Page 16 of The Darkest Night

Mae reached the edge of the collapsing building and lunged over the abyss. Her fingers closed on something warm as she hit the asphalt. She blinked through the debris and dust clouding the air, her heart in her mouth.

It was Rose’s right wrist.

The sapphire bracelet she had given her best friend scratched the wounds on her palm. Movement below caught her eye. The devil dangled from Rose’s left arm, a mocking grin on his monstrous face.

Their combined weight dragged Mae forward. She cursed and tightened her grasp on Rose as she slid farther over the chasm. Another segment of the roof disintegrated next to her.

Someone grabbed her legs and yanked her back from the void.

It was the guy with the crow.

She kicked at him, despair making her clumsy. “No! Let me go!”

“Your friend is dead!” he yelled. “Release her or he’ll take you both down!”

The devil cackled at the stranger’s words. “The traitor is right, witch! In fact, why don’t you just give up and come with me? Do not fear. The king and I will treat you well.”

Mae’s throat grew tight. The blood on her skin was making her hold slippery. Rose’s arm slid through her grip.

Let go, Mae.

“No,” she mumbled. “I can’t. I won’t!”

She dug her fingers into Rose’s flesh. A sob left her as her best friend continued to slip through her hands.

“Don’t leave me.” Mae’s vision swam with tears. “I need you, Rose. I—”

Her breath locked in her throat as she finally lost her grip. The devil pulled Rose down into the night, his crimson gaze taunting.

The sapphire bracelet Mae had ripped from Rose’s wrist dug into her clenched fist, a cold blessing against her palm. Heaviness filled her heart and mind. Her consciousness flickered. The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was the devil unfurling his wings and wrapping Rose in his arms.

Chapter 9

Nikolai’s heartdrummed violently in his chest where he sat on the edge of the building’s decimated rooftop, the motionless woman in his hold a burden that weighed heavily on his conscience.

What have I done?!

The people the Witch Queen had saved lay unmoving some twenty feet away, minds and bodies rendered senseless by all they had just experienced. Remorse brought a sour taste to Nikolai’s mouth as he looked out over the dark city.

The devastation the magic storm and the Witch Queen’s awakened soul had wreaked would be felt for days, not just by the magic users who inhabited New York, but also by the humans who had unwittingly found themselves in the middle of a battle they hadn’t even known existed.

He clenched his jaw. Still, the outcome would have been worse had the Sorcerer King and the Dark Council gotten their hands on the Witch Queen before she awakened. His stomach twisted as the image of the devil danced before his eyes.

I can’t believehecame!

It was only recently that he’d uncovered the shocking truth of how his father and every Sorcerer King before him could control and call forth fiends from Hell. It was a secret his father had kept close to his chest, one likely only known to Oscar and his most trusted circle.

That horrifying information and the imminent awakening of the Witch Queen had finally propelled Nikolai to take action. What he had achieved tonight was the culmination of a path he had chosen a long time ago, under a moonlit night in an amphitheater thousands of miles from here. There would be no walking away from the bloody fate he had espoused, nor the woman at the center of it all.

Nikolai studied the Witch Queen. He hadn’t been able to make out her features through the debris flying across the rooftop and the power engulfing her earlier.

She was tall and lean, the tone and definition of her muscles speaking of someone used to regular physical training. Her long, black hair fell midway down her back, framing a slender neck and a heart-shaped face. Her skin was so fair it almost glowed under the moonlight, the faint blush of color on her sharply defined cheekbones and full lips a sharp contrast to her snowy complexion.

Something tugged at his heart. He blamed it on the artifact hanging around his neck, took it off, and carefully slipped it over her head. The pendant glowed crimson as it nestled against its mistress’s flesh. She shuddered, red lines flashing across her skin briefly as the weapon bonded with her soul.

The heat of the connection seared Nikolai’s skin, her magic so potent it caused his own to stir in response. He laid her on the ground and climbed to his feet, eager to get away from her all of a sudden.

Alastair’s claws sank into his shoulder, the familiar’s curiosity flitting through his mind. Nikolai took a shaky breath and shielded his thoughts from the crow.

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