Page 97 of Fate and Fury

“Give me my Shadow,” she said. “Let him fight by my side. And when the Darkness has been defeated, let him decide where he belongs.”

Katerina hardly dared to breathe. She watched Niko’s mouth move as he tried again and again to speak, watched Sammael watch Elena, watched the Vila consider her proposal.

Elena inclined her head, and Katerina’s heart leapt.

And then she answered, “No.”

56

KATERINA

“Ipropose,” Sammael said, “a compromise.”

Katerina’s eyes slid to the demon, her expression wary. “Excuse me?” she said, just as Elena snapped, “I think not. No proposal that includes the wordcompromiseis worth my time.”

For once, Katerina found herself in perfect agreement with the Vila. “Well, you do have so much of it,” she said. “Time, that is. Perhaps you ought to at least listen to your beloved. After all, he’s gone to so much trouble to bring me here.”

The demon shot Katerina a look that suggested she wasn’t helping matters. Katerina glared back at him. She wasn’t in the demon-helping business.

“I propose,” the demon said again, leaning back against the stone hearth and crossing his legs at the ankle, “that the Shadow spend six months above ground, roaming the earth as he chooses, and six months below, with you, my Vila. During that time, you will have him to yourself, to do with him as you will.”

The words chilled Katerina to the bone. What, exactly, had Elena been doing with her Shadow? What more would she do, if given the chance?

Beside Elena, Niko’s shade bared his teeth, and Katerina could well imagine the growl that rumbled from his chest. The Vila cocked her head, eyes bright as a magpie spying a sparkling bit of metal. “And when he’s above ground…”

“Demand that the Dimi lift the curse she placed upon you.” Sammael shrugged one elegant shoulder. “And then you will move between the Underworld and the world above at your will. You need never be without your Shadow, if that is what you desire.”

Elena considered this. And then a vicious smile lit her face. Deep in her ocean-blue eyes, obsidian flames blazed. “Hmmm,” she said. “That is a compromise only for Katerina, is it not? For I would have all that I desire. Perhaps I can forgive your betrayal, Sammael. After all, you had my best interests at heart.”

Sammael raised a single red brow in acquiescence, and Katerina clenched her fists. “This is what you intended all along,” she accused him. “You tricked me. You never meant to set Niko free.”

“What did you expect?” The demon’s voice was almost…kind. “You made a deal with the devil. Well,adevil, anyhow.”

“You basta?—”

“If you’re going to call me names,” Sammael said, plucking a shard of glass from his sleeve and tossing it from one hand to the other, “you might as well know the truth. Ifollowed you to your Shadow’s grave.Ienchanted the stones of the desecrated chapel and planted the Book of the Lost beneath them, so that you would find it and summon me. I feigned surprise when I found myself in your circle. Luring you here was always my intention. And it worked just as I planned. Humans…” He dropped the shard of glass onto the ground and crushed it to bits beneath his shoe. “So easy to manipulate. Not even a challenge.”

“You…?” Katerina’s stomach plummeted as Elena’s lips rose in a smug, satisfied smile. Not the Saints, then. A demon. And she’d played into his hands from the start.

You know a great deal about Shadows and Dimis, demon, she’d told him.Perhaps too much.And how had he replied?I have lived for many years.But that wasn’t the whole truth, was it? All along, he’d had the Book. He’d seen her visit Niko’s grave, heard her pour out her heart to her fallen Shadow. And then he’d hidden the Book beneath the stones, and spelled them to respond to a drop of her blood.

Katerina had been a fool.

“I accept the compromise!” Elena said cheerily, gesturing to the table, set with the Vila’s wedding china. “Will you have a drink on it, Katerina? To seal our bargain?”

Niko’s transparent fists were clenched at his sides now, every muscle in his lean body tensed and his expression tight with rage. His gaze fixed on Katerina, and his lips formed a single, silent word over and over:No. No. No.

Though it pained her to do it, Katerina glanced away. “Like I would drink anything you gave me,” she said, the sarcasm reflexive. Beneath it, her mind was churning.

Of course, Sammael had never intended to let Niko go. If Katerina had been thinking clearly, she would’ve realized that from the start. Freeing him would hurt Elena, and in his twisted way, he cared for the Vila. Besides, Elena would never agree to being parted from Niko. That much was clear.

But perhaps this bargain was the best Katerina was going to get. Lifting the curse was troublesome, to be sure, a blow to Katerina’s pride as well as to justice. It was the punishment Elena deserved, to be banished forever from her home and from the Light for murdering Niko and aligning herself with the Dark. For nearly bringing the Darkness down upon Kalach.

But Katerina wasn’t strong enough to kill Elena here. If she could get the Vila above ground, though, where they were on equal footing… There, Katerina and Niko would be together again. With her Shadow at her side, the two of them would be formidable enough to defeat the Vila and drive the Darkness back. Katerina would tell Baba what she had done, explain Gadreel’s folly, send word to the Magiya, and together they would fix everything.

She cleared her throat. “I accept,” she said.

Triumph glimmered in Elena’s fire-shot eyes. “Then lift the curse, Dimi Ivanova. Do it now.” She stamped her foot, like a child having a tantrum.

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