Page 65 of All Hallows Trick

“Mymeddling,”Cruelty laughed, the sound musical and sweet. She paused on the garden path, fixing on Nightmare. “Darling, you don’t even know the meaning of the word.” She batted away a streak of darkness Nightmare shot her way; it dissolved like cobwebs. Shit. My blood ran cold. Cruelty hadthatmuch power?

“What is that supposed to mean?” the goddess of Nightmares breathed, the calm in her tone a warning that made a shiver shake over my fur. If I’d been in control, I would have fled, grabbed Death and Madde and Tor, and got the hell out of here. But against my will, I stalked closer to Nightmare even as I tore down the strings moving my paws forward one slow step at a time. The scent of my own blood was thick in my nose, copper all I could smell as I assessed Nightmare, deciding how I’d take her down.

“It was never you,” Cruelty said with an eye roll, unbothered when Nightmare lobbed more magic at her. Nightmare had used that power to send Death to his knees, to control and kill so many of us at Ford, and Cruelty just shrugged it off. “The curse, the bride, the murders, the academy, the island, the creatures, the perfect Frankenstein monster—it was allme.”

Wait. What?

Nightmare ground to a halt, a snide laugh leaving her. “You’re delusional.”

“No, darling, what I am ispowerful.”Cruelty tilted her head, cutting down Nightmare the way the goddess of nightmares had cut me so many times, reducing her to a pawn so fast I could hardly breathe. And still I crept closer, drool dripping from my fangs, flowers and dirt buckling under my paws. “How do you think you became the goddess of nightmares? Where do you think your magic comes from?”

A chill shuddered from my horns to the tip of my tail when Nightmare formed a dark, churning void between her hands,casting it at Cruelty with serious force. The snide laughter that began to twist her pale, bloodstained face died when Crueltycaughtthe ball of void and crushed it from existence. With a little sigh, she wiped her hands on her white lace dress as if it had left a residue of dust.

“Like I said,” Cruelty said with a little smile that was so reminiscent of smiles Nightmare had worn. “Where do you think your magic comes from?”

“You?” Nightmare breathed. I almost felt sorry for her, for a split second, before I remembered everything she’d done and a sense of karma washed over me, loosening tight muscles, easing my resistance until the command settled into me, more welcome than before.Kitty, be a dear and kill Nightmare.She was distracted; she hadn’t even noticed I was close.

“All this,” Cruelty said, raising her hands, the lace cloak falling around her arms, “you’ve done in revenge for Death taking the man you loved. But you never loved a man, Aceline. You never lost him. There neverwasa man.”

Nightmare’s laugh this time was brittle; Cruelty gave her a pitying glance.

“I conjured him from my imagination,” Cruelty explained in her sweet, beautiful voice, “and used him to foster hatred in your heart.”

“No, you didn’t,” Nightmare scoffed. I was six feet away now, slunk low to the ground, so close I could almost taste her blood. “Ambrosius was myhusband.I think I’d know if my husband never existed. I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing, little girl—”

Cruelty snorted, even that sound delicate. She fluttered her fingers at Nightmare, who reeled back a step. Closer to me. Magic clung to the air, so thick I could taste its bitterness. “There, see? Is that better with all my delightful meddling removed? Do you remember now?”

“I…” The catch in Nightmare’s voice made my blood boil. Weakness. “I was never married. I never even knew someone called Ambrosius.”

“Precisely,” Cruelty agreed, her tone bright. She was enjoying this. “Everything you are is because I built you that way. Your personality, your feud with Death, your obsession with finding ways to destroy him.”

I wanted to growl, to demandwhybut I couldn’t alert Nightmare to my presence. She’d forgotten all about me. And I had a command to fulfil.

“I bet you’re wondering why,” Cruelty mused, her watery blue eyes bright. I was in her line of sight, so close the scent of Nightmare wrapped around me, overlapping a dozen memories in my head.

This was the goddess that cursed me, that gave me three incredible husbands and forced me to split them apart, to leave two of them. This was the monster that made me and so many others murder people. Everything she’d done, all the gloating and glee, the little laughs as I’d suffered and begged for mercy. I remembered it all, and another shiver ran raised my fur.

“I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction of asking,” Nightmare snapped, her hands curling into fists. “Keep your answers, I’m not interested.”

“Suit yourself.” Cruelty shrugged. “Have a nice eternal death, dear.”

My muscles bunched, a thrum of electric anticipation and ironclad determination filling my bones. One small jump—that was all it took. My teeth sank into hot flesh, skin giving way to my razor-sharp teeth, muscle caving at my bite until my teeth hit bone. I ripped out the chunk and sank in again. Nightmare’s howl of rage sharpened into a scream of pain as I pounced and knocked her onto the ground, holding her down with all my jaguar’s power. Blood and raw meat and lilacs—the taste of itwas addictive to my beast, and I salivated as I tore into the meal, completely mindless as I crunched and chewed and swallowed.

By the time the haze wore off, the screams had stopped, my prey had gone still, and I flinched from the taste in my mouth—old pennies and uncooked meat and something bitter like infected blood. My jaguar was content, almost purring as she cleaned her paws, but one look at the butchered goddess in front of me and it knocked me back into my human form.

My hands hit the dirt right as my stomach cramped, expelling everything it had taken in, everything I’d eaten. God.God,I’d killed her, eaten her like I saw Virgil devour the florist. I heaved again, blood and bile and chunks ofhersplashing the ground. I’d eaten her. I’d ripped Nightmare apart andeatenparts of her. I retched again, over and over, until I was weak and shaky.

“Much messier than I would have done it personally,” came Cruelty’s pealing voice. “But I do appreciate the barbarity.” She hovered a few feet away, admiring the mess I’d made of Nightmare. There was no chance the goddess would respawn this time. I’d ripped her apart like I did Poppy’s ghost. “I’ll see you soon, Kitty. Meet me at the gates when you’re ready.”

I was shaking too hard to tell her to go fuck herself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CAT

Everything Nightmare had done, all the ways she’d tortured me… those wereCruelty’sideas, her grand master plan. And for what? Why had she done all this?

I swallowed hard, and tasted blood, setting off another round of retching.

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