Tears choked her. Mayhap had she seen it sooner, she could have saved her sister. Too late now. Vine didn’t want to be saved. Unlike Duel, Vine didn’t fight against the darkness or even try to tamp it down.
Rather, she reveled in it.
And Mara refused to sit back and watch Duel go down for such a worthless trifle as Vine. To see him die again while he fought so hard for others. Fought so hard against the evil that wanted him. She might not have seen the truth of him in Tintagel, but she saw him now.
More than that, he was hers, and the one thing about Deruvians … they protected their own from any threat.
Perhaps there’s a little Aesir in me, after all.
She was not going to protect herself or her sister. Not anymore. And not when she had someone else who now meant more to her.
Summoning her own armor, she faced a startled Vine.
“What is this?” Vine asked incredulously.
“Me choosing to oppose you and your desires. I will give you nothing, except my contempt and disdain for your behavior. Shame on you, sister. Shame on you!”
Vine arched a black brow. “You do this and I’ll never separate your life force from Duel’s.”
“Good. It will save me the trouble of having to bind it again later.”
Shrieking, Vine summoned her own armor. While Mara had chosen a light blue, silver, and white for hers, Vine’s was a startling green that glowed with its unnatural power. The aura around it hummed and shimmered like a living, breathing membrane to protect her.
But nothing was going to stop Mara from keeping Duel safe. Not today.
Regretting her decision not to accept Duel’s offer to teach her swordplay when she’d had the chance, she summoned the only weapon she’d ever used.
Wind and Fire wheels. Though she was a bit out of practice with them, they were the weapons her people were known for. Two half circles very similar to a chakram, they had curved spikes protruding from the blades that were made to look like sunrays or fire. And they cut through flesh, both human and demon, as easily as they cut through the wind.
Vine’s eyes widened. “You truly plan to fight me?”
“To keep Duel safe? Indeed.”
“What happened to you, big sister, that you’d dare choose an Aesir over family?”
“He’s been more family to me than you ever were.”
That caused Vine to attack, full force. With an ear-splitting scream, she manifested her spear and went for Mara’s throat.
Mara caught the tip against the edge of her right-hand wheel and twisted so that the protruding spike would lock to the blade. It seemed like a good idea until Vine twisted her weapon and almost wrenched Mara’s arm out of its socket.
Crying out, Mara struggled to remain standing. She couldn’t let her sister kill her in this fight. If she did, Duel would die, too.
Vine gave a cruel, sinister laugh. “Nay, he will not,” she said as if she’d heard Mara’s thoughts. She jerked Mara closer with her spear so that she could whisper in her ear. “News to you, big sister … I killed the bastard the day I realized he loved you so much that he sold his soul to give you your freedom so that you could live without him. He was going to tell you when I sliced his throat and then cut out his treacherous heart! That was why you lived on after he died. Why I put you into a sleeping spell.”
“You’re lying!” Distracted by the thought, Mara turned to look out at Duel.
The moment she did, Vine stabbed her through her stomach.
Crying out in pain, she tried to hold her breath to keep the vicious, biting agony at bay. But it was no use. Every heartbeat drove more pain through her. Worse, Vine kept her upright and on her feet by holding on to the spear. “Half of it was a lie, dearest. I would tell you to figure out which, but you won’t live long enough for that.”
Vine pinned Mara to the ground with her spear, then called for Strixa to join her. She flew in as an owl, then transformed into her human body.
With a smile, Vine checked to make sure Mara was dead. Once assured, she ripped the harthfret from her throat. “Good death to you, sister.”
Strixa arched a brow as if she disapproved and wanted to say something, but didn’t speak while Vine made her way over to Duel’s henchman. How Duel had always been able to inspire such loyalty from those around him, Vine had never understood. And this particular little tossling pet of Duel’s … he’d been a nuisance almost as much as her ex-husband, so it was time she put the bastard to use.
Touching him on the brow, she cast her spell. “I think I shall let Duel kill you for me.”
