Lilith had taken up the book Ag was supposed to use. Tears dripped down her face as she filled in for him.
Vas chanted from the eighth black book. He looked like he was half dead himself, but he’d managed to pull himself together long enough to read the words he’d memorized earlier.
And the ninth book…
I’d almost expected Finvarra to abstain. Thought he’d take this opportunity to go after Taraghlan. But unlike the seelie king, Finvarra was capable of playing the long game. He knew he needed Lucifer dead almost as much as I did. His power seethed around him, joining with the others as they chanted as one.
And at the center, Danica.
Danica, who’d shoved that rowan arrow into her own chest. Who’d given the last of herself, everything that she had left, to save her people. My people.Ourpeople.
Danica, who refused to let Lucifer win. Who had vowed to make him pay for what he did to our families.
My beautiful, brash bondmate.
My lips moved. I directed the others, wishing with everything in me that I had my own power to give to the spell. But my every conscious thought was with my little witch as I felt her, lying on the floor of that throne room, bleeding out.
For a moment, I could have sworn she surrounded me. Could have sworn she was right above me, watching.
But all I felt down the bond was agony. Agony and determination.
* * *
DANICA
I was screaming.
No. A faint smile hovered around my mouth as I tasted my own blood. No, that screaming was Lucifer.
He wasn’t dead yet, but I could feel the spell from the black books, feel it coming from each point, feel the power from our people spearing into Lucifer, keeping him screaming as they chanted the spell. The spell Cyprianus had created before he was killed. The one he’d dispatched in pieces, hoping he’d be able to take his revenge from beyond the grave.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the sound of Lucifer’s screams.
But I knew. If he wasn’t dead yet, from the death of the garthia plant, the Spell of Three, and the grimoires…
It wasn’t going to be enough.
The underworld showed me everything.
One last look. It was giving me one last look at my friends and family before I died.
The underworld felt almost… curious as I sobbed, my vision dimming at the edges.
Evie… she was in the gardens, her ward protecting the witches as she dropped the black book, the spell finished.
But on the battlefield…
It was a slaughter.
Our people had taken the chance. Had gotten close enough to use the black books. But Lucifer wasn’t yet dead. And the seelie were too fresh, too powerful.
As I watched, Taraghlan directed his gaze to where the seelie in green helmets–were fighting on our side. They took orders from Aubrey, and Taraghlan snarled, screaming at his people to kill the traitors.
Then he turned to where Mammon was fighting like a madman. He’d held back his power and was using it to cut his way through Lucifer’s army until the lines broke, and some of Lucifer’s more cowardly soldiers took to the skies to escape. Others cut and run.
Taraghlan lifted his hand. The ground trembled, a jagged opening forming beneath our right flank.
The ground opened, swallowing hundreds of them whole. When it slammed shut again, the silence was eerie.
