I stepped forward.
Then I luscelered.
I pulled Ronen’s feather from my uniform, carved the Unmaking Rune into my wrist, and tackled my father over the stone and into the pentagram, ripping Tsal-mawet from his belt.
The move cost me.
My vision whited out.
When it cleared, he lay sprawled in the mud. My father’s body shook, vibrating with some unknown power.
Ice shards shot through the air. I ducked, and they struck Melanie’s infected and anyone near the pentagram before sputtering out.
I frowned and slowly crawled toward her, Tsal-mawet clenched in my hand.
Her infected didn’t come to her rescue, stopped by the boundary or by the lethal squad at my back.
He continued to jerk as if possessed.
I kneeled over my father’s body, lifting Tsal-mawet as much as I could.
I brought the dagger down—and froze mid-motion, ice thickening around my body.
He sat up, grinning.
“You really think that’d work? You’re not a blood-witch.”
He ripped Tsal-mawet from my grasp.
I couldn’t even scream as the hilt peeled skin from my fingers, my face frozen.
I called to my Glory, releasing just enough to glow beneath the ice and melt the first layer.
Melanie, expecting this, refroze everything I melted.
But I continued my efforts, murmuring words beneath the frigid cage that led me to a home I’d always wanted.
Pity shone in her eyes as she placed Tsal-mawet against my chest.
“I’m not my mother. So I won’t bore you with a monologue of my exploits. Just know your kingdom and all the souls inside it are mine now. And no matter how many infected your friends burn, they’ll recycle right back here. In fact, I bet Valcor has already ushered them into the next round of Spinewalkers.”
I knew without a doubt Valcor had to be the blond who’d bitten Lucifer.
Melanie didn’t do this all on her own.
She had help.
And I imagined that help came from the Immolation Circle, where the portal had been.
Brock must’ve gotten through before we destroyed it, hiding until his debut.
Melanie let the ice melt from my face.
And I smiled through my pain.
My father glared.
“Seeing as you need a healthy dose of reality, let me remind you there will be no redeeming. After I kill the rest of the blood-banded, every soul will be mine to do with as I see fit. Including yours. And very soon, your father’s.”
