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A fit of hysterical laughter bubbled over my lips. “You kill two people, shoot my husband, tried to kill me, and nowyou want my help? Youareinsane.”
“I know I’ve screwed things up royally, but—”
A howl ripped through the trees in the distance. Poppet froze, her eyes wide. My heart soared. I knew that howl. In the last five years, I’d spent no more than an hour with Jackson in his wolf form, but the sound of his howl resonated in my bones, the tone penetrating me to the core.
My lips turned up in a smile. “You might want to run while you still can.”
“If you won’t help me, then I don’t have a choice. I can’t fight her off anymore,” she pulled a two-tone crystal from her pocket. It was the size of a small tube, no thicker than a pencil.
I arched an eyebrow. “A flare? You think that’s gonna help against a pack of werewolves?”
“You should have listened to me.” She shook her head and twirled the tube around in the palm of her hand. “There’s so much you still don’t know. I would’ve explained it all, but you had to run. You had to call the dogs.”
“You’re right. There’s a lot I don’t know. For example, where did you go after Viktor died? Why did I forget you again? Why stalk me instead of just telling me who you were? All of this could’ve been so much easier, but now…” The howl sounded again, and a series of others followed it, each one coming from a different direction. “Now, the cavalry is on its way. The pack is closing in. You’re not gonna get away with kidnapping me or shooting Jack. You’ll pay for your crimes.”
Poppet’s eyes narrowed. “You’d really let your own sister get mauled to death by a bunch of werewolves?”
“Up until an hour ago, I thought I was an only child.” I shrugged. Telling her I’d ordered them to spare her life would ruin the intimidation.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. This’ll be over before you know it.” She took the tube into both of her hands and pressed her thumbs to the center. The crystal shattered with an audible pop and a flash of white light shot into the air.
I rolled my eyes. “Who are you calling?”
“Do you even care?” Her eyes lifted from the ground, and fresh tears trailed over her cheeks. “The wolves will come, they’ll die, and all of this will be over.”
“What are you talking about?” Her entire demeanor had shifted in the span of a few seconds. She’d gone from a twitchy, angry, and manic kidnapper, to a creature of sadness.
“The woman you saw in your memory, the one Viktor sold me to, sold me again after she left that shop. She had debts your precious uncle didn’t know about. The woman that raised me jumped at the chance to own a Devereaux. She was thrilled. Wielding that kind of power in the depths of the market can buy you a lot.” She shifted her weight and scanned the trees.
“She used you.” I sighed, as some of the pieces started to click together for me.
She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. She paused only long enough to clear her throat. “Which is all well and good, except, you see, I wasn’t the Devereaux my owner wanted. She wanted the most powerful of us, and that’s not me. It’s certainly not Astrid, so that leaves you. Viktor wanted you, Jackson wants you, and now myownerwants you. Like I said earlier, it must be nice.”
34
Bells
I opened my mouth to say more, to ease her pain somehow, but what could I say? I knew this wasn’t going to end well. Whoever she’d called would arrive soon, and if she was afraid of them, neither Poppet nor her friend would make things any easier for me or the pack.
I pushed my weight down into the balls of my feet, standing up, but the ground shook and its abrupt motion sent me staggering to the side.
“What the hell?” I grabbed a tree to steady myself. “An earthquake? Seriously?”
“First comes earth, then comes air.” Poppet sighed. Wind cut through the woods, swirling a torrent of leaves into the sky. Her hair tangled in her face and she closed her eyes. “Water follows and then from the fire, she rises.”
I watched the sunlight pouring through the canopy start to fade. “Poppy, what’ve you done? What have you summoned?”
“Don’t call me that,” she said, her eyes opening and flashing with fresh anger. “You had your chance to be my sister, and you ran.”
Thunder cracked overhead, and rain struck the ground, breaking through the leaves. My heart wedged its way into my throat. I couldn’t stop thinking about the demon walking around in Nadia’s flesh. Was this how she called it? Was she going to scrape away my soul, hollow out my body, and replace it?
Lightning flashed, and an overwhelming burst of heat threw me from my feet. My shoulders slammed into a tree, and the world went white. My ears rang with the sound of bells: a full Notre Dame chorus inside my skull. My vision returned, and squinting through the rain, I spotted Poppet leaning against another tree. She seemed unphased by the sudden storm. The rain soaked her hair into a dark veil around her face.
Between us stood a tall woman wearing a jewel-encrusted jade green turban. Her cheeks were marked with lines, like the ones lining Poppet’s fingers. A black-furred robe was pulled tight around her skeletal frame, and her eyes glowed yellow, bisected by black reptilian vertical slits.
“Okay,” I grumbled under my breath. “Not a demon. I guess that’s good. But…fae. Definitely fae.”
The woman’s eyes flashed green and a sharp clang slammed against my eardrums. I cringed and curled into a ball. Poppet flinched but didn’t leave her place against the tree.
