Page 129 of The Blood Witch

RUN, screamed that voice in Fey’s head, an instinct so deep it recognized this threat around her.

But Fey wouldn’t run.

“Fight it, Kallista!” Fey called into the dark. “Don’t you dare let her control you!”

Goddess save them, if she’d been panicked to think about what the Blood Witch could do with her own powers…

What about the powers of a Demon stronger than anything Fey had ever seen? What could she do with this creature, so strong it drove every instinct in Fey to run, run, run, and never look back?

“I don’t need to fight it,” came Kallista’s answer, full of rage and power. It came from the surrounding shadows, from everywhere the light couldn’t touch. Someone was crying in the dark, scared, gasping sobs. Sana, maybe. “Insignificant insect. You think you have the power to control me? I’m older than you could possibly imagine.”

Fey drew a quick frantic breath as the darkness vanished, shadows pulling away from the walls and coalescing, swirling like a vortex.

Kallista stood in the middle of the throne room, shadows dancing around her, twisting and turning like smoke.

“I have her,” Kallista whispered, eyes unfocused and head tilted to the side. “She’s running. But she can’t escape me now. Not for long.”

Chapter 59

VEE

Death comes in many forms.

But Vee never thought it could come from the shadows.

She stumbled through the hallway, nearly tripping over the body of an unconscious guard as she rushed to get away.Sleep, she’d told him when she’d come across him earlier in the dark. His body didn’t move as she stumbled over it.

She’d fucked up. She’d broken their first rule, the most important rule.

Don’t get caught.

It had never occurred to her that the council would suspect Fey. How could they? She could have killed them all in an instant, with all that power she had inside her. Why would she have needed to take them out one by one like Vee had?

Listening at the door, Vee had been furious at them. And terrified that they wanted to punish Fey for something she’d never done. Punish Alastair for something he’d never done. She just wanted to scare them, just wanted to show them it couldn’t be Fey, that they could let her go, leave her and Alastair alone.

The Demon hadn’t showed any powers, and she hadn’t felt like the others, so Vee had thought…

Controlling the Fallen King had been like trying to hold water in her hands, his power seeping away from her no matter how hard she tried to hold it. But the Demon?

The moment she’d reached to control her, Vee knew something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. Her blood felt like ichor, thick and terrible, and when she’d reached into her mind, there was only darkness.

Deep, cold emptiness.

Now Vee ran, but that darkness was all around her. Following her.

There were shadows, on the wall, reaching for her, stretching toward her.

Hissing, she leapt away as a tendril of shadow snaked out from the wall and reached for her ankle. The bright torches around the palace seemed to be keeping the shadows away, for now. She didn’t want to think what would happen if they touched her, if they got her…

She needed to escape. She needed to go somewhere safe, where she had the advantage. She needed…

Leverage.

Something in her chest tightened as a plan formed, some part of her screaming out in pain, demanding another answer, another solution. But Vee pushed it down, swallowing it whole.

She was a survivor. And she would survive this.

Whatever it took.

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