Chapter 52
Fifty-Two
SOPHIE
Ican’t walk on my own, so the two warlocks have to carry me between them to the chamber where Madeleine Boucher is trapped with her equally horrible companions. If I were the only one suffering, I wouldn’t have caved. But I couldn’t let them torture Tish.
An eerie green glow lights up the interior of the chamber, and then Madeleine’s gruesome specter rises from her coffin. “Sophie, you’ve come back for me.”
“Not by choice.”
“I see. Are you going to finally set me free?”
I want to yell, “Never,” but one look at Tish’s half-burned body and the words die in my throat.
“Yes, that’s exactly what she’s going to do,” my father replies for me.
“Jacques Tellier. It’s been a while. Are you still playing the devoted lapdog to my sister’s whims?”
“I do not answer to Tatiana.”
“Oh, it seems someone has finally found their cojones.” Madeleine cackles, and her specter friends join her.
“You mock me when I’m here to free you?”
“Oh, is that so? Are you offering your daughter as a blood sacrifice, then?”
“Sophie will undo the spell she cast with the High Witch.”
“That alone will not be enough,” Madeleine snaps, coming closer to the gate to display her grotesque appearance. “Only a blood sacrifice will do.”
“My blood alone wouldn’t free you. If it were that simple, he would have done it already,” I say.
“There’s only one blood that can set me free.”
Nightingale blood.
My father grabs me by the hair again, pulling hard. “What is she talking about?”
“I have no idea,” I grit out.
“She lies. She knows the blood I need, the blood I crave. I’ve tasted it before. Nightingale blood.”
He releases my hair, shoving me forward so hard that I fall face-first on the ground since my hands are still bound behind my back. I manage to turn my head so my cheek takes the brunt of the fall, but it’s just as jarring and painful.
“That’s impossible. The Nightingales left our world centuries ago, before you were trapped here.”
I get onto my knees in time to see Madeleine shake her head. “You’re still the same pitiful and dense male you were before. No wonder my sister only had one use for you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lucca’s girlfriend, the one Boone was obsessed with, is a Nightingale princess, the heir of Queen Maewe.”
Shit. How does she know that?
“You mean to tell me the key to your prison was just mere feet from your cell?” My father’s voice rises in pitch.
“Yes, isn’t life ironic?”
Father turns to me. “Where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
He slaps my face so hard it makes my ears ring. “Don’t lie to me!”
“You touch her again, and I’ll make sure your hands are the first things I cut off,” Vaughn announces, making my heart soar.
He came for me.
“Oh good. Your boyfriend is here. One more of your loved ones to torture,” my father sneers, then turns to his mercenaries. “Get him.”
Madeleine reaches her hand through the bars. “Yes, bring him to me. I want to drink him dry.”
“No!” I try to get to my feet, but my legs won’t cooperate.
Both warlocks prepare to strike Vaughn with the same spell they used on me.
Tish, now free, limps toward me and begins to chew the cord binding my wrists.
The first warlock strikes, but Vaughn ducks and avoids getting hit.
The cord around my wrists slackens, and I help Tish out, pulling my wrists apart.
The cord finally snaps. With my hands free, I can use them to get back on my feet.
I don’t waste time, grabbing the crystal around my neck for a power boost. I don’t think I can use the same fire spell as before, but I can hit the second warlock with a power sphere.
My magic surges within me, but before I release it, I’m yanked back by cold, clawed hands.
Sharp fangs pierce my neck so deep, it draws a guttural sound from me.
More bites and scratches follow. I feel like a piece of chum in shark-infested waters.
“No, leave her alone!” Tish shrieks.
“Sophie!” Vaughn screams in the dark.
My vision begins to dim, and the last thing I see is Vaughn’s face right before my father blocks his way.
VAUGHN
My stomach drops through the earth when Sophie gets snatched by Madeleine, and the evil ghost and the other specters start to chomp on her. I get tunnel vision and forget about the two nasty warlocks who are trying to fry me with their spells.
I run toward her with my sword at the ready, but Jacques blocks my way. “You’re the reason my daughter betrayed me. You’ll pay for that.”
He swings his sword, making an arc toward my neck, but I block his blade and shove him back.
He trips over something and falls. A second later, Tish pounces on his face and goes feral, scratching the hell out of him.
But she’s only a cat, and he can easily pick her up and toss her into the distance.
Not if he doesn’t have any hands.
I do what I vowed if he had harmed Sophie: I swing my sword and cut his hands off before he has a chance to reach Tish. His scream bounces off the walls, echoing down the tunnel. I don’t know where the warlocks went, but I keep running toward Sophie.
I reach her as her limp body tumbles forward. “No. Sophie! Wake up.”
“You’re too late.” Madeleine laughs right before her ethereal form zooms through the bars of her cell.
No. She can’t be free.
I pull Sophie into a hug, curling my body to protect her from the ghosts, but they pay us no attention. They already got what they needed to be able to leave their prison.
Sophie’s sacrifice.
I touch her pale face, already so cold. “Please, Soph. Wake up.”
Tish comes closer and rubs her face against Sophie’s arm. She’s been through the wringer too. Part of her body is burned, and she has blood all over her fur. I can’t imagine the pain she must be in.
I try to feed Sophie, but when I part her lips, my blood drips down the corner of her mouth. She’s not swallowing because she’s already hibernating.
After a while, the sound of battle ceases. I don’t know who won, and I don’t care. Footsteps approach, making me lift my face. It’s Vivi and Rikkon.
“She’s gone to sleep. I couldn’t bring her back,” I say through the lump in my throat.
“Can’t you give her your blood again, Vivi?” Tish asks.
“No, she can’t,” Lucca answers before Vivi can. “She lost too much blood tonight.”
I see it then, the pink line of the wound that just healed on Vivi’s collarbone and her blood-soaked shirt. One of the specters must have gotten to her.
“I can try to heal her,” Rikkon offers, dropping into a crouch in front of us.
He presses his palm over Sophie’s neck, and it glows with a soft blue light. I watch in awe as the wound heals and the color returns to her cheeks. A moment later, Sophie opens her eyes and stares into mine.
“Hey, babe,” I say.
“What happened?”
Rikkon pulls back and turns to Tish. “Now it’s your turn.”
He repeats the same process with Sophie’s familiar, healing her burns. Tish looks as good as new, and she leaps with joy once the healing is complete. But then a freakish thing happens—she turns into a woman with raven hair and green eyes.
“Oh my God,” Vivi gasps.
“Whoa. Did I do that?” Rikkon stares at her wide-eyed.
Tish inspects her arms in awe. “I can’t believe it. It’s me. You unhexed me.”
She launches herself at Rikkon, sending him onto his back with her on top. “Thank you, thank you.” She kisses his face.
A throat clearing draws my attention to Miranda, who’s standing there watching Tish straddle her boyfriend, and looking none too happy about it.
Rikkon pushes Tish off him gently and sits up. “I don’t even know how I did that, but you’re welcome.”
“Wait. Rikkon was able to lift her curse just like that?” Saxon asks. “Why the hell did we go to the Nightshade Market, then?”
“We didn’t know Rik had the ability,” Vivi replies.
Sophie grows tense in my arms. “Where are Madeleine and the other specters?”
“Dead,” Lucca replies.
“Uh, weren’t they already dead?” I ask.
“No, he means dead dead. Rikkon and Miranda sent them straight to hell,” Saxon replies.
“How?”
“It turns out skyfire swords do more than break warlock magic.” Miranda smirks.
“What happened to my father? Is he dead too?”
Lucca’s face becomes harder. “No. He’s in custody. But most likely he’ll be executed for treason.”
Sophie closes her eyes, and tears roll down her cheeks. My heart breaks for her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry too.” She looks into my eyes. “He was never the best father in the world, but he was my father.”
I kiss her forehead. I don’t know what to say to make her feel better, so all I can do is hold her, and love her as fiercely as she deserves.