Page 9 of The Shadow Bride

Not you, I snarl, and I can almost feel his low chuckle down my spine.

“And”—Coco’s voice cuts through the hallucination—“finished!”

The sweet scent of honey engulfs the kitchen at her words, and my eyes snap open as the wound on her forearm heals with a sharp bite of blood magic. The pentagram on the table, however, still gleams wet and scarlet.Oh God.Holding my breath again, I drop into an open chair and clamp shut my mouth. I count every thread of my nightgown as Lou lights a candle at each point of the star.

When Beau continues to protest—loudly—Coco snaps her fingers at him. “Sit,” she says sharply, pointing to the empty chair between Reid and Odessa, who pats the seat with a satisfied smirk. Scowling, Beau drops into it without a word, but he scootspointedly away from her before turning to face Reid.

“Thanks for the help.” He speaks under his breath, too low for the others to hear, and watches in equal parts resentment and fear as Coco removes the extra chair from the table. “Have you conveniently lost your ability to speak, or—?”

Reid rolls his eyes at his brother. “What exactly did you expect me to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybeanything at all—”

“Look at Lou’s face.” Leaning back in his chair, Reid lowers his voice further—so low now that I shouldn’t be able to hear him either, nor see the small muscles around his eyes. They spasm from exhaustion. Itisafter four o’clock in the morning. Still—though he tries to hide it—he tracks his wife through the kitchen with single-minded intensity. “Look how pale she is.”

Beau’s brow furrows as he follows his gaze. “She looks the same to me.”

“Then you need to pay closer attention. Something is wrong. She refuses to admit it, but she seems... sick.” With a subtle tilt of his chin, he motions toward the peonies, their petals still stained pink from the deer blood. “I feel it too—a fatigue in my muscles. My magic. It’s getting worse every day.”

“Your magic?” Beau searches his face anxiously. “And you think it has something to do with Filippa?”

“It started on All Hallows’ Eve.”

I frown between them before glancing at Lou. Shedoeslook paler than usual—her freckles standing out in sharper relief—but her grin looks impish as ever. When she catches me staring, she winks.

Beau heaves a great sigh. “When all of this goes tits up, I’m telling the demon to eat you first.”

Reid chuckles darkly while Lou claims the seat beside him, and Coco follows, sliding into the last free chair next to me. She bumps my shoulder with a small, reassuring smile. “Right,” Lou says, glancing around the table and nodding to herself in reassurance. “I think we’re ready now. Should we, er—join hands? Odessa, what do you think?”

“The act of joining hands in itself is completely superfluous to the ritual, but if it calms your nerves”—Odessa extends a hand first to me, then to Beau—“I think we should.”

Beau stares at her proffered hand like it might grow legs, or perhaps fangs, if he touches it. “Just take her hand,” I snap at him, losing my patience and regretting it instantly at the startled look on his face. I bite down on my apology. “Please, Beau. I need to speak with my sister.”

With one last, grudging sigh, he accepts her hand as gingerly as possible, completing the circle. “Fine. Let’s all studiously ignore how a vampire knows so much about summoning spirits and follow her blind— EEEGH.” His voice shutters on a squeak as he notices Mila, who still hovers beside me.

Of course.With our hands joined, they’re all touching me now; they can finally see her.

She flashes a sharp smile. “Wonderful to see you again, Your Majesty.” Inclining her regal head to the others, she adds, “And a pleasure to meet the rest of you as well—formally, that is. I know rather more about you informally than I’d like to.” She swoops low to kiss Odessa’s cheek. “Andyou, cousin—”

“I knew you were here all along.” Odessa lifts her pert nose. “And as for how I know so much about the spirit realm, Your Majesty,” Odessa says to Beau, tightening her hand when he moves to pull it away. “Iread.”

“Do your books say anything else, Odessa?” Coco throws a warning glance at Beau before he can retort. “Anything we should know beforehand?”

Odessa lifts a delicate shoulder as Mila drifts closer to study the pentagram, curious despite herself. “Such magic is not a science. Those who cannot wield it will never fully understand the complexity and nuance of such a ritual, and those who can rarely share their secrets.”

“Perfect,” Beau mutters.

Odessa ignores him. “In theory, Cosette, you should be able to guide your blood toward the veil, where Célie will open a door, allowing your blood to cross and using it to pull Filippa here.”

“How does that work?” Lou asks curiously. “Guiding her blood? Using it to pull Filippa?”

“The same way it works when she heals your wounds or tracks your location.”

“It’s my intent,” Coco says, lips pursing as she considers the pentagram. “My blood reacts to it, and my magic follows. But—how do I find the veil?”

They all look to me then, and I swallow the fire in my throat, my fingers knotted around Odessa’s. I cannot look away from the pentagram. I cannot see anything but blood. “You... sense it.” When only silence meets my pronouncement, I swallow again, forcing my eyes shut and willing my body to settle.Please. Pleaseplease please.After several more seconds, I manage to say, “It feels sort of like a presence, an awareness, like the prickle on your cheek when someone is watching you. Here—” Without opening my eyes, I lift our interlocked hands and place them upon the table. “Let me show you.”

Chapter Four

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