Page 36 of Broken Shadows (Corrupt Shadows Duet #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Evie

My heart withers as I crouch in the shadows of the barely illuminated cold stone chamber. I wish I could look away but I can’t.

A small smile curves my lips as a kernel of smugness preens that the plan might actually work. By now Lucifer should be in place, listening to the putrid web of lies and deception his lover spun, and waiting for my signal.

City destroying levels of rage rise beneath my skin the longer I watch, my magic pushing angrily against my confines as Evangeline lusts after Lorcan. My demon held captive in the fucking cage that haunts him like an enthusiastic poltergeist. Power hums from the bars with invisible waves, like heat rippling above pavement.

Not only did she destroy Lorcan’s family, she violated him while I was in the same fucking castle.

I will my side of our bond to remain closed and silent, locking away the part of myself that feels everything too intensely, while the remainder—and larger portion—screams into the night for blood.

Evangeline laughs and flaps a hand coyly. “Anyway, it was then that I knew I had to use your other brothers as well if I were to get what I deserve: You and the crown.” Eva leans forward, delusion clouding her eyes and unrequited love seeping from her every pore.

And there it is.

The proof we’ve been waiting for.

I roll back my shoulders, take in a breath, then shed any reticence, unleashing the real me.

My.

True.

Bloodthirsty.

Dark.

Self.

Lorcan growls in pain as I stalk towards Evangeline, my light footsteps lost in the sounds, shadows streaming off me like ribbons. Everything around me sharpens as I glance at Lorcan’s broken body, then quickly look away. My fingers curl and my upper lip pulls back.

I can’t wait to fucking kill her.

I stab my fingers into her hair, yank her away from the cage, and slam her face into the bars with a resounding crunch. Goosebumps ripple down my tattooed arms and a grin blossoms across my face as blood splatters in every direction.

“Evie,” Lorcan croaks, but I resist meeting his eyes.

I hold her against the wards, perhaps enjoying her flailing arms a little too much. While the bitch may not have any magic left, she still houses the essence of a witch, and the wards know it. She screams and thrashes as I lean into her back and shove her harder into the searing magic.

Evangeline struggles against me. “You little bitch. Lorcan is mine .”

I sigh, then lower my mouth to her ear. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. He loves me so much that he…” I pause, “Imprinted. On. Me.”

“What!?” she screeches. “No! That’s not possible.” She drags her nails into my forearms and spittle flies with her hurried words. “I hexed him over a century ago. If he wouldn’t love me, then I made sure he couldn’t love anyone.”

I shake my head and tsk. “Unfortunately, your time for scheming and lording power over others has run out.” Some of her hair rips free and she hisses as I twist her head around to face me. “Meet your fucking executioner.”

“No! No, no, no, please! I’ll do anything.”

My shadows circle her torso, tossing her to the stone floor. “That’s fucking obvious. You’re wasting your final breaths; nothing will change my mind.”

Evangeline curls into a trembling ball on her side, urine puddling beneath her. “Please, don’t do this!”

I laugh hollowly. “You’re pathetic.”

Lucifer blurs down the stairs, unforgiving malice in his eyes.

My aunt struggles to her knees and reaches for him. “Help me, Luce!

“She’s fucking psychotic,” Lorcan shouts. “Don’t believe anything out of this whore’s mouth. She made Samuel believe she’s in love with him and used him. Then, under your supposed orders, had me forced into the Shadow Realm for a century because of some made up bullshit that I’m after your throne. All in a sick vengeance because I didn’t love her back. I’m sorry, Dad, but she manipulated you too.”

His clawed hands curl at his sides, but pain burns behind his silver eyes as they flash to Evangeline, tears gathering along his lower lashes. “How could you, Eva? You told my boys that Lorcan was after my throne?”

“No. I-I didn’t do anything! I promise, please believe me,” Evangeline blubbers.

Lucifer’s gaze drops to the floor, and he shakes his head slowly. “I trusted you.”

Evangeline sobs and crawls to him, ugly crocodile tears mixed with snot running down her face. “N-no, please. I would never do anything to h-h-hurt you or your s-sons.”

“How could I ever forgive you, when I’ll never forgive myself,” Lucifer says, slicing into her with words so even and impossibly calm it floods my bloodstream with adrenaline and sends my nervous system into a fight-or-flight frenzy. “You are despicable. I know the truth as I heard every single damming word from your own lips. You believed yourself in love with my son and destroyed him for it. Then you made me believe you loved me, all so you could get close enough to punish him.” Lucifer’s voice deepens, the sound bitterly cold and hollow, devoid of its usual warmth. That’s when I see the devil, the release of that untapped power, come to the surface and, for the first time since meeting Lucifer, I’m afraid.

His eyes blacken to the color of charcoal. “There is only one punishment that will suffice.”

Lorcan chuckles. “Fuck, that's really too bad.”

His father takes a large step towards my great aunt, then whirls in a movement too quick to track. I blink and find Lucifer across the room, growling at a narrow-eyed Samuel as he pins him to the wall with invisible hands.

Right on schedule. I laugh, then drag my stare leisurely toward Evangeline once more. Evangeline cracks open her poisonous mouth, but I've heard quite enough. My death magic surges past her lips and down her throat as my shadows stringing her up by her wrists.

A scream tears from Samuel but is swiftly muted as Lucifer gags him with a shadow.

Out of my peripheral, smoke rises from Lorcan’s hands as he clutches the bars in his fists, an encouraging, growl on his lips. “Fuck yes, Little Witch. End this so we can be rid of her for good.”

I grab her square jaw and glare into her hateful brown eyes, the same shade as my own, then shape every bit of suffering caused by her hand into something malicious and dark. My death magic absorbs the offering greedily, then slowly, achingly so, incinerates her organs one by one. Her skin bubbles with blisters as the heat inside her grows so hot I can feel it kiss my skin from a yard away.

Evangeline’s cries of anguish trickle over me like soft, soothing rain. Her skin incrementally flushes pink, to red, and dark satisfaction curves my lips as my death magic burns her alive from the inside out.

It’s not enough.

I stroll around her immobile form. “You committed countless acts of evil,” I pause, “but it’s all justified because you were doing it out of love, right ?”

Evangeline whimpers and chokes on the blood dribbling past her lips.

I will my magic forward, crafting a crown of shadows around her head. I squeeze the band across her brow tighter with each beat of her atrocious heart.

Lorcan’s probing stare warms the side of my face as I cross my arms over my chest and a cruel smile tilts my lips. “How does the weight of the monarchy feel now, Evangeline?”

The resounding crack of bone reverberates through my eardrums and slices through her panicked gurgles. My steps halt as I take in her glazed eyes and slack jaw, tilting my head to examine her neck. I nod as I note the pulse thrumming away beneath her skin. “Oh, good, you’re still alive.”

Lorcan’s hoarse laughter floats across me like a caress.

“Can't have you dying just yet.” I look over at Lucifer and hold his stare. “Dad, toss me your blade?”

The devil’s hard gaze softens, and a genuine smile curls his lips before he lobs the sheathed blade at me.

I snatch it out of the air and turn Evangeline upside down with my shadows, willing my magic to wrangle her limbs. Her arms straighten perpendicularly with the floor, then my shadows pin her legs together vertically.

My head shakes and I cackle. Evangeline exudes the dark energy a sacrifice draws from its victims—a rare true visage in blood, like a fucked up, gory crucifix.

“Shit, I was going to say burn in Hell, but you're already here.” I laugh and slash the demonic blade across her throat.

Evangeline’s blood sprays my chest in an arc of magnificent carnage. I close my eyes and absorb her last moments, my magic swirling back into me.

I open my eyes as an extended creak of metal hinges shatters the spell death has cast, holding us in its thrall. Lorcan stumbles through the open door of the cage and I hurry over to him, throwing his heavily tattooed arm over my shoulder. His weight nearly knocks me over as we move to the stone stairs, and I help him sit down.

I move to sit beside him, but Lorcan grabs my wrist and tugs me onto his lap instead. Our breaths mingling as reality settles around us. Stubble scrapes my palms as I cup his cheeks and kiss him gently, mindful of his dry, cracked lips.

Lorcan started healing the moment he stepped from the wards of his cage, but his magic was so depleted the process takes far longer than usual.

Evangeline is finally fucking dead. And I was the one to end her.

I look into his consuming eyes and hold his intense gaze. “She’s dead.”

A sexy, heart-stopping, boyish grin transforms Lorcan’s face, those damn dimples bracketing his smile. “Yes, she fucking is.” Adjusting me so my side rests against his chest and my legs drape over his thighs, he pulls me to him and buries his face in my hair, heedless of how filthy it is. “Thank you, Evie.”

Lucifer snaps and Samuel drops to the stone floor in a heap of limbs, then he literally grabs his son by the nape of his neck and tosses him into the cage. The door slams shut with a final, jarring clank, the bars glow and Lucifer hisses as he pours his magic into the wards and imprisons Samuel.

“Dad! Please, don’t leave me down here!”

Lucifer sighs, long and deep, through his nose. “Not only is everything you’ve done to Lorcan unforgivable, but you tried to tear apart our family. A crime like that cannot be forgiven.” He pauses, then eviscerates Samuel with a hard stare and a shake of his head. “I’m so disappointed in you, Samuel.”

Evie snorts down the bond. Fuck. When Satan says he’s disappointed in you… just… fuck.

“You can’t do this! I’m your son. Please…” Samuel trails off into hacking sobs.

“A few centuries of solitude is only the beginning of your punishment, My Boy.”

I look over my shoulder as we leave what’s left of Evangeline’s corpse. “Should we do anything with the body?”

Lucifer sighs, his shoulders falling. “No. The stench of her decomposition will only aid in my son’s punishment.” He glances over at my demon, lips twitching, and waves a hand at his eldest. Joggers manifest on the lower half of Lorcan’s body. “I can’t have my son walking around, his bits exposed.”

Lorcan and I trudge up the stairs until the damn cage is out of sight before his dad pulls him into a bear hug. “I am so sorry, My Lorcan.”

“I know, and it’s not your fault. I’m just fucking glad the bitch is dead,” Lorcan says hoarsely, words breaking in places.

Lucifer offers me a watery smile over my demon’s shoulder, then passes the torch to Lorcan and vanishes.

“Just a second, Little Witch,” Lorcan says with a smirk, then slowly walks down the stairs and stops before the cage and tucks his hands into his pockets.

I follow but remain a few stairs above him.

“What kind of big brother would I be if I forgot to say goodbye?” Samuel sniffs but doesn’t respond. “Do you hear that dripping sound, Envy?

Samuel spits on the ground, then snarls. “Fuck off.”

Lorcan chuckles and continues like his brother never spoke, but his deep voice frosts over. “Now that I’ve pointed it out, it’s the only fucking thing you’ll ever hear.” He pauses, expels a satisfied exhale, and leans closer to the bars. “Drip. Drip. Drip.—That’s the sound of your life rotting away.”

My demon turns back to me, then I ease us into the In-Between, deep, impenetrable darkness enveloping the cage.