Still, something about this didn’t feel right. “Are you sure I shouldn’t go back with you?”
“It’s safer for you to remain here. I told you what will happen once the spell is complete. It’s better this way, Suyin.”
His words were reassuring, but while he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the vial on his hand. She wished he would look at her, but more than that, she wished his attention didn’t matter so much. She’d never felt like this about anyone before, and not knowing if he returned her feelings was agonizing.
But her pride wouldn’t let her ask. It would barely let her admit those feelings to herself.
She took a breath. “All right. Let’s do it.” She rolled up her sleeve and held her arm out, but he shook his head.
“The sigil must go over your heart.”
ABSENCEMAKES THEHEARTGROWCOLDER
THE SKY WAS BLOOD RED WHENMURMUR STEPPEDthrough the hellgate back into his lair. As he smudged the outer line of the sigil, faint flickering on the horizon caught his eye.
Frowning, he hurried over to the window, peering out at the cracked plains and dark mountains towering in the distance. The orange flickering he saw came from the foothills—the edge of his territory.
It was fire.
Fire, fire, fire.
He closed his eyes and focused on the souls patrolling the boundaries. Sure enough, they had alerted him to a breach over an hour ago; he’d just been too distracted to notice.
Either legions had gathered with torches, or a massive wildfire had been lit. But both meant one thing: His territory was under attack. And there was only one person who would havethe audacity—and the cause—to attack the Necromancer out of the blue.
Lucifer was coming for him.
The end is nigh. It’s do or die now. If the spell fails this time, you’re going down.
Murmur’s last attempt had gotten so close to success, odds were that Lucifer had sensed him attempting to penetrate his magical defenses. Now the High King had come for retribution.
Heart in his throat, Murmur spun away from the window and hurried to his table of supplies, taking the vial of Suyin’s blood from his pocket and then removing his shirt and coat and tossing them on a nearby chair. Things were about to get bloody.
He’d been expecting Lucifer to catch on at some point and had spent every moment since Suyin left working to prepare the spell. Despite the dire circumstances, however, he could barely focus on what he was doing.
He kept thinking back to Suyin. To the trust he’d seen in her eyes as she let him carve one of the deadliest symbols in magic into her skin. It made him feel sick.
The way she’d looked when he bid her farewell, her eyes sad like she didn’t want him to leave, like she didn’t want this to be their goodbye …
He braced his palms on the desk and dropped his head, his hair hanging forward. His breathing was ragged. It felt like he couldn’t breathe at all, in fact. It felt like someone had placed a thousand-pound weight on his chest.
Losing your edge, Necromancer? I thought you were willing to give up anything and commit any atrocity to achieve your precious spell?
“Quiet.” He needed to shake this feeling. He had one purpose, and that purpose was greater than anyone or anything else. It always had been.
He shook his head roughly and pushed off the desk, straightening. If he kept his body moving, if he didn’t give any attention to the gnawing at his insides, then maybe he could do this.
No thinking. No feeling. It was the only way he was going to succeed.
The High King is coming for you—unless you can give him something else to focus on.
Murmur picked up the vial of Suyin’s blood and … paused. Cradled it in his hand carefully. Once he activated the mark, she would be gone. This was the last vial of blood he would ever take from her.
Gone, gone, gone forever. You’ll be all alone. No one will ever miss you. No one will ever care about you. How could they, when you’re such a piece of shit?
His fingers curled around the glass. They trembled slightly.
“Master!”
