Page 51

Chapter 50

Adeline

S he was going to rip his head off if it was the last thing she did.

Her shadow magic had torn Erik from her and whipped him across the room, the vines slamming him into the opposite wall. She stared, surprised and delighted that shadows swirled around her, trailed from her hands, swarmed her feet. The vines wrapped around Erik, holding his arms out at his sides. His head was concussed, and blood dripped from a split above his ear.

The vines around her hands were softer and thinner, and she held them up, turning her palms outward. The vines that held Erik twisted with her movements.

Interesting .

She tightened her grip and yanked with her right hand. Erik screamed again as one of his arms tore off. Blood spurted from his torso and she smiled, watching it paint the floor red. His eyes watched her wildly, an emotion in them she had never seen there before.

Fear. She reveled in it, looking at him with a wide smile. Then she pushed herself to stand and limped across the room. With a twist of her fingers, the vines tightened on his other arm. The illusions he had placed on the room dwindled, reality setting in. The walls were covered in mold, there were no candles, and the gilded details were dulled and chipping.

He screamed, “Wait, wait! I’ll do whatever you want!”

“Oh, dear sire,” Adeline crooned. “I think it is far too late for that, don’t you?”

Her breathing was labored, sweat lined her brow, and her hands shook. But when she twisted her left hand, the vines dissipated. The power rushed out of her with a whoosh .

No, no, no, no, no. Adeline’s heart dropped as Erik slid to the ground. She held her hands out, trying to call to the shadows, begging for their help. But nothing came. Exhaustion threatened to swallow her whole, and she knew that if she was going to kill Erik now, she had to do it without the use of her magic. His wound was slowly stitching together, staunching the flow of blood. She had known that his magic was strong, that his ability to heal was faster than hers, but she had never seen him get critically injured before.

His feet landed in the pool of his blood, and he stared at her as if he had just discovered the biggest treasure in the entire world.

“Adeline, my little killer,” he said, reaching toward her with his only hand. “Come. Come with me. Help me. We could rule the world together.”

Adeline backed away. She flicked a hand out to her side. Nothing happened.

Fuck . She was royally fucked.

Erik kept advancing, his eyes blown wide. “Adeline, Adeline. Listen to me. Your power is unique. I have never, in all of my life, in all of these worlds, seen a power like yours.”

Worlds? What did he mean, worlds?

Fear clenched her throat closed. She had been scared before, but she had never felt fear quite like this. Her feet tangled in her skirts and she tripped, her back slamming into the column. She threw her hand out to catch herself, her palm landing near a hard object.

The knife! Now she remembered. Her corset had been loosened by Erik —not Rolf—and the knife had slipped out and landed between them. It was sheer luck that Erik had been so possessed by the desire to claim her that it hadn’t been discovered yet.

She palmed it quickly, hiding her hands in the folds of her discarded gown. Erik neared; his arm was still outstretched toward her. The closer he got, the less he looked like a man. His eyes had turned red, his black hair was dull and scraggly, as if losing that much blood had sucked the literal life out of him. It struck Adeline as odd, that he should look this ill despite his ability to heal so quickly.

He looks like a victim of the blight .

It had been centuries, but she would know that look of death anywhere.

“How?” she heard herself say.

“How?” Erik asked back, almost mocking. He stopped walking toward her and then cackled. “In the simplest way possible.”

“You survived the sickness,” she said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact.

Erik smiled down at her. “Yes, my little killer. I did. You see, I wasn’t born in your world. I followed someone here. She slipped from my grasp and leaped into this place.” He gestured wildly with his only arm. “It took me years to figure out how she did it, and only then did it require a massive sacrifice.”

“A sacrifice,” Adeline repeated, almost numb to the realizations she kept having. It was as if she could see clearly for the first time, or maybe it was because the illusions Erik had woven around himself for centuries had finally ceased to work, but Adeline remembered where she had seen his face before.

The man at the door. The one who promised money for my sister’s life.

Her blood ran cold. This was the one her mother had warned her about.

The Ominous One. She had been one of his victims after all.

“Yes, as always with magic, a sacrifice is needed. So tell me, Adeline, who did you sacrifice to get your magic?”

A blood sacrifice. She had sacrificed a lot when she sent Leda through the rip in the world. Her mother, Aurélie, and her own life. Two lives for one. She had always felt it was a justifiable payment. Leda, after all, was the one who deserved to live. Her head spun. She tightened her grip on the knife’s handle and slowly adjusted herself to sitting, slipping the knife behind her.

Erik looked out over the room. Adeline didn’t dare follow his gaze; she kept her focus solely on her maker. She didn’t need to look around to know that the illusions he had once placed on the room were gone, and she wondered if the rest of the castle was also falling prey to Erik’s weakening magic.

He’s weak, you numpty! Get up and finish the job!

“My sacrifice?” Adeline asked again. This time, she stood. Her feet were tender but she didn’t care. She leaned against the column seductively, the knife still in her hand behind her back. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Erik’s eyes flitted to her chest but settled, finally, on her neck. “Where is your scar?”

She tilted her head, angling it enough to draw him even closer to inspect her neck. “I sacrificed my own life, as well as that of my mother’s.”

“Your scar is gone, little killer.” Erik reached up, his finger hovering above her collarbone.

“Call me your little killer one more time,” she growled and grabbed his arm, pulling him in close. He gurgled with shock as she plunged her knife into his neck and yanked, tearing a slice down his chin to his collarbone.

Could have been cleaner, damnit! But this would have to do.

Blood seeped from the wound, thick and black like tar. She recoiled in horror and gasped when his hand clasped her left arm. His claws grew rapidly, sinking into her flesh. She stifled a scream, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of hearing her in pain.

His eyes glowed red, and he sank his teeth into her shoulder. He drank deeply from her as she tried to shake him off. She jerked backward, and he finally let go. “So powerful.”

“Not. Yours. To have,” she said through gritted teeth, trying to shove him back, but he held her fast.

“Stubborn and powerful,” he sneered. “Just like your mother.”

“Don’t speak of my mother. She is dead,” Adeline said, and ripped the knife out of his throat. She shoved him back with all of her might. “No thanks to you.”

Erik’s claws shredded her left arm, and she cried out. He stumbled backward and fell into the cold pool of his spilled blood. He landed with a grunt and struggled to right himself as his throat bled. “You could be so much more. Your mother was so powerful. You are a De la F?ret. I only wanted?—”

With a bloodcurdling scream, Adeline cut off his words. If she let him talk, she was convinced that he’d talk her out of killing him, that it was a bad idea. She dove after her maker, pinning him under her legs. Her left arm was useless, hanging there limply as she drove her knee into his forearm.

“You spoke of sacrifice. Do you want to know what I sacrificed?” Her voice was low as she fought back tears. She drove the knife into one of his blood-red eyes. He grunted and gasped, thrashing beneath her. “I’ll tell you about sacrifice. It started with a girl, desperate to make sure her mother and sister were taken care of. I sacrificed my freedom so they would live in luxury.” She withdrew the knife, and his eyeball came with it. With a flick, she sent it flying. It smacked into the far wall. Then she plunged the knife into his shoulder. He screamed, but it was garbled. “But I was lied to and kept in a tower.”

She withdrew the knife and plunged it into his other shoulder. He writhed beneath her, grunting as he bled out. She kept talking, “Then I sacrificed my life—and my mother’s—to get my sick sister out of this world and somewhere she would be safer. Because of you. ”

He gurgled. “I could help you.”

“I don’t want your help,” she snarled and twisted the knife one more time and let go. The knife trembled with each ragged breath he took.

“What do you want , Adeline de la F?ret?” he sputtered, blood trailing out of his mouth. “I can give you anything.”

His voice grew weaker with each word, and Adeline knew he was close to the blessed end.

“I don’t want anything from you. You’re a monster who made me in your image. And I will live the rest of my life trying to forget the despicable hell you ever put me through.”

Her nails grew into sharp claws, and she clacked them together.

His eyes fluttered closed. The doors behind her rattled—someone was trying to gain entry. They shook again as something heavy launched itself against the threshold.

“Look at me,” she said, grabbing his chin and squeezing—mimicking the same tone he used when he would force her to watch as he pulled out her fingernails. “I want you to know what death looks like as you stare her in the eyes.”

And then she pulled her arm away from his face and sank her claws into his chest. Her fingers took hold of his slow-beating heart. In one swift motion, she clamped her claws around it, twisted, and yanked her hand back through the cavity in his chest. He stared at her, aghast, as she squeezed his heart in her hand. Thick black blood trailed down her arm. And then she threw the heart against the wall in disgust.

“I will never kill again!” she screamed over and over again, as she hacked away at Erik’s neck with the knife.

The doors behind her slammed open.