Page 93 of Depths of Desire
Footsteps.
Voices.
My brothers.
Luna.
She’s here. They’re here. But the power wall holds. I feel it shimmer when Luna gets closer. I can hear her. She’s telling me she loves me. I love you, too, I want to yell, but I still can’t move.
I hear Esme’s voice—calm, urgent. “Don’t interrupt. It’ll kill him.”
Damn right it will. But I’m not going to wait to be rescued. I want to see my wife again. I want to hold her close and make her smile.
Suddenly, I sense a shift. A loosening in the cords that hold me, as if the poison and the magick are wearing off. It’s Esme and…Morwenna. They are helping me. I shift my hand—just barely. The dagger rests beside me, meant to be used in the final bloodletting. The ties that bind me fall away as Morwenna and Esme get louder. My fingers twitch. I drag them toward the hilt inch by inch, biting down a groan as I fight the magick.
Mother’s chant is speeding up. She’s panicking. She had to know she was too weak to finish this cleanly. The last ritualtook her arm. This one’s going to take more. Unless she gets everything she needs from me now.
The energy crests. The air warps. My heart seizes. I see sparks behind my eyes. I have to move.
My fingers close around the dagger. Lunging upward, I summon everything I have left and drive the blade into her chest. Straight into the heart that never beat for anyone but herself.
Her scream is a symphony of rage and disbelief. The force field collapses with a thunderous crack. Magick explodes outward, knocking everyone back. The mirror shatters. The candles extinguish. The skull splits. But the ritual—it's too late to stop. The power doesn’t die. It must go somewhere.
And it chooses me.
The moment is fire and chaos and pain. My body arches as the energy pours into me, ancient and primal, howling through my veins. I feel it claiming me—reforming me. Not as a pawn. Not as a conduit.
As its vessel.
My mother’s scream echoes through the sanctuary again. Her face is twisted in rage as blood pours from her chest, and then she moves. She comes at me, wild, broken, fast. I brace myself. But the blade falls before she reaches me.
A single, clean strike. Her head hits the floor. Her body crumples beside it. My father stands behind her, his sword still dripping. He meets my gaze. For once, there’s no fear in his eyes. Only grief.
And me—I’m still breathing. Alive. Changed. Everything is quiet now. Except inside me.
Inside me, something ancient has awakened. And I don’t know what I’ve become.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Nico lunges. In one brutal, desperate motion, he drives the dagger upward—into his mother’s heart. The sound she makes isn’t human. The high, shrieking wail rips through the chamber like a storm breaking. The mirror shatters. The black water in the bowl boils and explodes. The skull cracks down the middle.
The force field detonates with a shockwave of power. I stumble back, wind knocked from my lungs. Nerezza stumbles, too, her hands clutching the hilt of the dagger buried in her chest, eyes wild with disbelief. She gasps as blood spills down her front. But it’s too late. The ritual is complete.
The power which shimmers like a cloud over Nico, power meant for her—has nowhere to go. I watch in horror as it darts toward Nico, disappearing into his chest. He convulses on the altar, the magic pouring into him like liquid lightning. His eyes roll back and then open again, glowing with a light I’ve never seen before. The candles snuff out., plunging the room into darkness. Then light flares again—from him.
Nerezza screams, her body lit from within by the backlash of the magick she tried to steal. And then she charges. Bloodpouring from her chest, power leaking from her fingertips, she moves toward Nico with murder in her eyes.
“No!” I scream. But it’s not me who stops her. A blade flashes. My breath catches.
Leonardo has stepped from the shadows, sword raised. With one clean stroke, he brings it down. Nerezza’s head leaves her neck. Silence slams into the room. Her body crumples, and dark, viscous blood spreads across the stone floor. The smoke curls around her like mourning veils.
And Nico—Nico lies nearly motionless on the altar, only his chest rising and falling. Power still glows faintly beneath his skin, like embers beneath ash. He’s alive. And that’s all that matters.
“Nico,” I yell as I run to him. “Oh god, Nico?”
He stares at me, but slowly his eyes seem to focus, and his face erupts into a smile. “My love.” And then he frowns. “I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you today. I would have been there if I could have. I shouldn’t have left you on your own. I should’ve brought help to find Esme. Please forgive me for leaving you on your own. I am so, so sorry.”
My anger melts away. After everything he’s just been through, for his first thoughts to be about my discomfort humbles me. Tears cloud my vision. I blink them back. “I’m just so glad you’re okay,” I say, and then lean down to kiss him.
