“Stop—please—,” she choked, but her eyes were wide with realization. I was no holy creature. I was ruin made flesh.
“No.” I smiled in her face.
Abram’s voice reached me again, strained and almost reverent. “Look at how magnificent my wife is, Loma. Make no mistake that if the heavens would let me, I’d reject you in the same fashion that Elowyn rejected your pathetic brother.”
Gods, my insides coiled with heat at his words.
“You crazy bitch,” she growled, forcing the words through clenched teeth, posturing as if rage alone could make her powerful.
I didn’t give her time to finish the thought. With a flick of my hand, the wraith’s claws tore through her chest. The sound was wet and final. Fabric split, skin followed, and blood poured freely as her body failed her all at once. Her insides spilled through the wounds, steam rising faintly as they hit the stone.She collapsed in a broken heap, eyes glassy, lips parted in a silent scream that never came.
Nyxthra inhaled the last of her power, drawing it out of her like smoke. Its eyes flared, glowing like embers in the dark, and then the room fell deathly still. Ezra whispered something softly and Loma's soul moved toward him, hovering close as if he kept her locked there.
Then Philip shouted, dragging Farris closer, the dagger still against her throat. “You monster!”
My eyes snapped to him, and the wraith moved with me, a mirror of my rage. I could feel her hunger fix on him, its claws curling with anticipation. The scent of his fear hit the air, sharp and delicious.
“Let her go,” I said quietly, my voice breaking with both fury and something darker, something almost gentle. “And I might let you live.”
Philip’s hand trembled. The dagger pressed harder against Farris’s throat. “You wouldn’t—”
I stepped forward. The wraith moved faster, wrapping its hands around his wrist. His scream was instant. The skin blackened where it touched him, and he dropped the dagger, clutching his burning arm.
I reached for Farris, pulling her away from him. She stumbled into me, shaking, eyes wide with terror and awe.
“Elowyn…,” she whispered.
Nyxthra hovered behind us, her edges already dissolving into mist.
“Go to Ezra,” I demanded.
Farris moved toward him, and Ezra immediately put himself between her and Philip.
Philip’s laugh wavered, scared now. “Go on,” he rasped. “Kill me if you dare. You’ll hurt her if you do.”
But I didn’t hesitate. My fury was pure, unrelenting, a force that had been building since the moment he dared to threaten me. My wraith lunged, tendrils of black mist snaking through the air, wrapping around Philip like living chains. His screams tore through the room, but I didn’t flinch. Icouldn’tflinch.
Ezra stepped forward, his form towering and feral, eyes dark as obsidian. “Elowyn… stop! You’ll destroy him, yes, but we don’t know how it will hurt Farris.”
My gaze moved to Farris. I started to retreat, but she smiled softly.
“End him,” she demanded, her eyes shimmering with a pulse of magic I couldn't ignore. “You promised me.”
I nodded, and the world narrowed down to the man in front of me, the one who thought he could own her, the one who had to die. My hands lifted, and the wraith struck, slicing through the last defenses Philip had. The air was sharp, metallic with blood and magic, and I heard Farris gasp behind Ezra, clutching him as the sheer force of my wrath tore through the space.
Philip thrashed, begging, pleading, but I didn’t care. The room bent around me; shadows hissed as they coiled around him.
Philip’s cries choked off as the darkness consumed him. His body went limp, but I could see his soul being claimed, tethered to the space between life and death. Ezra’s eyes glowed, dark and infinite, and his voice cut through the chaos, slow and dreadful. He reached forward and grabbed Philip and Loma’s souls that hovered.
“You will wait in the cellars for your punishment, with your parasite of a sister. I will punish your souls every waking minute I can until you pass out, and when your eyes open again, I will already be waiting to do it all over. I have an eternity of torment to inflict on your soul—and the best part? You cannot die, so it will never end.”
Philip’s final breath shivered out as I dropped him to the floor.
“Farris?” Ezra’s voice cracked as he turned to her, panic and dread choking each word.
Farris was pale, her body limp in his arms as if the last thread connecting her to Philip had been severed with his final breath. She didn’t move; her chest didn’t look like it was moving at all.
I stood there, chest heaving, trembling with the residual hum of magic and power coursing through me. The room spun slightly, the edges of reality blurred by the chaos I’d wrought. Abram came to me, his presence solid and quiet, but I couldn’t look at him—my eyes were locked on Ezra holding Farris, the weight of her unconscious form cradled against him.
