I stare at the Madame, that satisfied smile hovering on her lips like it always does. And I’m so confused. So bewildered, so disorientated. The words the Madame spoke to me down there in the chasm are ringing in my head like an ominous bell, and I don’t know if what she spoke is the truth or whether it’s lies. Butit’s poisoned my mind nonetheless, and I don’t know what is real and what is fiction any longer.
Did my mother send us here to die? Does she want Briony – our mate, our fated mate – dead?
I can hardly believe it. I can hardly fathom it, and yet all the pieces seem to fall into place one by one. For the first time in my life I see the world, I see the universe, I see everything as it really is – and fuck, do I wish that I couldn’t see at all, that I could return to my life fifteen minutes before and be ignorant of all this, ignorant of everything.
I peer over my shoulder at that spinning tornado. Hadn’t we said it looked like shadow magic? And now, as I peer more closely, I realize we were right. It is shadow magic, and as it spins and churns the demons fly in and out of it, and I realize – yes, she’s not lying. Yes, the demons come from shadow magic.
“We can’t leave her,” I say to Fox and Briony beside me.
“The Empress will understand, surely. It’s too dangerous. We’ve already risked too much. We tried to capture her. We tried our best. We have Fox now. Let’s go. Let’s get the hell out of this evil, horrible place,” Briony cries.
“There’s no way she’s going to let us.”
“Who?” Briony says.
“Bardin,” I say simply. “She’s not going to let us leave.”
Briony frowns at me. “Because of Fox?”
Fox snorts, and Briony’s gaze flits to him.
“No,” I say. “Not because of Fox.” Because, if what Bardin said is true, my mother has ordered it. My mother has ordered Bardin to kill us. There is no way the Madame is going to let us leave.
How do I even begin to tell the others?
Briony’s green eyes find my gaze once again.
“What?” she says, shaking her head, unable to comprehend what I am saying to her.
“We have no choice. It’s us or her.”
“You’re making no sense,” Briony says.
“No,” I say, “for the first time in my life, I’m making complete and utter sense.”
“You want to kill Bardin?” Fox says. “She’s immortal.”
“Briony fried the headmaster with her light magic.”
“But he was weak and frail,” Briony says. “Out here the Madame is stronger, stronger than she was in our realm. My magic is not as powerful against hers.”
“I know you can do it, Briony,” I say. “I know you can do it with our help. So kill her now. Kill her now, Briony. We’ll help you, all of us together.”
Bardin watches on with amusement, not making a move, and on the ground behind us, Dray and Thorne are looking as confused as our mate.
“Of course, there is an alternative,” Bardin calls out. “One perhaps you ought to consider.”
I growl, but Fox lifts his chin and calls out to her, “What’s the alternative, Veronica?”
“We join forces, of course, darling. We join forces against the Empress.”
Dray cackles hysterically, like that’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. He looks up to me with amusement, but when he meets my steely gaze, the laughter falls away. He can see that I’m not dismissing the words out of hand, and that both scares and intrigues him.
“Join forces?” Briony says. “Why would we want to join forces against the Empress? Beaufort, this makes no sense.”
“It does. I just can’t explain it right now, Briony. There isn’t time.”
“Whatever she’s told you,” Fox says, “it’s lies, all lies. I should know. I trusted her once and it cost me everything.”
