Like I didn’t know that. Darius would be furious with me. He would have told me to hold out. That there would be another way.
But I had to save him. I loved him and would do anything to save him. Even make a deal with a devil.
One of the children coughed. They wouldn’t last long in those mines. Neither would the twins.
I had to take a chance while I had it. I might never get another one. This might be the way to save all of them.
I squared my shoulders. “I accept.”
Something flickered in Ari’s red eyes. Satisfaction? Relief? I couldn’t tell.
He moved quickly—wrapping one end of the black web bracelet around his own wrist, then reaching up to where my hands were chained above my head.
The other end of the bracelet slithered around my wrist like a spider wrapping its prey, each silken strand tightening against my skin. I flinched as dark magic pulsed through me—cold and oily, binding us together.
There was no going back now.
“Repeat after me.” Ari’s red eyes grew darker. “By web and blood, I bind my fate to thine.”
“Alice, don’t say it.” The twins’ voices overlapped, desperate. Their pounding on the bars grew deafening.
Darius would never forgive me for trusting Ari. But he'd never forgive me for letting his friends die either.
I had to save them.
“By web and blood, I bind my fate to thine.” The bracelet tightened around my wrist like a blood pressure cuff.
My gold bracelet flared hot against my other wrist—a warning. The medallion pulsed, and the strands seemed to vibrate against my skin.
Ari smiled—a shark scenting blood. “I vow to free thee from this prison.”
I gritted my teeth. “I vow to free thee from this prison.”
The bracelet crept higher, spreading over my forearm. I could feel it, cold and invasive. My gold bracelet burned hotter against my wrist, the heat intensifying. Was it fighting the dark magic? Or trying to tell me something?
“And thou shalt accompany me to freedom.”
My jaw clenched. “And thou shalt accompany me to freedom.”
The two bracelets—one gold, one black—pulsed in opposite rhythms. Light and dark. Warmth and cold.
“Upon pain of death.”
I hesitated. One of Bunny’s children whimpered. My gold bracelet seared my skin, as if screaming at me to stop.
“Upon pain of death,” I whispered.
The black web bracelet went still. The gold bracelet cooled, but something felt different now. Changed.
I’d made a deal with the devil.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Alice
I glanced over at Flint and Steel. Neither would look at me. They turned their backs, gripping the bars, shoulders rigid with disgust.
It was as if I had become a traitor. Just like Rabbit.
