Weirdly, it doesn’t feel like it belongs to me right now, but it’s possible I’m in shock, and it will all come crashing down on me any second.
“Call it back!” Crone screams. “Contain it.”
If only it were that easy.
“I can’t,” I tell her, my voice barely audible through my clenched teeth. “I don’t know how…”
For a moment, pure terror fills her expression, and she backs away from me. I told her that I would find her fear—and maybe she’s worried that I will, although I’m not sure how.
Just as I consider using this moment to my advantage, Ace growls, prowling forward, and my focus flies to him and then beyond—to the silhouette behind him. Roman stands at the edge of the light, one hand raised, and I sense the warning in it.
I need to get this power under control.
Closer to me, near where Esta is braced with the other royals, a swirl of violet glimmers in the air, but I’m not sure what it is, and I don’t have time to focus on it.
Reaching out, my hands brush through the purple tones all around me, the energy a burning cold against my skin. I try to ignore the screaming demons in the background as I slowly coax the nightmare energy back to me, drawing on it, pulling at it with every inhale, like I did with the fear back in the Vegas desert.
It doesn’t want to come, fighting me every step, finally freed after all the years I’ve kept it locked down.
My demon wolves have prowled closer to me, Blitz ahead of the others while Ace hangs back closer to Roman, supporting me with their presence.
Just when I think I’m going to lose the battle, I remember the ancient demon language Roman taught me.
Closing my eyes, I whisper, “Stoll.”Stop.
I open my eyes to find the air clear, the nightmarish images gone, and the deep violet streams of light completely vanished.
Silence descends over the distant crowd, a collective exhale of relief.
Crone steps up as if she never lost control of the situation. She cackles loudly and does another one of those fucking hand claps I’m starting to hate.
“The Purification is complete!” she cries. Her black eyes flash to me. “Your first trial starts now.”
Like…right now?
Just as I spin to find out what the hell Crone means, she pushes her hands forward, palms outward, and another blast of white light grabs me and pins me in place, my hair suspended around my shoulders. Across the way, the royals are also elevated above the ground, as if they’re floating in water.
Beyond us, the spectators surge forward, their surprise evident in the way they glance at each other, the hum of their voices rising, drowning under the agitated howls of my demon wolves.
Ace throws himself at the light that’s keeping me caged, sparks flying outward when he thumps into it, his fur singing. Behind him in the shadows, Roman’s silhouette is visibly tense, his muscles flexed, one foot forward as if he’s about to run toward me.
Crone’s black eyes bore into me. “The first one back will win. Of course, not all of you will make it back alive.”
My heart lurches.Back from where?
The ground opens up below the royals and me, dark, swirling pits like the Scourge appearing beneath us.
All four of my demon wolves bash themselves against the light, trying to get to me, their furious growls filling my ears, their fear for me hurting my heart.
Ace’s anxious eyes are the last thing I see, and all four of their howls are the last I hear as I tumble into the unknown.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Idrop so fast through the darkness that I can’t breathe. The air rakes past me in harsh gusts and my surroundings are so inky that it feels like I’m plunging through oil. Finally released from Crone’s power, which kept me immobilized, I gasp for oxygen as I tuck in my arms and legs for the seconds that I spin through the charged air.
A sharp object rakes up my leg. Then another up my arm. Then what feels like a hundred more narrow pin-like objects scratch and tug at my protective suit. I can’t see what’s grabbing at me, but I’m sure it’s only because my suit is designed to resist blades that my skin isn’t being ripped to shreds right now.
Mere seconds later, the darkness evaporates like a mist vanishing in a gentle breeze, and a dense patch of vines rears up around me, all of them covered in needle-sharp thorns. They’re blackened and as brittle as bones, an amber glow emanating from them that burns in the dark of night.
