“Do it again,” Cruelty hissed, ignoring Orwell and the frozen army. “Stab me again.Try harderthis time.”
Hugh fought against my hold and obeyed, the blade sinking into her gut this time, but she wasn’t any more dead than she’d been a minute ago.
“Jesus,” Tor breathed, his eyes wide on something over my shoulder. I twisted my head to see what had caught his attention—and his dread—and my mouth parted when I saw the sky above the giant hedge was full of winged creatures. Talons andteeth and claws and bodies full of power and strength—and wings.
One of them swooped and grabbed Duncan, tearing him into the sky. More of them grabbed the immobile Stalkers, flying them out of Ford. A rescue mission, I realised. Orwell hadn’t come to help us kill Cruelty’s superpowered army, but to liberate it.
“Well, someone’s been busy,” Tor barked. “Shall we leave now?”
“Back to Bridestones House,” I murmured so Cruelty didn’t hear. She’d given up on Hugh killing her, and now twisted to glower at her brother, her brow knotted with confusion even as her eyes sharpened like broken glass.
“Violence, I want—” she began what was no doubt a list of spoiled demands, but she cut off with a gasp at the same time I threw myself into shadow, leaping across the board.
Cat lunged at Violence, my panic so vast I saw it in slow motion, my pulse thrumming in my throat, dark robe of death whipping frantically at me as I emerged on the other side, caught somewhere between human and death as Violence caught Cat, reached within her jaguar form, and ripped the girl out.
Cat fell panting, shaking, on the ground beneath his throne, clothed in nothing but air and shivers, sparks of shadow tendrils at her fingertips. Not enough to stop Violence grabbing her.
I reached her at the same moment the bastard pulled her up against him, a blade of void-dark metal at her throat, glowing unnaturally in a way black should never.
Tor was beside me in an instant, reaching for Cat as the blade bit threateningly into the pale flesh of her throat.
“Stay where you are,” Violence ordered, his voice a dispassionate rumble, his expression not even flickering. He glanced at Miz and Madde who lunged closer, Pain slumped between them.
“What are you doing?” Cruelty demanded. “I told you Kitty is off limits. Violence, I don’t like your attitude right now. Let her go.”
His attention whisked to her for a moment, then back to me, his stare boring deep. “This is the way we get what we want, Cruelty. You don’t need Cat; I’ve told you before.”
“And I’ve toldyou,”she snapped, a whining note creeping into her voice. “I don’twantnew friends; I want this one. Give her to me. Now.” She actually stomped her foot on the ground'; I saw it from the corner of my eye and used her distraction to flow a few inches closer to my little bride. “Why didn’t it work? You told me the old Cruelty could kill me, but it won’t work?”
Violence didn’t even look her way. A hard knot formed in the base of my stomach as I dropped my stare from him to my wife’s eyes—silver and furious, still alight with her jaguar’s rage. Ever more livid for the way he’d trapped her still when she wanted to scratch and claw and gnaw her way through flesh and bone into the heart of him.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice cool but the tremor through my hands giving away how rattled I was. I could have crushed him under the mass of my power just months ago, but their campaign to weaken me had been too effective. My magic had replenished, but nowhere near as potent as it was. While, Violence was every bit as deadly as ever, not a single scrap of death magic surrendered in his attempt to climb to the top.
And I had no doubt that was what he wanted: he wanted the domain, wanted to lord over everyone within it, wanted to rule spirits and mortals alike. He wanted to be Death.
“I know you’ve been to Exile,” Violence replied, nothing even remotely close to the words I expected to come from his mouth. I let my breath out slowly, eyes fixed on him even as I watched Miz sneak around Violence’s side, cloaked by a veil of darkness, nothing more than a shadow cast on the ground.
“I have,” I admitted. “Let my wife go, and we can talk about my time there.”
Violence didn’t smile, didn’t even blink. “Tell me how to get there myself.”
“Why?” Tor demanded, grabbing Madde when he lunged forward, Pain slung over his shoulders like a backpack. “Why do you give a shit about Exile?”
Violence’s stare took on an exasperated slant. “Because it’s a realm of raw, unlimited power. Obviously. Tell me, and you’ll have your wife back. A simple transaction.”
“We didn’t discuss this,” Cruelty said, edging forward with a frown. “Violence, what are you doing?”
“Don’t,” Cat breathed, her gaze flitting between Tor, Madde, Pain and I. Searching for Miz, I realised. She turned pale when she realised he was gone.
“Do it,” Tor ground out through clenched teeth. “Just tell him. We’ll deal with the fallout later.”
The bleached fear in my bride’s face made the decision for me. I would play Cruelty’s games, but I’d never gamble with Cat’s life.
“You need to break a fundamental rule,” I told Violence, watching his shadow lengthen in the corner of my eye. “The real itself will send you there.”
“Thank you,” Violence said with the closest his empty face came to a smile, throwing Cat at me at the same time Miz leapt up from his shadow and sank punctures of magic into his back, wrenching him away from us. Blood rose on Violence’s clothes, turning the black silk to ink.
“I’ve got you,” I promised Cat, wrapping my arms around her when she slumped, heavy, against my chest. Her warmth soaked into me, her scent of peaches and—decay. Rotting flesh and soul on the edge of festering. And blood, metallic and sharp and damning. No, this—it made no sense. “Cat, look at me.”
