Harvest.
His voice slithered through the air like rot.
I spun around—and Heaven shattered.
The golden light was gone.
And the sickening crunch that followed made my soul cry out.
Blonde hair.
Soaked in blood.
Kara.
The ends of her hair dripped crimson, her shirt clinging to her body. A sword pierced through her chest, glinting with fresh blood as Harvest held her up like a prize on display.
“Hey!” August’s voice ripped through the illusion.
I blinked hard, and the stone walls of Grim’s castle reassembled around me.
Reality.
The Reapers.
They surrounded me again, concern on their faces, voices pressing in.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked, eyes narrowing.
I looked down.
I was clutching my dress near my chest like a lifeline.
Slowly, I forced myself to let go. My hands dropped to my sides.
Everything was going to go wrong.
The vision couldn’t be stopped. If I spoke it aloud, it might fracture into something worse. A new death. A darker end. Fate had to run its course, no matter how much it gutted me.
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing hard. “I’m fine.”
But I wasn’t.
I would never see Heaven again. That home was gone to me forever. I had made my choice, and this was the cost.
I took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do.
Meeting Sebastian’s eyes, I said calmly, clearly, “It’ll just be you going to retrieve Kitty…and me.”
Chapter Twenty
Kara
The gnawing hunger came back with a vengeance the moment my powers returned.
Wherever the Devil had disappeared to, he’d gone far enough for the curse to run rampant. Within minutes, my stomach clenched like it were eating itself alive. Just as the familiar panic began to rise, food started materializing on the table—one plate after another.
Roasts. Corn on the cob. Buttered rolls. Pastries stacked in towers. Cakes and glazed meats. It didn’t stop. Dish after dish filled the table until it looked like I was hosting a Hell banquet for thirty gluttonous demons.
