“You could never lose me,deliciae.I love you. There is no force in this world—or any other—strong enough to keep us apart.” Gabriel lets Sin and Maddox take hold of Hannah, and the brothers force her to her knees. “You can end this?” he asks, cradling his left arm against his body.
“Yes. But…” I cup the back of his neck, pull him down, and whisper in his ear. “I can still feel her blood inside me, Gabriel. She’s not in control,” I add when a low growl rumbles in his chest. “I promise. But I don’t know what’s going to happen when I take your power from her. What if…what if it drives me mad?”
“Then I will use all my love for you to bring you back.”He skims a knuckle along my jaw.
“All of it?” I shouldn’t take the time to joke with him. Not when Hannah could break free at any moment. But…I’m not frightened of her now.
Gabriel brushes his lips to mine. The kiss is so tender—so full of all the things we didn’t say to one another on the train—that tears spring to my eyes.
“Our love is an endless spring, Willow. It will never run dry. You are my whole heart. My soul. My everything.”
He’s right. Nothing Hannah—or anyone—could do to me will ever diminish my love for this man in front of me. I’m so light, I think I could fly. “I love you too, stud. Now go stand with all the whispers behind me.”
I hold the Blade in one hand, the broken power chain in the other, and take a step closer to Hannah. “You thought you could control me.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but Killian sends a blast of magic in her direction, and her jaw snaps shut once more.
“But nothing cancontrolmagic. Or love. The grimoire lied. To you. To me. To everyone. The Blade was created by love. For love. To preserve magic in this world until the end of time. Humans turned into something vile. And fear…fear killed the Whisper Keepers one after another. Not anymore.”
My whisper threads her fingers through mine. Wecan do this. Together.
One by one, the other whispers lend us their strength. Theirlove. My whisper’s hand is almost completely solid now. Spots of color darken on her cheeks.
One more step, and we hold the tip of the Blade over Hannah’s heart. I don’t need to make her bleed. Or suffer. That’s not who I am.
“I thought I’d have to destroy the Blade—or myself—to escape you. But that’s not the answer. I don’t need to escape anything. I have everything I need right here.”
I sweep my gaze from my whisper to the ones gathered behind us, to Gabriel. “I have my magic. I have this ancient artifact created by the first coven. I have friends. And I have Gabriel. An angel who loves me so much, not even death could keep us apart.”
No one says a word. Even the prisoners still trapped in cages fall silent.
“The Blade isn’t the weapon you think it is.” I send all the love I have flowing through the Blade. My whisper does the same. “It’s not evil. It’s not even dangerous. It’s Love. From now until the end of time. The Blade is love.”
It takes nothing—only a single thought—to coax Hannah’s stolen power back where it belongs. For a moment, nothing happens. Until she starts to scream.
Terror has a sound. I heard it the first time as the WCU sent me into the void, the second time when Gabriel died, and again now.
The bright, pure light swirls around her, picking up speed until the vortex lifts her high in the air. Her crimson wings turn to dust. In the next second…she’s simply…gone.
Calista whimpers softly. Killian had bound her in ropes from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers before I emerged from the void. She turns, mouthing,“Thank you,”before her eyes roll back in her head and she crumples to the floor.
“Fuck me.” Killian runs a hand through his messy locks and stares down at her. “Without the blood bond, she aged hundreds of years in…seconds.” He checks her pulse. “She’s gone.”
“She wasn’t evil.” I press close to Gabriel—as close as I dare with the blood still soaking his t-shirt. “The way she looked at me just now…I think she’s been praying for death for a very,verylong time.”
“I need to check on Zoe,” Sin says. “Mad, help the vampires free the rest of Hannah’s prisoners. Grayson and Kunchin will take their statements in a few minutes. Gabriel? I know you want to get Willow somewhere…private,but at least see that Lucifer’s axe is secure. The last thing we need is Hell’s greatest weapon falling into the wrong hands. There’s been enough of that these past few days to last us a thousand lifetimes.“
I don’t want to let my angel go, but the axe is buried under an eight-foot pile of rubble. Kàra and Ewan take care of the cages,while Mist helps Gabriel toss huge chunks of concrete away like they weight nothing at all.
Killian limps over to me, his hands tucked in his pockets. “They do know I could have magicked that for them, right?”
“Gabriel died less than an hour ago,” I say quietly. “Let him feel useful.”
The warlock’s rich laugh is comforting. Normal. And completely out of place. Every single one of us could have died ten times over tonight.
“You’re sure the Blade will never be a threat again?” he asks.
I glance down at the ancient weapon in my hand. “The threat never came from the Blade, Killian. It came from the grimoire.”
