glee flashes in his eyes. This is the King of Hell from legend, who will one day meet my father on a battlefield, and for a moment I can see his onyx armor clashing against our dad’s gold.