Page 56 of Grave Revelations

“Az, wait. I don’t…”

He didn’t wait. He blinked out of the room without even bothering to open the door.

She stared at the closed door, feeling like it was a metaphor for the very real door he’d closed between them.

Inhaling slowly, Rebecca breathed through the pain. Why was she in pain? He was the one who’d left.Again.

Her phone buzzed a third time—still Simon. She picked it up.

“What.” Her words were sharp.

“Rebecca. Are you okay? I thought you were dead.”

Chapter 37

Sophia

Several hours earlier

Sophia huddled against a wall in the corner of the dark cave, watching Azazel lay waste to the night-beings without touching them. Sometimes, he wasn’t even looking at them when they fell, their bodies turning to dust. She should go out there, offer herself up to him, and let him end her too.

Something inside Sophia was broken. She’d drained the life from Rebecca, felt her essence slipping away and hadn’t stopped. When her mind had cleared enough to realize what she was doing and stop, it was too late.

Rebecca was dead.

Azazel lifted her lifeless form, cradling her to his chest. Sophia pressed farther into the wall.

Around her, night-beings she’d never seen dashed after him, chasing him out of the tunnels and into the night.

Elizabeth must have truly controlled them; no creature would have willingly thrown themselves at Azazel. His movements were on another level, though it was clear he was no demon. The searing blue burning in his eyes was otherworldly, the red and black swirls gone.

Crashing sounds came from the end of the tunnel, but Sophia ignored them, turning instead toward the place where she’d seen Vassi, Cassia, and her mother go.

She darted into the tunnels, listening for the sounds of women talking, moving, snoring, anything to give them away, but the halls were silent.

Peering into darkened caverns, she continued, making her way deeper under the mountain. Down here, the pull of magic was strong, providing a powerful place for channeling. She passed a dark space and halted, leaning into a stone pillar, and her hand flew to her mouth.

“Mama?”

Stepping into the room, Sophia stopped in front of a still form. Her eyes were closed, but she was standing. Her body was perfectly still.

“Mama,” she whispered.

The woman in front of her didn’t flinch. Her gaze left her mother’s unmoving face, trailing over all the forms in the room, standing utterly still.

Most were faces she knew—her coven. But there were a few she didn’t recognize. She stifled her next intake of breath and listened to the complete and total silence enveloping the space. They weren’t just still; they were lifeless—as if their souls were elsewhere.

But it was night, and her kind couldn’t leave their bodies at will.

She continued searching their faces, spying Maria, Thalia, and all the others. That was it then. She had them all.

Sophia reached for her mother’s hand, pulling warm fingers into hers. Whatever magic animated her body, she was no longer in it. Sophia should torch the room, put an end to whatever Elizabeth was planning to use them for. But when she stared at her mother's weathered, worn face and squeezed those strong, warm fingers that had been wrapped around her in a loving embrace so many times, she knew she couldn’t.

If whatever magic that held their bodies in stasis held too firmly, she may condemn them to unending suffering and pain. The discomfort in her wrists, an annoyance compared to burned, flayed skin, chafed at the edges of herconscience—a constant reminder of the nights she’d already spent under Elizabeth’s control.

Sophia backed up, a muscle jerking in her jaw as her teeth ground together. A sea of closed eyes faced her. She vowed to her sisters, to her mother, that she would make this right. Taking another step back, the sound of her shoe reverberated off the walls of the space.

She looked to the arched doorway, a nervous hum skating over her skin. Turning back to peer into the room one last time, she froze as dozens of eyes blinked open.

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