Page 102 of Break Her Heart
But August wasn’t gone long. And when he returned, he wasn’t alone.
A woman trailed behind him, her chestnut-brown hair tangled and her face streaked with tears. At first, I didn’t recognize her. But when Halston sucked in a breath like he’d been stabbed again, I remembered—the woman he danced with at the parties. The one he whispered to in the corners, touching her hand like it meant something.
“Do not bring her into this,” Halston rasped.
August didn’t answer. He took her by the wrist and dragged her farther into the room. Each step she took brought a new scream as her skin began to blister under the faint sunlight pouring through the high windows.
“Tell me where it is,” August said again.
Halston’s entire body was shaking. “It’s under your throne. In the great room.”
Benedict was gone. Halston glanced between the two of us and for the first time, I saw something more human in the monster than I had ever seen. Benedict stepped into the room again with something wrapped in cloth. He pulled it out to reveal a silver dagger with a black jewel and carvings on the hilt.
August’s eyes lit up, as if he finally saw the end. He glanced back at Halston, his grip on the woman tightening as if daring Halston to breathe wrong. “You’re not lying, are you?”
“No. That is what is used to bring Carrow back. Please just let her go.”
August stared at him for a moment before he nodded.
“Okay.” August gave her the gentlest push—like it meant nothing at all. The sunlight caught her instantly. One step, and she erupted into flames. Halston screamed like his soul was being ripped apart. Benedict recoiled, slamming his back into the wall, horror carved into every line of his face. The fire devoured her completely, and when there was nothing left, it vanished too. No embers. No smoke. Not even the scent of ash. As if she had been erased.
August turned to me and shrugged. “Can’t have witnesses.”
I didn’t need him to say it. I stepped forward, locking eyes with Halston one last time. The strong will he once had was gone—his body broken, his mind shattered. I grabbed his arm with one hand, feeling the thrum of his power beneath my grip, and summoned his magic. My other hand rose, fingers curling in the air as I willed his heart to tear free and come to me.
He didn’t scream this time.
33
Bronwen
“Now what?” Benedict stepped from the shadows, his hands trembling slightly as he handed August the blade.
August turned it over in his hands, his eyes narrowing before running his thumb slowly over the hilt. “We have to destroy it,” he said as though the decision had already rooted itself deep inside him.
August didn’t hesitate. He turned to me and held it out.
The blade was cold in my hands, the metal humming like it was alive. I turned it slowly, the black jewel set into the hilt catching the low light, refracting it in a strange, sickly pattern. The carvings were ancient, but I could feel the spellwork beneath each line as if it was just created. It pulsed. Like a second heartbeat, thudding faintly in my palm.
“The jewel almost seems alive,” I muttered, unable to tear my eyes away. I knew we had read about it, but all of the information I had learned in the past few months meshed together.
Benedict answered. “There isn’t much about it in our records. But it’s said to control the dead. The wielder feeds it souls, and in return, the blade can raise an army from the grave.”
“Feeds it souls,” I repeated, my stomach twisting. The stone felt alive because itwasalive in a sense. A world created to hold souls, but I wondered what inside it hungered for souls.
I looked up at August. He was watching me too closely, like he already knew what I was thinking.
“She spelled it,” I said slowly, “to hold his soul. And when someone sacrifices another soul to it, that’s when he moves—he leaves the blade and inhabits the body.” I glanced down at the stone again. “I think he is in there.”
August’s jaw tightened.
“If I take the magic from it,” I continued, “it will be useless. And there will be no way for him to take your body. This little world will be destroyed, and he will never be able to come back.”
August didn’t say anything, but his eyes shone brightly. We were finally at the end.
I wrapped my hand around the hilt. The moment my fingers closed over it, a jolt of energy raced through me. My knees nearly buckled. I steadied myself, exhaled slowly, and shut my eyes. The magic came like a tide.
Dark, hungry, violent.
