Page 263 of Blackwood

The ones who soften must fall away.

Regret, guilt, mercy, let them die.

She’ll rise in ruin, not lullaby.”

Her head lifts. And then she nods. Tohim.

Mortal.

Fucking.

Kombat.

Laing strolls over like he’s the final boss, sleeves pushed up just enough to show the tail end of that smug-ass dragon. He’s calm, which somehow pisses me off more. All that military-grade posture and ice-cold stillness, like he’s already calculated the next ten moves on the board.

“I’ll do it, Sabine,” he says. “I can bring her back.”

My brain doesn’t even register the words before my body explodes.“The fuck you will!”

I charge him, but Cade catches me by the chest.

“Get him away from her!” I roar, shoving against Cade’s hold, eyes wild. “You think he’s the one?! You want that asshole anywhere near her? Touching her?”

Laing doesn’t move. He just watches me like he’s waiting for me to get it all out.

“She’s not yours to break. You so much as breathe wrong and I will put you through the fucking wall!”

Briggs and Khoza step in fast, grabbing my arms before I can lunge again.

“L’ombre, you cannot be the flame tonight.

Her wrath needs cold, not warmth or light.

You are the end, her soul’s last breath.

But first she must dance with rage and death.”

“I swear to God,” I twist hard, chest heaving, vision swimming. “I’ll kill him.”

“You can try,” Laing shrugs. “After I bring your girlfriend back.”

From the corner, Dr. Monroe stands up so fast his chair tips. “Nope. No. I will not be present for this voodoo-rooted, rage-fueled exorcism!” he announces, waving his hands in the air. “This is beyond my license. Beyond therapy. Beyond reality.I’m a doctor, not a damn soul wrangler!”

Nobody stops him. All eyes are on her. All tension points toward what’s coming.

Sabine turns back to Laing.

“She will hate you. She may fight.

May draw blood in the dying light.

But if her soul begins to burn,

The path will open. She may return.”

Laing nods.

Behind me, Cade’s breathing. Heaving. My chest is heaving. I don’t feel right. My own skin is a prison I’m desperate to escape. The impulse is a raw, primal roar inside me to stop this. Shut it down. End this now before he even thinks about fucking touching her.