I’ll go! Be right back.
Helena stops several feet away. “What? Cat got your tongue?”
I try to speak but nothing comes out.
“Sorry about that, dear, but I couldn’t have you calling for help, now could I?”
I glare at her.
She tuts. “I know what you’re thinking. We were friends. I was just that kindly old lady who lived down the street and who took all your cookies that day. Just think—if I hadn’t stopped you, you might never have met Eryx and married him. Now look at you—you’re the Queen of Nightmares, and from the energy pulses I’ve been feeling, you’re quite good at it, too.”
Helena circles around me, and I move with her, watching so she can’t take me by surprise.
When she’s made her circle, she stops and touches the air between us. Instantly, the gold and black magic within me springs to life, pushing out toward her—without my consent.
“Oh, that’s new,” Helena says like my magic is a dessert she might want to try.
Then she reaches for my chest.
The power stretches toward Helena like there’s a tether between us.
I feel it in my ribs—the magic being yanked out of me, her hand like a hook pulling. And God, it hurts—like she’s ripping into me.
My knees give out, and I fall onto all fours. I look up through tears, and Helena just smiles.
Which pisses me off.
I try to yank my power back, but her hold is strong, her hook digging into me so hard I throw my head back and scream silently into the void.
“Why don’t you just let go?” she murmurs.
No. Never.
The pain subsides for a moment, long enough for me to gather my scattered thoughts.
Maybe…maybe I can throw my power and Eryx will feel it. He’ll come faster than me waiting for Nightmare to reach him.
Helena cocks her head and smiles. “Yes, call Eryx. Bring him here.”
Wait.
She can read my thoughts?
“I’m holding your magic,” she says. “I own you. And I do so enjoy breaking new toys.”
The hell you will.
I throw a lasso of magic, hoping Eryx will feel it. The magic launches out, and Helena throws up her hand.
The power splits violently—and I hear it.
Not just hear it.Feelit. Like my soul is being ripped in half. Like something that waswholeis now broken.
Wrong.
Half my power—ourpower—flies straight into Helena's hand. The rest flings out toward Eryx. And in that moment, I know: This can't be undone.
And it is agony.
