Page 146 of Married to the Devil

“Finally!” Leo says, keeping a firm hold on me while he retrieves something from his breast pocket. “This had better work. It was made special for him after all.”

My reaction is instant. I can’t let myself be used to lure him in.

I stomp on his foot as hard as I can, and the rest of the training Fiona has tried to drill into me surfaces enough for me to break his hold. I stumble away, but it’s too late.

A large gray body to swoops past, tackling Leo to the ground.

Powder fills the air around them, and Leo laughs before gurgling when Stoneheart crushes his throat. The crack of my half brother’s spine results in silence.

No, no, no. I chant in my head.

Stoneheart stands, all lethal power. The powder clings to him and looks ridiculously like glittery soot, but the magic hanging in the air feels dark.

“Stoneheart—”

He doesn’t give me a chance to argue, just gathers me in his arms. With a beat of his powerful wings and the lurch of my stomach, we’re airborne.

Gods, I hate flying.

The sounds from the fighting shrink as we gain altitude. I catch the glint of glass windows as we enter the city line.

“I thought I lost you,” he says. “If Fiona hadn’t been tailing you?—”

He breaks off with a huff, and my arms tighten around his neck when the glide of his wings falter.

Dread diminishes my fear of heights enough for me to take in his face. His icy gaze is disoriented. The hope that we’d left whatever spell Leo targeted him with behind dies in my chest.

“Remy—”

“I know,” he interrupts. “I feel it. I don’t have much time. I have to get you to safety.”

He’s been cursed.

The Firefly comes into view, and we soar up the side of the building.

His wings shake, and Stoneheart snarls. “Almost there.”

We land on top of the building without any of his usual grace. His wings stay extended because they’ve turned to stone.

“No, no, no,” I say, trying to wipe the soot from his chest as more patches of gray harden. I need metals, crystals, something! Tears blur my vision.

I’m helpless as the curse spreads over his skin.

“Listen to me, firefly,” Stoneheart says, and I can barely see his expression, but what I do see is full of acceptance. His hand cups my cheek. “I’ll love you longer than the mountains stand.”

“Stop!” I’m nonsensical at his calm. If anything, it makes me angrier. How can he be so calm when my world is ending?

He nuzzles the top of my head. “They couldn’t ask for a better leader.”

The flesh of his palm against my cheek stiffens and cools, turning to stone. I fall backward, but no one is there to catch me. Only a statue and the icy cold of the gravel under me.

All that’s left of my husband is lifeless rock.

49

STELLA

My grief is a stalled thing.

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