Page 123 of Dance With Death

Dashiell didn’t take Holly, but he kept her trapped. If he’d let her go, Holly might never have met Viktor. There’d be no spell. Sam wouldn’t have chased and attacked Holly. The girl who should never have met me is snared by the supernatural forever, and it’s partly Dashiell’s fault.

The dark desire to kill shifts from Viktor, and I hurl myself at Dashiell, dragging him away from Holly. She screams again, but at me, rather than into the void that Viktor’s spell sends her into. “Don’t do this!”

“Don’t kill, Violet. It’ll change you.” Leif’s expression flashes through my mind. Doesn't he understand? I’ve already changed too much inside, and this will add balance.

“Violet Blackwood. Stop!” yells a voice from behind me.

45

VIOLET

Necromancers carry a unique energy, one that engulfs this clearing with Viktor’s and my presence. We’ve both been on alert for a different type of magic joining ours that would indicate another witch is near, but neither of us would sense a third necromancer’s energy.

I whirl around, still gripping Dashiell. Eloise stands where I once did, between Viktor and Holly. Only, this time, Viktor can’t move, his arms pinned to his sides, mouth moving but no words emerging. The spell holding him isn’t the shadows; this is purely one of my mother’s Trinity powers.

“Viktor Whitegrove. You count on the fact that my daughter’s mind and magic is weaker than yours due to her hybrid status. I, however, do not have that issue,” she says.

I tighten my hold on Dashiell, both of us too stunned to move. Eloise—her long brown hair cascading down her back, dressed in a black coat cinched by a belt, and formal shoes, looks like she was preparing for a night out and not a visit to the woods to capture a murderer.

“You know what I was before Dorian created what I am now, Viktor. Dorian didn’t weaken the Trinity witch’s magic the day he changed me,” she says softly. “Quite the opposite.” Eloise steps closer to Viktor. “I heard your comments earlier. I didn’t appreciate you mocking me, and you don’t appreciate that Dorian’s blood moves through my veins. I am part of him.”

“Eloise?” I ask hoarsely.

She leaves the paralyzed Viktor and walks over, looking down at me with her brow furrowed. “Grayson told me your plans for Viktor, and that really won't do at all.”

“What?” I balk. Grayson spoke to Eloise. “Is Dorian here? Did Grayson tell him too?”

Her laugh echoes. “No. I kept my promise to Grayson, and Dorian knows nothing.”

“What promise?”

“Sweetest girl. I perfectly understand your desire to kill Viktor, but this creates an untenable situation.”

The clearing fills with an eerie silence, Eloise’s presence choking away the screams and shouting from moments ago, Holly silenced by Eloise’s appearance and not the spell.

“Grayson quite rightly worried for your safety.” Eloise’s displeasure etches her face. “You acted alone.”

“No, the others were coming to help.”

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with, Violet!”

“Yes, I do!”

Eloise closes her eyes and takes a steady breath. “Violet. Sweetheart. You are not your father.”

“I am.”

“Then why isn’t Dashiell dead, and why did I have to do this?” Eloise gestures at Viktor.

I glance at Holly, immobile on the ground. “Can Viktor still harm Holly if he’s trapped by your magic? His spell was killing her.”

“No, but that’s where we have a problem,” she says. “The moment I end the spell holding Viktor, he’ll end Holly.”

“Then we kill him!” I urge.

“And then your father will explode with a rage you’ve never experienced and never want to, Violet. Viktor Whitegrove has too much value alive.”

“But Holly’s life,” I protest. “Eloise. No!”

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