Page 113 of Malice
“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.”
Something just stepped through the wards.
“Merri!”
Chapter
Thirty-Three
MERRI
As soon as I left Christian’s cottage, I bolted, running as fast as my legs would carry me toward the property’s edge. The long driveway was the quickest path to the outside world, and I knew I’d leave tracks Chaos would be able to trace. My only hope was to be quicker than them, which meant it was now or never. The moment they realized I wasn’t in the house, one or all of them would try to find me. If they caught me, I would never escape.
My feet pounded the gravel, each step sending shockwaves up my legs, the speed at which I was sprinting making my lungs burn. I might have been a succubus, but I was not a runner. I did yoga, for heaven’s sake.
If not for what felt like the literal hounds of hell at my back, I don’t think I would have made it. Between the fire in my lungs and the pain in my thighs, I was already struggling. And that had nothing on the ache where my heart used to be.
“Just keep going,” I wheezed, seeing the gate come into view. Just a little further and I’d be in the clear.
All I had to do was push open the gate and step past. It wasn’t locked. It was simply for show. But when I reached the ornatebarrier, I hesitated, skidding to a stop and nearly falling on my ass in the well-worn gravel.
Biting down on my lip, I turned back toward the château, which I couldn’t even make out from here. Wind whipped around me, sending my hair flying. If this were a movie, I knew I’d make a striking image. I also knew if I was watching said movie, I’d probably be shouting at the heroine. But would I be telling her to stay... or go?
If I did this, if I left them, that would be it. No coming back. No more Sin or Chaos. No Malice or even Grim. They each had my heart even after rejecting me, and whether they wanted to admit it or not, that wouldn’t change. Once you found your soulmate, you couldn’t just put them aside like they didn’t exist. Or maybe you could. I’d heard about people rejecting their mate bonds before. It rarely ended well, but perhaps it was possible to move on and live without them. I guess I was about to find out.
Because I had to go, right? If I stayed, what was really left for me here? A life surrounded by men I’d fallen head over heels for who saw me as nothing more than an inconvenience? A fucktoy they could lie to with pretty words day after day just to keep me happy?
That would be death by a thousand cuts. Each interaction with them a reminder of what I’d thought I’d found and lost. Of how incredibly gullible I’d been. It would be rejection over and over again. I couldn’t live like that, not without destroying a fundamental piece of myself I could never get back.
I deserved better.
I deserved a chance at a real life—short as it might be, given the circumstances.
But if the world was going to end anyway, I’d spend the time I had left on my terms.
Gripping the ball of magic tightly, I took a steadying breath and used my other hand to open the gate.
My entire body trembled as I stepped through the invisible wall of magic keeping the world outside hidden from view. I knew I’d been successful when the landscape changed and the decimated town beyond Malice’s private island appeared. It was worse than before, and I didn’t think it was due to this being a different area I was seeing. Most of the buildings were burned husks now, or simply piles of rubble. The streets were empty. But had the people evacuated to somewhere safe? Or had they been dragged to hell by demons?
I guess it didn’t really matter; I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I sent a quick thank you to past Merri, who’d kept the device charged by force of habit. I scrolled through my past texts with Cole until I found the address for his new location and took precious seconds to commit it to memory.
“Merri!” Malice’s voice echoed in the distance, jolting me to action.
He’d felt me cross the wards.
With no time to spare now, I tossed the bespelled ball to the ground in front of me while murmuring the address aloud. The same street name and numbers burned in my mind’s eye to help reinforce what I was saying.
I knew I’d done it right when a shimmering visage appeared before me. I could easily make out an idyllic house with a nice wraparound porch through the portal’s rippling surface. I didn’t know if I’d be safer with Cole, but I had to go to protect my heart. If I had to spend the rest of my days on the run from Lucifer to keep him from getting his antichrist, so be it. Letting the horsemen have their way would destroy me in the long run.
With nothing left to do except get caught, I stepped through the portal and left the four horsemen behind.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
LUCIFER
