Page 106 of Shadow's End

Maelle screamed, the sound so high-pitched it hurt my ears. Marie laughed and raised a hand, and all her remaining creatures flew at Maelle, completely covering her. Then she rose and strode toward that writhing, screaming, clawing mass, a smile of anticipation etching her thin lips.

She’d forgotten I was here.

I quickly slipped another stake free from my belt straps, wrapped it in wild magic, and once again flung it as hard as I could.

This time, I didn’t miss.

The stake flew through the now vaporous snake and arrowed on. A heartbeat before it plunged into Marie’s chest and buried deep in her heart, I released the wild magic.

Just to be safe.

Marie gasped, her eyes wide, her expression shocked. Her gaze came to mine, and she raised a hand, though I had no idea what she intended to do or say, because Maelle stepped free from the black mass, raised her bloody claws, and slashed her maker’s throat open. Marie made a gurgling sound and fell back, her head rolling to one side of her body, connected only by a few remaining strands of muscle.

As flickers of fire began to erupt from where the stake had plunged into her body, I sucked in a breath but didn’t relax. One monster might have fallen, but another remained. I had no idea what the state of Maelle’s mind would be now that she’d finally killed her nemesis, and no intention of allowing her out of this clearing until I knew she presented no danger to anyone else.

Katie, I said,release the dome around the clearing.I need to speak to Belle.

She immediately did so, and as my telepathic link to Belle once again came online, I said,You okay?

A few cuts and bruises, but otherwise, we’re all good. You?

Same. Could you call an ambulance? Aiden’s alive, but in a bad way.

And Marie?

Dead—staked by me and decapitated by Maelle.

Excellent.She hesitated and concern flickered through our link.Jaqueline’s here.

What? Why?

I don’t know.She paused again.Her mind is a mess. All I’m basically getting is fury. You want me to stop her?

I hesitated.No, not unless she threatens any of you.

That could be dangerous.

She can’t hurt me or Aiden, not with the amount of wild magic now in this clearing.I paused, eyeing the mage fire that still burned, even if with far less ferocity.I’m not entirely sure she can get into the clearing or hurt Maelle, given how slowly Marie’s barrier seems to be falling.

Just stay wary. Don’t trust either of them.

I won’t.I returned my attention to Maelle. She stood over Marie’s body, her fingers clenching and unclenching, her sharp nails digging into her palms and drawing blood. She didn’t seem to care.

“She was my everything,” she said softly, after a while. “And then she destroyed everything.”

She wasn’t the only one who did that, I wanted to say, but kept the words locked within. Though her voice remained normal and she no longer radiated the driving, desperate need for revenge, darker emotions still skated around her.

Jaqueline’s just come out of the trees and is walking toward the left edge of the clearing, Belle warned.

I glanced up. So did Maelle. “A familiar heartbeat runs through the air.”

“One that belongs to a heart you gave birth to and then betrayed in so many ways.” Jaqueline stopped right on the edge of the trees, her body in shadow but her face lit by the dying purple embers of the mage fire. It made her look as if she were wearing some form of grotesque mask.

“I never betrayed you. I gave you what you asked, protected you as much as I could, and saved you from the death that found Marie.”

“You saved me from nothing and took all that I ever wanted, all that I ever loved,” Jaqueline retorted. “But no more. I gift you, dearest Mother, what you refused to gift me. And I wish you long centuries of torment in whatever hell claims what remains of your soul.”

With that, she raised her arm and pulled the trigger of the gun she was holding.

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