Chapter 46
Cat
Ieyed the veil suspiciously as it thinned and allowed us through, the scales’ rosy glow illuminating our path.
“Thank you, big guy,” Madde said, beaming at Passion, the giant god whose magic trove had allowed us a pathway through. Mostly because the veil was already frayed by my husbands punching holes through it to rescue me at Darkmore.
“You’re welcome,” Passion droned, his voice so deep it was lower than thunder, a seismic shift of sound.
“And look, listen to me.” Madde took the man’s dark gold hands, peering up into eyes the startling colour of silver. “You can’t let a broken heart keep you down forever. You’ve gotta get out there. Somewhere, out in the wide world, there is a super hot, crazy tall woman just waiting for you.”
Passion extricated his hands from Madde’s. “No, thank you.”
“Any woman would be lucky to have you,” Madde insisted, his eyes bright and earnest even as Passion walked backwards, retreating from the veil.
“You deserve to be romanced like all your favourite books, Pash. Just because that ice queen broke your heart doesn’t mean love always ends in heartbreak.
Look at me, I’m married to a serial killer! ”
I winced. “Not how I’d prefer to be known, love.”
“Be brave,” Madde urged Passion as the huge man fled. “Love and happiness and eye-rolling orgasms await you, my friend!”
Passion groaned and vanished on the spot, though not before I saw a flush colour his cheeks. I hoped he wasn’t going for good; we’d need his help, along with all our godly friends who waited on the other side of the veil to back us up when Violence inevitably overpowered us.
“I think you embarrassed him,” I told Madde, a smile on my face despite everything that was at stake in Ford.
“Nah, he’ll be fine.” Madde threw his arm over my shoulders. “He just needs a little push.”
“More like a kick up the backside,” Joanna said, stalking past us and walking through the veil.
I exchanged a look with my husbands, and with a sigh we followed. So much for a last minute pep talk. We were doing this.
Ford’s End lay under a fine, salty mist that made goosebumps rise on my arms, no matter how fervently I told myself this was ordinary, mortal fog and not linked to the decay in the domain. The decay eating at my husband.
I kept an eye on Death as we walked under a blanket of power to conceal our movements. It was impossible to tell if the decay had spread when he was swamped by that black robe, which was probably the point. I brushed a slow stroke down his soul, and his hood turned in my direction.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, but his voice rattled, and was it just my imagination or had it grown weaker in the past few hours? As if Violence was sucking up more and more power from the domain. A parasite I intended to squash with my heeled boot.
As one formidable unit, we flowed down the curving moors roads, past the place Nightmare confronted us and Honey shot her. Honey, who was really Cruelty in her stolen guise. That was where her game began.
I tipped my head back when Ford’s gates came into view, a formidable sight with trees looming on either side and Everard Tower visible in the distance. Dark scrolling iron curled and twisted, still manipulated into Cruelty’s school logo instead of Ford’s.
A shiver still hung at the top of my spine, the silence that loomed over the island like an impending curse all its own.
But I accepted the unease, let the fear take root within me.
I would be afraid whether I denied or accepted it, so I may as well make space for it among my rage and cold, steely determination.
Violence would die here. Cruelty’s final game would end here.
I lifted my hand and pushed open the gate.