Page 137 of The Blood Witch

Something inside of her chest cracked open, and Amalia shut her eyes against it all, not caring anymore about the tears flowing down her cheeks, not caring if Vee saw her cry.

“You were so eager to think someone cared about you, weren’t you? The real you. You made it so easy, you know that? You would have given me anything I wanted.”

Eyes squeezed shut, shoulders shaking as she cried, Amalia didn’t notice how close Vee was until she touched her chin, angling her face back up. Startled, she opened her eyes to find Vee’s face directly above hers.

“Wouldn’t you have?” Vee asked. Her lips brushed against Amalia’s, gently. A mocking, hate-filled kiss.

Then Vee was pushing her away, and she fell back against the ground with a wet sob.

Amalia couldn’t bring herself to look at Vee anymore. Couldn’t face the fact that Vee was right. She would have given her anything.

Happily.

And because she didn’t look up, she didn’t see Vee quickly wipe the tears from her own face.

“Get ready, Princess,” Vee said, drying her face on her sleeve and tilting her head to the side as though listening to something Amalia couldn’t hear. “They’re almost here.”

Chapter 65

FEY

“It’s here,” Jasper said as he pointed. The tall brick building loomed in front of them, the roof illuminated like the rising sun.

Jasper frowned as they stared up at it. “The lights are new,” he said.

“She’s trying to keep the shadows away,” Fey told him.Clever girl. Fey wished she could have left Jasper at home with Alastair, wished she hadn’t needed him to show her where Vivian’s clubhouse was. He shouldn’t be here, not for this.

“You should go back,” she told him as they approached the building. A fire escape ladder dangled against the brick wall, tucked in an alley, inviting them to climb. But Fey hesitated, her hand gripping the metal. “Go home and wait with Alastair,” she told him.

Jasper shook his head.

“I’m not going, Fey,” he insisted.

“Jasper—”

“She’s family,” Jasper said, voice tight with pain.

She should send him away, Fey knew. She should knock him out if he wouldn’t go on his own. There was a good chance his niece was going to die tonight.

But she couldn’t do it.

When Fey started up the ladder, she knew Jasper was right behind her.

Chapter 66

AMALIA

When the shadows at the corner of the roof began to move and twist, Amalia thought she must be dreaming. Surely, this was all some horrid nightmare and here was the proof. Any moment now, she would wake up back in her bed in the palace. And all of this would finally be over.

But she didn’t wake.

Amalia watched in horror as the shadows coalesced before her eyes, morphing together to form the figure of a woman.

A Demon.

Kallista. Vee sucked in a quick panicked breath as the Demon formed from shadows and rose to stand before them.

Please let me wake up, Amalia thought, panicked.

---