Page 18 of The Darkest Night

Good.I can leave her in their hands.

Bryony Cross wasn’t just the head of all the registered witches and sorcerers in New York, she was also a member of the High Council, one of the principal bodies governing magic users in the world. Though the three magic councils had been forced to overlook the worst of the Dark Council’s deeds following the Treaty of Argentheim, they had all secretly been praying for the Witch Queen’s rebirth and would stand firmly by her side.

“I have no grievance with the Witch Queen,” Nikolai said firmly. “If anything, it’s the opposite. I need her help to stop my father.”

“Is that why you unleashed such a dangerous spell on the city?” Anger darkened the witch’s eyes. “Do you know how many deaths you’ve caused, not just among magic users, but humans too?”

“I didn’t choose to attack this place!” Nikolai grated out. “That was my brother and the Dark Council’s doing. And I couldn’t very well let her fall into their hands. If they’d gotten to her before she awakened—”

A low mumble sounded behind him. He whirled around.

Color was returning to the Witch Queen’s face. Her lips parted on a name.

“Rose…”

Her sorrow drenched the air with a pressure that almost brought Nikolai to his knees. The witch and the sorcerer startled, legs similarly buckling. They had not yet experienced the influence of their queen’s emotions up close.

The heaviness in the air abated as the unconscious woman settled back down.

Nikolai shuddered before heading for the rooftop door hanging off its hinges. His body grew heavy, his adrenaline finally wearing off and his depleted magic making itself felt.

“Take care of her.”

“Hey, wait up!” the witch protested. “You can’t just leave!”

“He already did, Vi.”

Their voices faded behind Nikolai as he headed down the dark stairwell on shaky legs, Alastair trembling with exhaustion on his shoulder.

They needed to recover their strength for the next step of their plan.

Chapter 10

“Bar a few cuts,your body is okay. And your scans are all normal.” Dr. Mehta hesitated, lines wrinkling his brow. “We think the reason you were out for so long is shock from the trauma you suffered.”

Mae looked blindly at her hands where they lay on her lap.

“Mae, can you hear me?”

She swallowed and looked up. “Yes.”

Concern darkened the physician’s kind eyes. He was a familiar face, having been her mentor during her ICU residency. Yet, he felt like a complete stranger. Everything seemed strange to her right now. It was as if she were looking at the world through a dream. One she wished she would wake from.

Movement beyond the window to her right drew her deadened gaze.

She looked past vases brimming with flowers to the surgical block rooftop. It was being taken apart by a crane, the contractors who’d been assigned the demolition project bright figures in yellow jackets on the elevator platforms around the building.

It had been three days since the attack on Grandview General.

Three days since her world changed forever.

Three days since she lost Rose.

Even now, it all seemed surreal. The risen Antonovich, back from the dead. The attack by the monsters who had swarmed the hospital. The black-caped figures who had been after her. The devil and the man with the crow. And the being at the center of it all. The one who had taken possession of her body as if she were a tool to be used.

It all felt like a nightmare she would never be roused from. One that would see her bound forever in darkness, her heart broken and her soul swallowed by grief.

Mehta went over to the window and drew the curtains, his expression sympathetic. There was a knock on the door.

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