1
Louis
Death. Pain. Burning.
Coherent thought was less frequent now as I slowly lost my battle with the darkness. Darkness was part of every magic user, usually suppressed by the light inside of us, but now … now my strength to keep it contained was fading. I couldn’t even get any messages through to my brother, Quale, anymore, and my family … I could no longer see them.
Jessa and the Compasses.
I’d almost died trying to save them.
My true family.
I was the weakest I’d ever been, which gave the demons the opening they had been waiting for. The soul chains clanked as I yanked against them, flickers of fury burning inside of my chest—or the place my chest would be if I was still in my physical body. Right now I existed as nothing more than a soul, which, truth be told, was the most important part of any being. It was the eternal part, and the demons knew this was where the true power lay.
Fire slashed across my essence again and again. I’d experienced a full range of pain over the years, from agonizing physical torture to an emotional loss that had come very close to completely crushing my soul. I thought there was nothing that could hurt more than losing my chosen mate and her family—who had become my family as well—but these demons were very … inventive.
The circus of souls, where I had spent an unknown amount of time, was filled with stolen essences. The demons used the magic that was held in our souls to power their world—the land between—a purgatory with no natural energy. The ley lines of this world were dead, but they had found a very inventive way to keep themselves functioning.
It was here that the trapped demons schemed and plotted to try and gain access to Faerie or Earth, where a plethora of energy and souls waited for them. I would do anything to stop them from leaving this land, even sacrifice myself. Blocking demons from leaving the land between was something I’d been working toward for many years, from the time of the jeweled princesses.
My family continued this fight. I’d felt the Lebron-Compass energy at the portal. We’d all just managed to keep the demons from being released.
Family.
Somehow they’d wormed their way into my heart—despite my best efforts to prevent close connections. I’d finally found my family, and the knowledge that I might not be around much longer to enjoy them caused true sorrow within me. Even if I didn’t die, the darkness inside my magic, the darkness all sorcerers held, was growing in power. My light was fading, and if that happened I would lose myself.
Darkness would rule me.
2
Elizabeth Teresa Montgomery II
The medical file at the end of his bed taunted me. Louis had been a pain in my ass for more years than I could remember. We grew up together and had been the best of friends. Then he had fallen in love with my sister, and … everything changed. But he had seen me—and my family—at our best and worst, and I thought I had seen him at his, butthis,his body so still … lifeless … it was heartbreaking. Far worse than I could have ever imagined.
I’d spent over half my life missing and hating him in equal measure, and it still bothered me to see him like this. It bothered me a lot.
Moving closer to his side, I reached out and pushed a strand of his light hair back. “Louis, come on, I need you to wake up so I can get out of here. I need to crawl back into my little hole. There’s too much world out here for me.” I’d even take a moment of having to stare into those arresting purple eyes that saw far too much, just to see he was okay.
“Lizzie.”
The feminine voice said my name with a bite of command. I had never been very good at taking orders, even if they were unstated, so I took my time turning. Standing in the doorway was a very young, very beautiful wolf shifter.
Jessa Lebron, the chosen dragon marked who had helped to defeat Larkspur. A pang of guilt hit me then—I’d been avoiding her as much as possible. Louis had called for me during their battle against the dragon king and I had ignored him. I had let them all down. I should have been here for that fight. But I just … couldn’t. I could not be in one more war. I’d already lost everything, every single being I cared about. I was done.
And if I was really honest, seeing Louis again might have actually broken me.
I raised an eyebrow as she stared at me. “Yes?” I finally said.
She shook her head. “Oh, sorry, I’m staring. It’s just that you’re kinda a big deal.” She winked then, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Jessa was charming, there was no denying it. Her blue eyes twinkled as she took a few steps closer. “The real reason I’m here is that we have some news about Louis. We got back yesterday from Faerie, and Grace is a princess, and so much shit happened. But the important thing is that we learned Louis is stuck in the land of the demons. His brother has been able to communicate with him … kind of, anyway. His soul was captured and dragged there in the last battle with Kristoff. We need to go and rescue him.”
“Fuck…” The light bulb above our heads shattered. It took me a few moments to realize it wasmyloss of control which caused the explosion. Holy hell, I hadn’t lost hold of my energy for years. Decades, even. Jessa never even flinched. Clearly, volatile magic did not bother her.
“You swear?” she said with a grin. “I never expected that from you, I guess because you’re so … pretty.”
Despite my current disbelief, I couldn’t help but smile. “Firstly, you’re pretty, and I’m guessing you enjoy a curse word or two.” She shrugged and nodded, not even attempting to deny it. “And secondly, I was the bad girl of my time. ‘Ladies don’t curse’ was the most used phrase around me.”
Before she could comment on that, and she was definitely amused, I turned the conversation back to the important facts. “The land of demons? His soul has been there this entire time?”
