Page 54 of All Hallows Trick

I stroked a wayward strand of hair off his sweaty forehead, my chest so tight it hurt to breathe. Nightmare could have sent the message, but there was someone else who was invested in Misery living, someone who might know how to save him because they were the reason he was dying.

Pain.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CAT

It was too easy to convince Tor to come with me to the castle. Far too easy. Guilt twisted my stomach but I reminded myself of that look in Miz’s eyes when he let his fear show, and I quashed any guilt.

I didn’t know how I was going to lose Tor inside the castle, but I’d think of something. Getting there was the most important thing, and Miz’s episode, as terrifying as it had been, gave me an excuse.

He needed Peach, and it was about time we rescued her from Death’s castle, even if Miz argued that she’d be sulky to leave her favourite enclosure. That was why she’d stayed when we all left. And because she was no ordinary prairie dog. I didn’t understand how, but Miz promised she was capable of defending herself.1

The image of Peach waving a magic wand and cursing her enemies almost made me smile until I remembered I wasn’t really here for Peach. I was here because someone warned thatMiz was dying and said they could save him, and it had to be Pain. Who else could it be? No one else knew he’d bound his magic.

“We don’t linger,” Tor warned, his hand wrapped around mine, the weight of it a reassurance I felt deep in my soul as his magic set us down on the steep road that led from the settlement below to Death’s castle. “We’ve cleared the place, and there are no subjects left, but it’s better to be careful.”

“You’ve said that three times,” I replied, unable to resist smiling to tease him even if my mood was dour. “We’ll be fine. We won’t be here long.”

He squeezed my hand. “You can’t blame me for being a little OTT given the last time we were here, we were ambushed by subjects and Poppy.”

“Poppy’s dead,” I said quietly, ignoring the burn in my thighs at the steep path. “And I—after what I did to her spirit, I don’t think she’s coming back.”

“No,” Tor agreed, his eyes warm on the side of my face. “Have I mentioned how proud I am of you for that?”

“For killing a woman?”

“For standing up for yourself when you were afraid, and yeah, for ripping her to shreds until there wasn’t a speck of life left. You don’t need to be ashamed, Cat. She was a threat, and you wouldn’t be one of us if you allowed that threat to live. It’s what we do; we’re ruthless with our enemies.”

His words warmed my chest and put a slight smile on my face.

“You’d never kill someone who didn’t deserve it,” he went on. “I don’t want to see any of that guilt in your beautiful eyes from now on. Understood?”

I leaned into him as we walked. “Understood. And Tor?”

“Yeah, beautiful?”

“I’m proud of you, too. The way you commanded the spirits was impressive. And hot.” His eyes shot to mine; I’d surprised him. “It was really, really hot.”

“Oh, yeah? Even with mygorgeousrotted appearance?”

I nudged his shoulder, the heat of him seeping into me in sharp contrast to the icy bite of the air. It felt like it would snow. “I’m not saying I’m attracted to walking, talking corpses, but knowing it wasyou… changes things. So yeah, even with your gorgeous, rotted appearance. You’re hot as fuck, and you’re mine, no matter what you look like.”

He tugged on my hand until I stopped in the middle of the steep road, a soft sigh leaving me when his other hand curved along my jaw and tilted my face up for a slow, thorough kiss that left my heart pounding. Silvery light intruded on the moment, the moon deciding to hit my eyes right at the moment they fluttered open. I squinted through it, momentarily blinded.

“Behind me,”Tor ordered, the sudden growl of his voice startling me. Cold air hit my hot cheeks, slapping me out of my daze, and I realised the light wasn’t coming from the moon but from fifteen ghosts floating across the road. Their movements were something from a kid’s cartoon, not the way I was used to seeing spirits—walking and talking and acting generally alive despite having no pulse. Or no physical body. But these were ghosts as I’d expected them, mouths hanging open, eyes opaque and unseeing, movements gliding and eerie. Each of them bore a mortal wound.

“Tor,” I whispered, my hand on his back, my heart kicking into a sprint.

“They’re drawn to me, I think. Because I’m a god, and because of my magic. They won’t hurt us.”

“You don’t know that! Turn all gooey and command them.”

“There’s nothing left of them to command,” he admitted. “Even with the spirits who live in the realm, there’s a spark ofsomething,a remnant of a soul. That’s what’s been ripped from them. Look, that man’s throat has been cut, that woman’s been gutted, and it looks like the old man was run through by a sword.”

“That’s… a lot of different ways to die,” I said, my brow knotting. “None of them have claw marks or bites,” I noticed, looking closer. The spirits in the courtyard had their throats ripped out by the subjects, or limbs ripped off, heads bitten clean off their necks. These were… precise wounds. Intentional. “The subjects didn’t do this, and I don’t think they killed the first ghost that was left as a message for us, either.”

“Neither do I,” Tor agreed grimly. “Let’s move. They might follow but they won’t engage.”

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