Page 70 of Fate and Fury

KATERINA

The forest howled, and Katerina howled with it. Above her, startled birds took flight in a cacophony of flapping wings.

Niko’s eyes locked on Elena’s, betrayal and fury clear in their depths before pain glazed them. Blood poured from his wound, black in the moonlight. His knees crumpled, legs giving way as he fell.

Katerina caught him, face bleached with shock. She knelt on a carpet of crushed elderflower, cradling Niko as he gazed up at her, trying to speak. Blood gushed down his chin, rivulets joining the stream that soaked his clothes and seeped into the earth.

Saints, so much blood.

Keening, Katerina ripped his shirt open, careful not to move the knife lest that make matters worse. But when she saw the wound beneath, she knew things were already as bad as they could be. This was a Grigori-poisoned blade, sunk deep into the heart of a Shadow in human form. Even were they in Baba Petrova’s surgery, with all her potions and remedies at hand, it was doubtful Baba could save him.

“No,” Elena whispered from where she stood between the rowan-fires. “Sammael—help me—no?—”

The Vila’s demon gripped her shoulders, anchoring her. “I am sorry, Elena. I cannot,” he said in a smoke-roughened voice, sounding as if he actually regretted it—which was impossible. Everyone knew demons were incapable of empathy or remorse.

Katerina shuddered at the sight. How had Elena been so foolish as to fall for a Grigori’s lies? She had been a tool, a pawn. What else could a Vila be in the hands of a demon? And now here Niko was, dying in Katerina’s arms, a mile from the closest vial of antivenin.

She wouldn’t let it happen. Somehow, she would heal him. Desperate, she pressed her hands to his chest, trying to stop the flow of blood.“Prohibere sanguinis,”she chanted again and again, a spell against blood loss, but the poison was too strong.

The dark-haired demon laughed. “What a tragedy this all is. Sammael, you’ve done my work for me yet again. I would have gone to a lot of trouble to kill Niko Alekhin. Yet here your plaything of a Vila is, doing it for me. Perhaps she isn’t so useless after all.”

Sammael hissed in response, launching himself at Gadreel. The two tumbled into the grass, a snapping, cursing heap of limbs. Branches crashed to the ground as they fought, snarling at each other in a guttural language she supposed must be their native tongue. Good. She hoped they murdered each other, and took Elena with them. It would spare Katerina the trouble—for if Niko died at Elena’s hand, Katerina would spend the rest of her life avenging his death. It was her privilege as his Dimi; but as his lover, it was her right.

The Vila stepped forward, trying to move between the fires. Katerina bared her teeth and arched her body over Niko’s, covering him. “Stay away.” The flames flared higher still as she spoke, blocking Elena’s path.

Elena froze, hatred and shock vying for position on her face as she stared at Niko, gasping in Katerina’s lap.

His mouth moved, forming words Katerina couldn’t decipher. One bloodstained hand floated up, searching, and she grasped it, pressing it to her lips. “Hold on,” she begged. “You’ll be all right. I’ll get help. We’ll leave together, like we planned.”

Niko’s head shook in negation. His mouth moved again, and this time Katerina could make out what he was trying to say:I love you, Katya. I’m sorry.

Tears filled her eyes and overflowed. They dripped from her face onto Niko’s, mixing with the blood that bubbled from his lips.

Her gaze rose, finding Elena’s. “I curse you,” Katerina said, putting all her power into each syllable. The words bubbled up from a wellspring of agony, and though she had never been taught or trained to do such a thing, as she spoke them, she felt their truth. “Damned you are, and damned you will be for eternity. Cleaved to a demon, may your soul walk in chains. May your spirit rot, Vila Lisova, and may death bring you no peace.”

38

ELENA

The curse hit Elena like a blow. It stole her breath and sunk its ink-dark teeth deep into her bones, digging into her marrow until she feared she might splinter apart.

Sammael howled her name. She wanted to turn to him for help, to ask him what was happening to her, but Katerina’s curse held her in its grip, pain coursing through her until her head arched back and she shrieked.

How dare the Dimi curse her, when Elena was the one who had been wronged? She had been loyal. She had done everything right, and damnation was to be her reward?

She refused to accept this as her fate.

Righteous anger swelled inside Elena, bursting her skin. She called forth the power Sammael had taught her and felt a vital force rip free, following the path of her rage, flowing through every limb until her body could no longer contain it. It exploded from her fingertips in bolts of darkness blacker than the night itself.

She opened her mouth to scream in triumph.Look at me,she wanted to say.Look at the magic I can wield, and dare to stand against me now.

But instead of words, a black cloud spilled from her mouth, tasting of old blood and the hopelessness of despoiled souls, buzzing like a hive of angered wasps. As if magnetized, the cloud fused with the bolts from her fingertips. She willed it to devour Katerina, and it swarmed toward the Dimi, intent on revenge.

But it never reached her.

Elena’s howl of victory died in her throat as the cloud hovered between the rowan-fires. She focused on it, forming it into a spear that could pierce Katerina’s heart. But the cloud didn’t hold its shape. No matter how hard Elena tried, it broke free from her control again and again. It stretched wider, thinning, and then, with a crack of silver-blue lightning, a rip emerged in the fabric of the night.

Aghast, Elena watched as the cloud became a man-sized doorway, a ragged mouth emitting faint, despairing wails. Demon-corrupted, silver-blue flames poured from it. They shot along the ground, ignoring Katerina, tongues of fire searching until they found what they were hungry for: A Shadow’s blood. The tongues licked the earth where Niko lay, tasting, devouring. Then they lickedhim.

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