Page 130 of Bound By Roses

Abby ignores him and stands, planting herself directly in front of the woman who took everything. “Did you kill my mother? Tell me, before I kill you.”

“No.” I almost believe her.

Void sighs. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.” His shadows move at the same moment I’m released from mine.

“No!” I scream, but I can’t get to them in time.

Blood squelches as sharpened shadow meets flesh, but it’s not Abby who falls limp.

It’sImelda.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

ABBY

“Your own mother?”I can’t believe what I’m seeing. What I’mfeeling. Imelda’s blood running down the brambles I’m still very much connected to. Those now lifeless eyes stare into mine with just as much hatred that existed there before. Void killed her as if she were nothing to him.

“I’m not your enemy,” he says simply, and it reminds me so much of Jade. The difference is, Voidismy enemy. He may have killed Imelda, but he still wants to wipe out the world. Destroy all life and start fresh with us as gods. Even if I have the power to create life, I won’t. Not when there’s still time to save what already exists. “You’ll come to see that.”

His shadows swirl again, though this time, they surround him in an angry spiral of darkness so black that even the light still glowing from my chest doesn’t penetrate it. As the shadows fade, so does he.

“Where is he?” I ask, searching what was once my lifeless garden. I spent so many years of my life wishing for it to come alive, and now that it has, the moment is soured.

Quinn is at my side in seconds, and I revel in the warmth of his body pressed up against mine. Though it does little to slow my panicked heart, some of the fear fades just as the shadows did.Safe and together.

“She’s really dead,” he says, and I don’t miss the hint of sadness punctuating his words. I just can’t tell if it’s because this is yet another family member he’s lost, or if he’s just disappointed he didn’t get to kill her himself. I wouldn’t blame him for that. Even though she answered my question, I’m not sure I can believe her answer. If Imelda didn’t kill my mother, who did?

“One down.”

Quinn’s thumb brushes against my blood-stained cheek and then presses his lips against mine. It’s not his usual, hungry kiss. This one is tender, and somehow I know this is his way of thanking the Gods that we survived this. That we get to keep on living in this world together.

‘I love you,’I tell him, and saying it once doesn’t feel like enough.

A sound to our left has him pulling away from me all too soon. Arabella stirs, hand at her yellowing throat. She sits up and scans the garden, searching for something. When her eyes land upon her mother’s lifeless corpse, still imprisoned in thorns, her hand flies to her mouth. Tears well in her eyes and my heart breaks for her, even though Imelda deserved exactly what she got.

“No…” she says, though I barely catch the word.

“I’m so sorry,” I tell her, and I am. We may not be related by blood, but she’s still my sister and her mother is dead because of me.

Arabella’s gaze flashes to mine, but it’s not grief I see in her eyes. It’s fear. “We have to go. Now. Maybe it’s not too late to stop this.”

“We have stopped it,” I tell her. “We got the people out. Void can’t open the rift.”

Her head snaps sharply up to the sky and moments later, I hear the distinctive sound of dragon wings. She couldn’t have heard them, which means she’s seen this before. That knowledge, combined with her obvious terror, can mean only one thing.

This isn’t over.

Ory and Wyatt land a few steps behind us, wide-eyed as they take in the scene. “Merrick sent us,” Wyatt says.

“That wolf—” Ory cuts off suddenly as takes in Imelda’s form. “What happened?”

Arabella is on her feet and moving before anyone can answer. “Get me to Kaylee. Now!” She all but jumps into Ory’s arms.

“I’ll run,” Quinn says, already shrugging out of the blood-stained clothing he must have borrowed from someone he killed. He shifts just as I allow Wyatt to scoop me up into his arms.‘Don’t wait for me. Go.’

I nod, and then Wyatt launches us into the air only seconds behind Ory and Arabella. Although I can’t see him, I can feel Quinn doing his best to keep pace with us as he navigates what’s left of the city below. I feel the strain in his muscles, the pumping of his blood, the heaving of his lungs.

The fires are mostly out, but the ruined buildings meld with scattered trees and new growth. The full moon in the sky above is my only light to take in the extent of what my powers did, but it’s more than I’d ever thought possible. Even though I can’t see them from this high in the sky, I know that flowers have returned to Lunae.

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