Lucifer hissed a curse. Istral gasped and twitched, and then with a malicious grin, Lucifer let her go.
She slipped through his arm, skirt billowing, feet kicking, scream piercing the air—only to be caught hard, by one wrist.
Lucifer snarled, gripping her wrist and barking curses down at Gall while Istral screamed and cried and flailed, hanging by one limb, high in the air above our heads.
My nerves jolted. She was overwhelmed. Overstimulated. Afraid. Just like Gall, she was prone to stop thinking and just act when her bodyfelttoo much.
Help her see it,I prayed.Let her hear her sister. Let her see it and be brave enough to say no more. Free her. Free all of us.
We can’t live this way anymore.
“Are you ready, Izzy?!” Gall bellowed.
Before she answered, every sconce, candle, and lantern in the room went dark.
There was a blood-curdling scream, and the crowd shifted—had she fallen? If she’d fallen, we wouldn’t see to catch her and—
“Did you really believe that was all it would take?” Lucifer drawled. In a blink, a new light, a strange, frightening shine in the blackness began behind him, lighting the entire hall with a soft, sickly light.
It made Istral’s white dress glow.
Istral, who still dangled from Lucifer’s fist, and who was now weeping.
Dear God, help her.
I could feel my mate, beside herself with fear and grief.
I realized I gripped Gall’s arm. He kept jerking forward, as if he could leap up to save her—but he couldn’t.
None of us could.
If she wouldn’t—or couldn’t—shadow walk…
“Please, Izzy,” Gall rasped. “Please. I’ll catch you. I’ll always catch you.”
Sobbing, she looked down at him, her pale face red and blotchy, her cheeks shining in that strange light with tears.
“I tire of this,” Lucifer snapped. “The time has come. Istral—say goodbye. I gave your mate his chance to join us, but he’s refused. So, give him your farewell. You won’t see him again.”
He paused, staring at her with lascivious delight as she sobbed and coughed, her head turned down to look at Gall.
Everyone held their breaths.
Then she whispered, “No.”
Lucifer’s eyes went wide, then narrowed as he twitched. “You little bitch, do as you’re—”
“No.”
“I will cut that babe from your body and—”
“Let me go,” Istral whispered, still crying, but now staring up at Lucifer. “Leave me alone. I never want to be near you again.”
Lucifer’s hand sprang open as if he’d been shocked, and Istral dropped like a stone.
Lucifer roared an abyss of rage. The air above his head clapped, like lightning struck the palace. The floor rippled under our feet, and the watching crowd cried out—but all of us rushed to catch her—and did, in a tumble of limbs and shouts as we fell together, cushioning her landing.
Gall scrambled for her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him, sobbing her name. But the rest of us froze, as above us the air of the hall turnedblack.Lucifer threw back hishead, his mouth wide open, teeth bared, arms and legs thrown wide like he’d been jolted—fists clenched, the tendons on his neck standing proud… every line of his body screamed pain and rage, in a measure never before seen.
