“Ah, so that’s where you went, you naughty little thing,” the Ice Queen said.
Samuel jolted, trying to turn and face his enemy, but his feet were literally frozen in place, ice running up them in a thick layer.
The Ice Queen spotted me and smiled, a brilliant smile that made her look quite beautiful in an unearthly way. “And you. I’ll have to punish you for making away with my little witch. All of this could have been avoided, you know.”
I braced myself as she approached, resisting the urge to run. I likely wouldn’t get far. But, I reminded myself, we could very likely be on the same side.
“I didn’t realize Erik’s intentions,” I said, offering her a bow. “If I’d known, I would have gladly let you have him.”
The Ice Queen lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? How interesting.”
“Veryinteresting,” Samuel agreed, frowning at me. “You would go behind Lucifer’s back, would you? And here I thought you were a loyal subject.”
I crossed my arms. “That was before he neglected to inform me that Auggie was being sacrificed.” I gestured to the Ice Queen, who slowed as she reached us. “She was only trying to stop Erik. She froze that fishing village to prevent him from sacrificing the humans and growing his power. I didn’t sign up for a massacre, Samuel. I won’t stand for it. And I won’t stand for Auggie being a part of his plans.”
“You’re going to try to prevent the sacrifice?” Samuel asked. “But why? You’re the one who delivered Augustus to Erik’s doorstep.”
“Without knowing I was delivering a lamb to the slaughter!” I shoved Samuel lightly in the chest, regretting it immediately as my fingers sunk into his meaty muscle. “Auggie doesn’t deserve to die for some power-hungry monster. Why does it have to be Auggie anyway? What has he ever done to anyone?”
“The Fates pointed Lucifer to the remaining saints on Earth. Of course, only the one in New Yorkknowsshe’s a saint, but there are three others. I believe the alchemists consider them immaculate conceptions. Either way, saint blood is very powerful. Very powerful, indeed,” Samuel answered.
“Saints?” I stared at Samuel, wanting very much to shake him. “Auggie is a saint?”
“Unawakened, but yes. In the hierarchy of things, I suppose that makes him equal to a demon in power, but on God’s side. I would hardly consider a saint an equal though. All this prayer magic seems tedious to me.”
I stood very still as I imagined Auggie wielding the powers of a saint, bringing good to the world, helping them in ways he never knew he was capable of before. He would be … well, much like a saint, I supposed. Everything I’d seen in him, what drove him … it all kind of made sense that he’d been a saint all along. He already acted the part.
I recalled that Auggie had never known his father. I’d assumed he’d just left Auggie’s mother when she’d become pregnant. But there’d never been a father at all. Because an angel had sired Auggie.
I shook my head. “Think of a future without saints. The ramifications. It would shift the balance inexplicably.”
“Yes, it would,” Samuel agreed. “All the better.”
This spat in the face of everything I’d been taught as a witch. Balance. Hot and cold. Night and day. Good and evil. They all had their places. One couldn’t exist without the other. The entire world would shift. I couldn’t allow that to happen, not when there were already so many horrors in the world. I closed my eyes, imagining Auggie, chin jutting out, defiant, finding a way for his people to survive without needing to rely on witches. The fire in his eyes as he reproached me for not immediately trying to save Kingsbury from certain death. And me. He’d changed me, made me see the world in a new light, where I could have a place in it, helping people with my gifts, rather than isolating myself and ignoring what was going on around me. No. Auggie deserved to live in this world more than anyone.
The Ice Queen regarded me warily, as if she’d been able to read my thoughts. “What is your name, witch?”
I lifted my chin. “Callum.”
“Ah, yes. Callum. I’ve heard tell of you. But you only have it half-right.” She laid a hand on Samuel’s shoulder and frost immediately ran up his neck and across his chest, down his arm. He opened his mouth to scream but was stopped by ice freezing his jaw in place. The ice grew thicker around his muscle and sinew until his whole body was encased, then she withdrew her hand and considered me. “You are correct that I needed to stop Erik from succeeding. But it wasn’t for any selfless reason.”
My blood chilled. And not only from my proximity to the ice witch. I’d seen her brutality in her dungeon, the frostbitten limbs of the man she’d interrogated. The fact that she had a dungeon at all should have been enough to color in her character. I suspected I wasn’t going to like what she was going to say next.
“You see, darling,” the witch said, “I only wanted to stop Erik so I could claim Augustus for myself. All that power…. I could be my mistress’s perfect vehicle for overthrowing Lucifer. Can you imagine? Me entering that inferno and using my enhanced powers to encase all that torment and soul-sucking in ice? Hell frozen over!” She laughed, her voice like tinkling icicles, and I watched as she reached out and gave Samuel’s frozen body a shove. He tipped over slowly, then slammed down into the ground all at once. His head, along with a good chunk of his upper right torso, smashed into little pieces, glistening in the fires of the nearby buildings.
“I would never have to fear fire again,” the Ice Queen said, crossing her arms and watching me. “But first, I will need that darling boy’s blood.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“But you’re noteven a blood witch,” I argued, taking a step back from the Ice Queen. “What good will his sacrifice be to you?” As if I could talk sense into her.
She smiled coldly. “My mistress will see to it that the power from his sacrifice is funneled directly into me. Don’t you worry about that.” She gestured up into the sky, where the moon stared down at us, impassive. It looked like a blight of blood among the stars. “And it is nearly time to harness that power. I think another fifteen minutes, and his veins will need to be opened.”
I shook my head slowly.
“But you could join us,” she said. “My mistress would welcome your aid in this endeavor. Just think: You could have a place in the new underworld. Witches will fear you. Demons will wait on you. You’ll have more power than you ever could have dreamed of.” She took a step toward me. “And all you have to do is help me ensure the boy’s fate is sealed. Not such a small price.”
I glared at her and she chuckled. “Come now,” she said. “You’ll forget him in time. What place does one of God’s creatures truly have in this world anyway? The human world is a cruel place. It always has been and always will be. Help me end his suffering and we can usher in a new world together.”
