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“She’s like me!” Amaliya cried out. “I can’t abandon her! Our roles could have been so easily reversed. Why did I rise in three nights when she didn’t?”

“Jeff thinks it’s because you suppressed all your magical abilities and were living as a human. All accounts about Bianca are that she was struggling constantly with what she was, Liya. She was severely haunted by her power.”

A vivid memory of Bianca stepping out in front of her on the last day of her life sprang into her mind. The hesitant nervousness of the other girl had been off-putting. Bianca had tried to talk to her. She had said something, then The Summoner had come out of the building.

“I think she tried to save me,” Amaliya said, her voice catching.

“What?”

Though her death was shrouded in a haze, Amaliya had distorted dreams of dying. Sometimes, she saw flashes of Bianca’s face. “I think Bianca tried to warn me about The Summoner. I think she may have tried to save me, but failed.”

“You never said this before.” Cian’s brow furrowed beneath the fringe of his hair.

“It’s always been a really messed up memory. More a dream than anything, but I think it’s real.” Running her trembling fingers through her hair, Amaliya held her long tresses back from her face. “Shit, Cian. I can’t just abandon her!”

“But you also can’t go off half-assed,” Cian retorted. “You can’t go running off to rescue her when we don’t even know where she is. And how are you going to remove The Summoner from her body?”

With a cry of anger, Amaliya slammed the side of her fist against the building next to her. There was a loud crack as a spider web of fissures formed in the bricks. He was right and it infuriated her. Her inclination was to commandeer his car and drive immediately to San Antonio. But she knew that was foolhardy.

“We’ll sort this out together,” Cian said calmly, but with steel in his tone.

With an exasperated sigh, Amaliya stared past him, her vision blurred by the tears in her eyes. “I’m not going to kill him if she’s still trapped inside her own body.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it. I won’t kill her, Cian. I won’t sacrifice her for him.” Too many people had already died trying to save Amaliya’s life. She wasn’t about to let Bianca die a second time.

“I understand. We’ll find a way.” He met her glare with a steady gaze. “I promise you.”

The fight left her at his vow. The one thing Cian never did was let her down. Once he committed to doing something, he did it. He wasn’t lying to get her to not do something foolish.

“I won’t bullshit you on this.” Cian gave her a weary smile. “I know that if I did it would backfire immediately.”

“I’d go to San Antonio and find a way to save her.”

“Or die trying.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re incredibly, annoyingly stubborn.”

“Fucking-A.”

Cian dragged her into his arms, his lips pressed to her forehead. Wrapping her in his embrace, he rocked her gently. “I love you for it even if it scares me to death.”

“Sucks to be you.” Amaliya twined her arms around his neck and allowed herself to calm down. If she wanted to, she could keep her anger going for hours, but it wasn’t worth it. In the end Cian would help her disengage The Summoner from Bianca’s body and she would save the world.

“It’s as simple as that,” Cian agreed.

“Exactly.”

Chapter 17

Roberto prowled around the bedroom Samantha shared with Jeff, ignoring the cat sitting in the middle of the bed hissing at him. The ghost’s body was frayed around the edges and his face tended to be out of focus, but it was almost like the old days when Roberto and Samantha had given each other hell. Though she was grateful he had agreed to help her, he was already on her nerves.

Throwing out his arms, he declared, “It’s so...plebian.”

“Fuck you,” Samantha automatically answered.