“You know what has always irritated me,” Marco said, making a double knot. “Everyone’s assumption that I’m an idiot.” He lifted his head, spearing her with a glare. His skin was turning pale, ash gray. To her horror, his hands were stiffening, becoming stony. “I onlybrought thepopeone of the Nightflames. If he wants the others, then he’ll have to ask me where I hid them.”
He stumbled away from her, his movements uncoordinated, then turned his head toward the platform to where the pope watched the proceedings with a mad smile. “If you want the others, you’ll use your wizard to turn me back.”
The pope lost his smile, realization dawning at Marco’s deception. He turned away from him, frantic, heading to the trunk. He lifted the lid, uncovered the other gems… only to find ordinary rocks. He held them up and launched them over the railing of the viewing platform in a fit of rage.
“What is the meaning of this?” the pope asked, snarling.
“Insurance,” Marco said with a smug smile, as the stone devoured him whole.
A horrible realization struck her. How would the courier turn Saturnino back if he didn’t know where Marco had hidden the Nightflames?
The answer stole her breath.He couldn’t.
Ravenna glanced over her shoulder at Saturnino. She let out a heart-wrenching yell at the sight of the magic consuming him. His body was turning lifeless ash gray, the stone creeping over his legs, his arms, and up his chest. Every second, the spell stole him away from her. Saturnino looked at her, his gaze blue-rimmed, watery. Above all the noise, cutting through the fear and horror permeating the air as the world came apart around them, he bellowed it, voice hoarse, shattering.
“I love you, Ravenna!”
She didn’t have time to say it back; the stone was merciless. It crept over his jaw, his mouth, covered his nose and cheekbones. His eyes were locked on hers, and they widened one last time, one last plea, before the gray overtook him entirely.
He was gone.
Forever out of her reach.
Her throat felt narrow, too tight. Not even a cry of anguish couldescape her lips. She couldn’t accept what was happening, she couldn’t believe this was his fate, the cruel impossibility of it.
Saturnino was stone, and Ravenna would burn.
A tremor of emotion shook her. Despair blurred her vision. She couldn’t fight back anymore; she was crying too hard, breaking too fast. Her grief knew no bounds. It had no sense of time or place, no place to land. If the fire didn’t kill her, her sorrow would.
The pope came down the steps of the platform. “I want you to know that after your family watches you turn to ash, they will all be executed. You’ll die knowing you have failedeveryone.”
Ravenna began to struggle anew, kicking at the pillar, her heels slapping the wood. None of it worked. Ravenna took a last look at her family. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “So sorry.”
Her family screamed her name as one of the pope’s soldiers set the pyre alight, the flames growing hungrily beneath her feet. Smoke rose, curling around her, deadly. She blinked, trying to focus on her family.
A familiar black cat streaked toward her, toward the pyre.
Its luminous eyes caught the firelight and the air seemed to ripple with magic.
Ravenna coughed, her eyes straining. The cat’s sleek fur rippled, smoothing, stretching, paws becoming arms, delicate hands, arched feet. The spine curved upward. A flash of golden light burst across Ravenna’s vision, like the crash of lightning blazing across a thunderstorm sky. There was a loud laugh, booming amid the fire wreaking havoc across the piazza.
The pope turned toward the sound, eyes narrowed, the war machine rising high behind him.
He staggered at the sight of a beautiful woman, naked and lithe, blond hair falling in waves down to her waist. The pope reared back, his jaw sagging. His eyes were wide, brows reaching his hairline.
“Simonetta.”
The witch tipped her head back and laughed.
Simonetta
At last,at last.
She was human again. One hundred years she had waited for this moment, one hundred years since the fae king had punished her for stealing the Nightflames. He’d always had a fondness for felines, she had just never expected him to transform one of his daughters into one.
How many times had he warned her not to meddle in the affairs of human?
Well, meddle she had.
