Page 156 of Jagged Souls

He smiles. “Come on now. Use that big brain of yours.”

My eyes narrow, but I don’t let my annoyance get in the way. “When he supposedly cursed her?” I glance down at the book in my hand. “Breaking the blood bond requires a lot of power.” It could’ve pulled on hers, sapping her energy and making her think he’d cursed her. It could’ve pulled on his, killing him… or just making him seem dead.

“He never would’ve cursed her,” he says simply. “Like I said, he was disgustingly obsessed with her well-being.”

But that doesn’t tell me if he succeeded. I couldn’t feel Micha when she was in the Shadow Domain and I was here. We’re not fully bonded, so maybe that’s why, or maybe –

My heart skids to a stop as my eyes snap to his. “Why do you want to go into the Plane of Monsters?” I ask. Even if what he thinks is true, that Caden didn’t sacrifice himself to curse Mother, what can he possibly expect to find there? Either he was dead when she took him into her shadows, or he was close enough to it that the monsters would’ve made quick work of him.

Unless he failed. Unless the blood bond still runs through his veins, and Mother’s blood has kept him safe all this time.

Aleric’s grin widens, his dark-eyes growing wild. “He’s like a cockroach. I’d bet Vlad’s ballsack he’s still alive.”

“And you want to kill him,” I breathe. Mother said he has a map of the Plane of Monsters. He knows the world. He could hunt Caden down and make sure he’ll never be able to come home and save Sau from his ‘attentions.’

Aleric breaks out in laughter. “Not at all. I want to bring him back.” He scoffs. “Sau can’tchooseme if there’s no one to choose between. Duh.”

I stare at him in disbelief, then shake my head. If he wants to believe that Mother willeverbe tempted to choose him, that’s his delusion to bear. I need to focus on saving my wife.

“Do you know if he made another grimoire after this?” I demand, getting back onto the subject of what I came here for.

He shakes his head. “That was his last one, kiddo. There’s no more notes other than what’s in there.”

Meaning there’s no way to know if what he tried even worked. This book –this hopeisjust another dead end.

A fuckingdead. End.

My hand trembles from the agony, but I clench my fist until my knuckles turn white. Not letting it consume me.

Not letting it break me.

Because there is still one way to save her.

The blood bond won’t take her life if I give up mine.

So if the time comes where I use too much, it will not be her who dies.

Forty-Six

HIM

I step out of Aleric’s house to find Khalid waiting for me by my car. His eyes are hard as he looks me over, no doubt checking to see if I’m hurt. Enoch is beside him, smelling as if he’s been scolded; his hormones all over the place. Shame. Guilt. Embarrassment. Frustration. And worry.

“You should have woken me,” Enoch says. He’s my new bodyguard, the new reaper now that Leno’s dead and Khalid has been forced to become secondborn.

“You should’ve known,” Khalid corrects, his voice flat as he opens the door to the driver’s seat. A silent demand for us all to get in so he can scold us in private. If the vampires think there is any discord amongst our ranks, they might think we’re divided enough to attack.

Wincing, Enoch starts to reach for the passenger door, knowing this is unavoidable, but a quick glance from Khalid has him freezing.“Shit,”he thinks – his thoughts written all over his face.

He looks back at me. The reaper isn’t to get in until I do. He’s to keep an eye on my surroundings, ready to intercept any threat – which means waiting for me outside of the car, not in it.

He shouldn’t be in this role.

Leno –

My throat tight, I look at Khalid. “He drives.”

His lips tighten, but he nods at Enoch. After I slip into the backseat, Khalid mirrors me on the other side. Usually, I drive as I’m the weakest link. If we’re attacked, the stronger ones should be free to defend us, but Enoch can drive with his telekinesis and still attack too, and I want to see the soul dolls.