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“I don’t want people to die,” I whisper.
“You killed enough yourself,” one of the wolves says.
I wince at the hate in its voice.
“That’s enough,” John roars. The witches look at him before they focus on me. “You will respect Talia,” he says. “She is queen.” Everyone goes quiet. The witches nod their heads in agreement, but the wolves grumble in discontentment.
“She is notourqueen.”
“But she is,” he argues. “She is queen to us all, and you will respect her, or you will be at her mercy. We wanted a ruler who would be fair, and this is what we got.”
“You are our ruler,” one of the wolves says.
“I am your alpha, and I will always be, but this is our queen.” Someone starts clapping, and we all turn to see who it is. When the crowd parts, we see Valefar grinning at us.
“What a great speech. And it’s expected for every queen to go a little crazy like your new one did. I mean, she did almost destroy an entire race.” He smiles and looks at Melvon. “Tell me, do you hate your new queen?” Everyone waits to hear what Melvon will say.
He turns from Valefar and faces me. “She is our queen,” he says.
“That wasn’t the question I asked. But that is enough of an answer for me to know you do,” Valefar states.
Tanya turns her confused expression on Melvon, then reaches for him. He leans down and whispers in her ear, and she shakes her head at his words and looks back at me.
Valefar turns to study the york. When he does, it transforms from Max into an unfamiliar man. Valefar approaches the barrier, careful not to come into contact with it. The york says his name and reaches for him.
“I heard Father speaking of this,” he says and nods to it. “I wanted to see him one last time.” I come up and stop beside him. “He was a demon, an amazing one. Climbing up the ladder, as you might say.” He laughs. “I would dare say he could have given me a run for my money, but we all know that’s a lie. I’m amazing.” He winks at me and looks back at the york. “I loved him. As much as a demon can love someone with a black heart.”
“How did he die?” I ask.
“Witches,” he replies, his eyes still on the york. “They trapped him and killed him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What Father forgot to tell you, or perhaps didn’t know, is that in order to take from it as it does from you, you need to make it whole.” I wait for him to continue. “You think it’s whole when it takes the form of someone, but it’s not fully whole. You need to make it that way.”
“And how do you do that?”
Valefar leans in close to my ear and whispers so only I can hear, “I can hear the heartbeat.”
I suck in a breath at his words. He pulls away and smiles at me. “You need to make it whole by letting it touch you, but you also risk it taking from you.” He looks at my stomach. “I’m guessing this is why Father warned you away.” I nod my head. “You risk it taking another life before your own,” he says on another low whisper.
I gasp and take a half step back.
The thing smiles at him, and Valefar turns to face me.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask.
“You will be the queen of this world, and one day I will be King of Hell. I think we’ll be amazing allies.” He winks before he disappears.
“What did he say?” Tatiana asks as she approaches.
“He told me how to kill it.”
“And?”
“And… I think I can do it.”
The york has once again turned into our mother, offering her hand to both of us. When we don’t take the bait, I watch as it morphs into Patrick. Tatiana sucks in a breath next to me, not expecting that, and my heart hurts a little at seeing him.
