Page 134 of Soulbound

"Yes. I cast you out." In the real world, she turned to look into the demon's horrified eyes. "You have your sacrifice."

Cleo drove the Blade into her own chest, shoving it down deep into her shadow self. The black queen screamed.

* * *

"Cleo!" Sebastian yelled, as she drove the Blade into her chest, sinking it up to the hilt. The demon bellowed in rage, sinking to its knees, its skin rippling violently.

No. He scrambled to catch her, to stem the blood, to save her, somehow... but those dark eyes were suddenly locking on his face as if she saw him again. His Cleo. Not the black queen.

And she drew the Blade of Altarrh from her chest, a thin line of blood suddenly flaring with golden power as the wound sealed itself. "It can't harm me in this place. I wasn't truly here. We're not truly in the real world."

A shuddering gasp escaped him. He traced his fingers down the center of her chest.

"She's gone," Cleo whispered. "I destroyed her."

"But... how?" No true wound from the Blade would ever heal. A single cut could kill a man, if he was unlucky.

"It's complicated. It's meant to kill a demon, which is not a physical entity, and... well... I'm not entirely human, or so it seems, and I was both here and on a different plane at the same time, so the wound was dealt on the dream plane, and dispatched the black queen—"

He didn't care. She was alive, and clearly not about to die. She was back, her eyes the same color as whiskey, and warm and lit from within with all the spark that made her what she was.

Sebastian captured her face and dragged her mouth to his. "I thought you were about to die." He shoved his hands into her hair, driving his tongue into her mouth, kissing her until neither of them could breathe. "Don't ever leave me again."

"I won't."

Cleo broke the kiss with a gasp, tears glistening in her eyes. "You came for me. You don't know what it felt like to be trapped inside her. Trapped"—her head turned toward the demon—"the way your father is trapped. We have to save him."

"The demon's too strong."

"No." Determination crossed her brow. Above them the skies were roiling, thick black clouds lit by the white light from the hexagram. "It's started the ritual, which is draining its strength. If the three of you distract it, I can get close to it. I know what to do now."

He stared down at the Blade in her hand. If the demon got its hands on her again....

"Start the spell!" Cleo snapped at him, turning to face the hexagram. "You need to trust me."

The demon saw her coming and hissed, driving to its feet. "You could have been great. You could have been mine. My child."

"I am great," Cleo told it, her hair whipping back in the winds as the spell began to suck at the world around it. "And you have your sacrifice."

"You will pay for this." Then it smiled darkly and lifted its arms. "You will be the first to die, White Queen."

Sebastian lifted his arms at the eastern point, feeling Lucien take his place at the southern point of the star. Verity helped Bishop stagger to the western point, her face pale, and Bishop’s determined.

"Three sons," whispered the demon. "Three relics. Three sacrifices." It looked up, toward the black clouds. "And the perfect moment in time…. Can you feel it? How thin the Veil is right now?"

Heat shimmers bathed the air. The snow inside the triangle melted instantly, and Sebastian could feel immense power batter at him.

"Link!" Lucien yelled at him, and Sebastian saw golden light stream along the bloodied line between him and Bishop.

Bishop’s power grew incrementally. He stretched out a hand—and the link—toward Sebastian.

He'd sworn once never to lose control of his body again. Never to be used. Never to trust.

One last chance to save Drake….

One last chance to save all of them, and stop this spell before the veil was torn open and the shadow horde appeared….

All he had to do was open himself up, wholly and completely, in a way he’d never dared before, and let his brother take over his puppet strings.