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I cup the side of his damp face. “Is that enough?”
He stares up through unseeing eyes. His pupils are pinpricks set within irises as gray as sludge.
“Are you alright?” I whisper.
“One more,” he rasps.
I shake my head. “But—”
“Just to be certain.”
My gaze drops down to his chest, which is now devoid of black markings and color.
“You’ve lost your erection. And your tattoos.”
The Boogie Man’s eyes roll backward, his wings crumpling. His entire head submerges into the water and his body sinks like a stone.
I’m about to tumble after him but pain slices across my shoulder blades, and I sprout a pair of wings. They flare out, keeping me a foot above the water’s surface.
As the Boogie Man disappears into the lake’s depths, I surge forward, but the wings hold me back.
“No!”
Did I just kill the Boogie Man?
ChapterForty-Six
ALIENOR
A cold fist of terror clenches my heart at the sight of his plummeting body. I plunge my arms into the water to catch him before he reaches the bottom of the lake.
The moment I submerge my elbows, my new wings hoist me toward the sky.
“No,” I scream, my voice hoarse.
It takes several seconds of thrashing to work out how to fold the wings behind my back, and after a few false starts, I dive into the lake.
The water is even colder beneath the surface, but I barely feel the chill against my newly toughened skin. As I slice through the current, I catch sight of my fingers. They’re just like his—black and tipped with claws.
An ache spreads across my chest, filling my heart with regret. If I had known the Boogie Man wanted me to leave him powerless, I would never have agreed to the sex magic.
Sunlight streams through the lake’s surface, illuminating my way, but my eyesight is so sharp that I can see in the gloom. Down below, a dark figure sinks at an alarming rate, making my pulse quicken.
I swim harder, stretch out my arms, and close my fingers around his hand. It’s cold, stiff, lifeless.
My heart sinks.
He can’t be dead.
With one mighty flap of my wings, I shoot through the water, holding onto the Boogie Man’s hand. We break the surface, and I lay him on a lily pad.
He’s motionless, his skin as pale as death, with his black hair limp around his head like a shroud. His chest lies unmoving, devoid of markings. Even his wings are gone.
I roll him onto the side and push a pulse of magic into his back. His body spasms with a jolt, but there’s no sign of breath.
The backs of my eyes burn, but I won’t let the tears fall. It wasn’t meant to be like this. We were supposed to be together. The Boogie Man wouldn’t sacrifice himself just to give me magic. Maybe I did something wrong.
“Wake up.” I place a hand on his cold cheek.
