Chloe was shaking her head.
“See, there? Yer sister has come to her senses.” Bruce held his hand out to Evie. She dropped her piece of the keystone—which was still humming—into his palm. Then he turned to her. “Now, hand over yers.”
Blood magic.Use the stone.The words whispered through her mind in a familiar voice. If she didn’t know any better, it sounded like Bridget.
For a moment, indecision paralyzed her. Hand over the stone and let Bruce win. Or use the stone and defeat him. But how?
Blood magic,the voice said again.
Even her sister believed blood magic was the only way to defeat Bruce and the MacDonalds and get out of the dungeon.
I’ll find a jagged stone or something.
That’s what Evie had said to her. But didn’t they have their own jagged stones? Even now, as she clenched her hand tighter, she felt the prick of the edges of the stone. Perhaps they would be sharp enough to slice open her hand. Not a deep cut. Just enough to make her bleed.
“Give it to me, Chloe!” he demanded, his voice harsh and cold.
As she stared at Bruce, all the anger and the pain of betrayal hit her full force. She despised his face and everything about him. He was nothing more than a liar. He’d used her. And the worst part was she’d thought she was in love with him.
She should have been more like Evie. She should have listened to her gut instincts, but she hadn’t. She’d allowed herself to get carried away with her emotions and fall for the handsome Scot.
“Did our time together mean nothing to you?” she fired back, allowing herself to feel that torrid anger. “Were you using me to get what you wanted?”
His expression hardened as though he didn’t want to think about their time together in the future. He dropped his hand and clenched his jaw, the muscles working along the edge.
“Ye try my patience, lass. Don’t make me take it from ye by force,” he said.
“You told me you loved me,” she continued, thinking of all those moments they had together. “You said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me. It was all a lie, wasn’t it?”
“I—”
“All you want is this jagged piece of stone.” She opened her palm and glanced down at it to see the lines were not only glowing, but pulsating. “You were the one who chased Evie upthose stairs in the museum that night. You were the one who attacked her. Because you knew what she had.”
“Chlo?” Evie’s timid voice whispered through the darkness behind her. “What are you doing?”
“Aye, whatareye doing, lass?” Bruce said, his Scottish brogue coming out thicker. “Give me the bloody stone and let’s be done with this walk down memory lane.”
“I will do no such thing.”
Then she moved lightning fast. She swiped the jagged edge of the stone down her palm, splitting the skin. Blood oozed. Then she clutched the stone in her palm and dropped to her knees. Immediately, the stone started to glow, the light seeping through her fingers.
A feral, raw power pulsed in a wild beat, shooting through her. Warmth spread through her as though she had taken a shot of whiskey. It pounded through her, making her ears throb and her eyesight swim. Bruce shouted something.
Use the magic,the voice said. Bridget’s voice.
Chloe lifted her fisted hand and pounded it against the stone. The floor and walls shook, vibrating outward from her hand as though she were the epicenter of an earthquake. Shouts. Evie’s scream. Chloe pounded her first against the floor again and again and again.
The next thing she knew, she was on her back looking up into Evie’s worried face. She was speaking to her, but her voice was muffled. It was as though something had burst her eardrums, and she was in a deep, dark tunnel. She shook her head and tried to speak but couldn’t.
She forced a yawn and popped her ears. Everything was back to normal.
“—hear me?” Evie sounded frantic when she said it. Her face was pinched with worry.
Finally, Chloe nodded.
“You scared the life out of me!”
Evie grasped her by the arm and helped her up. She shook her head to clear it and looked around the cell. The door was closed and they were alone once again. She uncurled her hands to see blood smeared along the glowing lines of the keystone.
