“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped. “Necromancy is a very specific magic that is banned for a reason.”
Harry swallowed. “She’s using the harvested souls to power an army of the dead.”
“Because she couldn’t get them fast enough from Heaven or Hell,” Aira correctly guessed.
“Unbelievable,” Harry mumbled.
I turned slowly, meeting each of their gazes. Harry’s. Dave’s. Hudson’s. Lucifer’s. Aira’s and finally, my aunt’s.
“She doesn’t need belief. She doesn’t need loyalty. She doesn’t even need fear. She just needs bodies and the souls she is capturing to fuel her crusade for power.”
The tear in the sky growled and widened. Everyone’s attention turned toward it.
Lucifer’s jaw tightened. “Something just occurred to me, niece.”
“What?”
“Did Eloise witness you open the veil?”
Fuck. I swallowed. “It was survival,” I whispered.
Silence stretched as they each turned to look back at me.
The wound in the veil pulsed, angry and raw. I could now sense the bony fingers poking at it, the borrowed magic that was eating my grandmother alive skimming the wound.
Donn’s power in me answered, recognizing its own, but noted the twisted nature and recoiled. This was going to hurt.
I lifted my hands to the sky and dug deep for the words gifted to me by an ancient god. Deep down, I knew using this power meant I’d accepted it. Right now, it sat unused in a corner, waiting with bated breath for the right time to claim me as its own.
I tore the lid off it and let it fly free. Lightning cracked across the sky, and the silver eyes of a dark god flashed above us. I just had to hope that the bond I shared with Hudson was stronger than anything Donn claimed, because alone, I would lose myself to the seduction of darkness. It would be oh-so easy. But together, Hudson would remind me that things hurt for a reason, and he would need to be my light as I battled my own darkness.
Warm fingers tangled with mine. “Cora, you can stop now.”
Gold eyes I could drown in crowded my vision until all I could see was my home. The power left my body in a shuddering wave and gifted me Hudson’s final thought before I blacked out in his arms.
Extraordinary, mate. You always have been and always will be extraordinary.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Love isn’t in the falling. It’s realizing you never hit the ground.
“This is an unusual place for tea and treason,” Aunt Liz said as she strolled through the open vault door.
More like tea and trauma.
I sipped my peppermint tea and raised a hand to encompass the wealth of artefacts and history surrounding us. “Everywhere else is busy, and I need a beat to think.”
I’d filled everyone in on the ambush in town, but missed out the part detailing the escape into a secret realm. The Serpents already wanted to cage me, and there was no need to give them more excuses to control me.
She dropped onto a chair and ran her hands through her hair. She looked tired. Dark shadows ringed her eyes, and she sported a haunted look that showed the nightmares plaguing her day and night. I could sympathize.
“How are you feeling after regaining your memories?” she asked. Aunt Dayna wandered inside with a cup in each hand, Aunt Sophia a step behind her. I eyeballed the baggy sweater, knowing what she kept inside. I felt like a piece of my childhood had been broken. The way wool would appear from nowhere was akin to Santa arriving.
The vault door slid closed, locking us inside and protecting the Roberts women from eavesdroppers and enemies alike.
I shrugged. “I’m okay.”
Sophia snorted as my aunts settled onto their chairs. “You’re battling demons made by your flesh and blood,” she pointed out. “I would be more concerned if you were okay.”
