Page 122 of Alastair

“You have my word.” Sirena nodded.

“Just spill it, Pride,” Baxter said, his mismatched eyes tapering.

However, before I got the chance to answer, Clara gasped and pushed back from the desk. “I just read what this spell does.” She slammed her hands on top of the book, her expression somewhere between shock and anger. “You’re out of your damn mind if you expect me to help you do it.”

“Do what?” Baxter asked.

“Our souls will be merged with Night Fall,” I explained. “We will become part of the sword. That’s what will give it the power to kill Lucifer.”

“Okay…” Baxter tugged a hand through his pink-and-black hair. “So you’ll be sucked into the sword and then released once the job’s done?”

“No.” I pressed closer to Lazarus, suddenly feeling a bit weak in the knees. My gaze trailed back to the sword. “Our souls will fill the stones in the hilt and remain there.”

“Maybe I can undo the spell once Lucifer’s dead and return your souls to your body.” Clara flipped through the book again, her hands shaking. Tears flooded her green eyes. “Dammit! There has to be a way. It’s magic, for crying out loud.”

“The spell is forbidden for a reason,” Lazarus said, and his arm tightened around me. “Because once cast, it can’t be undone.”

“Then I won’t do it,” Clara said, slamming the book shut. “Lucifer can take over the world. I don’t care. I’m not losing my boys.”

“But you gotta.” Gray stood from the rug and padded over to her. She threw her arms around him and hid her face in his tousled blond hair. “You’re the only one who can do this.”

She only squeezed him tighter. Said nothing. But I knew she would agree. I had seen it after all. Every excruciating detail.

“Your mates don’t know, do they?” Baxter asked. “That’s why you want us to keep it quiet.”

Bellamy gripped the key around his neck, something he often did when thinking of his demon. “No. They don’t know.”

“Don’t you think you should tell them?”

Castor fidgeted with his golden dagger. “And tell them what exactly? Hey, we’re going to sacrifice ourselves to save the world, but we won’t die. It will just seem like we did. Goddammit!” He threw the dagger, lodging it into the wall in front of him, and slumped forward on the couch, hands going over his face. “I hate this.”

Baxter looked at the dagger jutting from the wall. I was sure he’d give Castor shit for it later, but he held his tongue for now.

Clara kissed Gray on the cheek before pulling away and turning her back to us as she wiped at her face. Sirena rested a hand on Clara’s side, her expression sympathetic. It was rare to see Sirena show any kind of softness.

Much like the angel at my side. I pressed my face into Lazarus’ neck, breathing him in.

“You seem so happy, Al,”Bellamy told me telepathically.

I looked at him. He stood across the room beside Daman. Both stared at me.

“Just as you all are happy with your mates.”

Galen growled. “If we’re done here, I’m leaving.” He stormed toward the door and slammed it on his way out. Beneath his angry outburst? I felt his heartache. Time with our mates was drawing to an end, and he didn’t want to waste a second with Simon.

Daman looked as if he wanted to leave too, but he stayed in place. He and Warrin couldn’t be apart for long before he became restless. Even more so now.

“How long do I have to decide?” Clara asked.

“I’m not sure,” I answered. “In the vision, the battle took place beneath a moonless sky. There were stars though. No clouds.”

“So, a new moon?” Clara’s brow pulled together as she thought. “I’ll need to check my lunar calendar to see when the next one is. But there was still snow on the ground?”

“Yes.”

She grabbed her phone off the desk and tapped at the screen. After a minute or so, she made a face. “Hmm.”

“What is it?” Gray popped up beside her to peek at her phone. “Oh. No pictures, just boring words.”