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“It won’t work for long.”
She put it on her ring finger. “No, it doesn’t have a lot of magic left, but there is enough for me to use now and get out of here before you come after me.” She brought her finger to her mouth, and I noticed there was dry blood on her nail. “I also have this to sustain me.” She showed off the blood on her hands. “They give me strength, the young ones I kill. Now I’m able to fight you one-on-one.”
The alarm stopped. “Oh, thank—well, me.” She laughed. “Alexander must have made the boy turn off the alarm. They will be coming soon. I’m sure the townspeople will have heard it.”
I finally found my voice. Clearing my throat, I gripped the pistol with both hands, pointing it at them both. “You’re the goddess.”
“Good detective skills, sweetie.” She laughed. “That isn’t going to get you far.”
Would a bullet even hurt a goddess? “I’ll still shoot.”
“Go ahead.”
“Elle,” Viktor warned. “I need you to get out of here.”
Freya arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “I see what’s happening. You’re still trying to prove you’re a good person. My love, you can be many things, as we both know, but you’ll never be that. Now, stand aside so I can put this poor girl out of her misery.”
“Run!” he shouted as he lunged at her.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I lowered the pistol as I stumbled through the doorway. I headed for the front door but stopped. She’d said someone had Maddox. Alexander, I think.
Dammit.
I turned and ran down to the vaults. She’d said she wanted to get into them by killing us. I remember Edmund saying the coven was the life force of the magic that protected the objects. Without us, the barriers would fall. With Edmund and Dora out of town, I assumed the protection was left to us.
Normally, I’d never be allowed down there. Massive locked doors were my first barrier to them. “No, no, no.” I pounded on the door.
“Elle, don’t.” Maddox’s voice came from the other side. “I am being held captive in here. If you open the door, he will kill me.”
I wracked my brain for anything. “Freya sent me to tell you that… uh, he’s dead.” I didn’t know what I was saying, but I hoped it meant something. She clearly hated Viktor, whom I couldn’t even think about right now. She knew him. He was able to fight her. How? “She wants Alexander to bring you and me to the front.” I tried to overcome the shake in my tone. “Now that he’s dead.”
My body was shaking when the door finally pushed open. I breathed relief, but panic swallowed it. Now what?
A man with shoulder-length curly ash-blond hair with soft features and thick lips walked Maddox out, holding a dagger to his throat. Maddox’s pained look broke me. I forced tears back, not letting them break out. “This way,” I croaked.
He seemed unsure as he stepped past me. “You first. No funny business or I will kill him.” His accent was unique, from the far west of Istinia. It was bold with sharp Rs.
Before I knew what I was doing, I pointed the pistol at his shoulder, connected to the dagger-holding arm, and pulled the trigger. The shot reverberated through the room. He stumbled backward, dropping the dagger.
“Oh my gods, Elle.” Maddox looked from me to Alexander. “You-you shot him.”
I stared at the smoking pistol. Even I couldn’t quite believe it.
“We should go.” Maddox grabbed my hand, tightening his fingers around mine. As he pulled me forward, I dropped the now-useless pistol. It had only had one shot in it, as I’d stupidly not reloaded it the last time I’d used it.
“Where’s Viktor?” he asked as we fled for the front door. I couldn’t even get into that whole mess right now.
“Atrium. I—” A loud boom silenced me.
Maddox speared through air, flung from me, and landed against a wall. His head crunched when it hit the baseboard. My hand muffled my scream as my eyes widened, and a sob climbed up my throat from my sinking heart.
“Maddox!” I cried when Freya grabbed me by the throat and lifted me from the ground. Was he dead?
“Say good-bye.”
Viktor came from behind and pulled her from me. With a hand around her neck, he slammed her into the ground, cracking the floorboards to splinters.
I shimmied my way to Maddox’s side, holding his limp hand. Freya pulled herself from the dip in the floorboards at dizzying speed.
