Page 37 of Hexbound

"I'd hoped you were dead," he told her coldly, stepping forward. She might hold Cleo as her pawn, but he'd wanted this chance all his life.

Morgana flung something from her fingers—a tangled knot of sorcery that darted straight past Sebastian. Cleo gasped behind him and tumbled to her knees. That alone halted the building power in its tracks, his vision clearing as he realized where he was.

"The next one goes straight through her heart," Morgana promised. "At least my sorcery seems to have survived the attack intact."

Damn her. His fist clenched. Just one strike. That was all it would take to destroy the bitch.

Cleo cried out behind him, and the breath went out of him. He didn't care if he died, as long as he took Tremayne and Morgana with him.

But Cleo was innocent, a light in a world of darkness. He couldn't force himself to bring any harm to her.

Sebastian slowly lowered his head and let go of the pulse of energy that whirled within him. Surrender. But what other option did he have? "Let her go."

Morgana wheeled herself forward, a smile on her full mouth. Her spell work faded, and Cleo pushed herself to her hands and knees.

He didn't go to her, or help her to her feet. Just watched as she struggled upright.

"Sebastian," his wife whispered, reaching for him.

"Get out of here," he told her coldly. "This is good-bye."

"I don't want you to do this!"

"Then you should never have involved yourself in my affairs."

"Hand me the ring, Sebastian," Morgana crooned.

"Just another minute," he told her. "The second she gets in the carriage."

"Don't trust me?"

"Not an inch," he said, casting her a dark look.

That all too-smug smile on her face threatened him. She was up to something.

"After all," he said, pushing her a little. "It's surprising to see you let her go. Cleo has a talent that far surpasses my own. She's either a useful ally or a dangerous enemy, and I know how you prefer your enemies."

"Oh, Sebastian." Here came the knife in the back, he just knew it. "Everybody has a weakness. You just have to know how to use it."

Cleo's cry of shock stole his breath. Sebastian spun toward her, power clenched in his fist.

But there was no enemy. Nothing to fight. Only Tremayne, brandishing the blindfold that he'd torn from his daughter's eyes.

Cleo blinked, crying out and clapping her hands to her eyes.

Her eyes were brown. The darkest kind, like molten chocolate... so pretty. But never meant to be seen.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded, staring at Cleo as Tremayne shoved her into the carriage.

"It was the first thing she ever Foretold as a little girl," Morgana gloated, watching Tremayne stride back across the lawn toward them. "If she ever saw the world again, her visions would vanish and she would be the all-knowing Cassandra no more. So you see," Morgana pushed on her wheels, guiding her chair back into the house. "Your pretty young wife is no longer a tool, or a weapon. Now, she's merely nothing."

"No," Sebastian whispered, but as he took a step toward his wife, hands caught at him, dragging him back. A ting sounded as the ring dropped from his lax hand and hit the tiles, rolling toward his mother's chair, where she bent and picked it up. The servants overwhelmed him with blank looks on their faces, as if they'd been spelled into submission. He was shoved inside the house.

And his mother slid the controlling ring on her finger with a smug look. "Now, Sebastian... it's time to repay your betrayal tenfold."

And he began to scream as pain obliterated his senses.

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