Page 69 of All Hallows Fate

“Phil.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she whispered.

I reached into a pocket of shadow and pulled out the scales, light already burning in the morganite. “I’m Judgement, which means I can sense when people are innocent or guilty. I have magic that senses injustice and—you don’t need to say it out loud, but I know he assaulted you.”

And all the while I’d trusted him. I’d confided in him, felt safe with him. “I didn’t see him as a threat,” I admitted. “I thought he was harmless and fun. I thought he was my friend—and yours. I’m so sorry I didn’t see the real him.”

I wasn’t sorry Miz had killed Phil, though. I probably should have been.

“He’s a good liar,” she murmured after a while, not meeting my eyes. “I fell for it, too. I thought he was gay, for fuck’s sake. I thought—” She rubbed her face. “I thought I was safe with him, too. I don’t know if he’s bi, pan, or if every part of his personality is a lie to get our guards down.”

“He’ll pay for everything he did.” I held her gaze. “I promise, Phil.” The scales glowed in my hands. “He’ll suffer for every moment of suffering he gave us.”

Phil swallowed. Croaked, “Thank you.”

I slid the scales back into my shadow. “And to answer your first question, we are going back to Ford. They had Tor captive in a mirror, and we found a way to free him, but now it’s spilling magic into the island.”

“The mirror requires a host,” a paper-thin voice came from down the hall, and ice went down my spine.

Another voice echoed it. “The mirror requires a host.” And another, until the whole row of ghost prisoners spoke at once.

Jesus.

“I’ll do it,” Phil blurted, standing straighter. “If someone needs to occupy the mirror, I’ll do it. I owe you, after everything I did.”

“Phil—”

“Let me atone for the lies, for my role in Honey’s death.” She flattened her hands from the fists they’d curled into. “Please. Let me do something to help, instead of hurting you.”

“Alright,” I agreed, a weight off my shoulders. That was an easy fix, at least. Violence would not be easy to defeat.

Across the basement, Wil began to scream.

It went on for some time.

46

Cat

Ieyed the veil suspiciously as it thinned and allowed us through, the scales’ rosy glow illuminating our path.

“Thank you, big guy,” Madde said, beaming at Passion, the giant god whose magic trove had allowed us a pathway through. Mostly because the veil was already frayed by my husbands punching holes through it to rescue me at Darkmore.

“You’re welcome,” Passion droned, his voice so deep it was lower than thunder, a seismic shift of sound.

“And look, listen to me.” Madde took the man’s dark gold hands, peering up into eyes the startling colour of silver. “You can’t let a broken heart keep you down forever. You’ve gotta get out there. Somewhere, out in the wide world, there is a super hot, crazy tall woman just waiting for you.”

Passion extricated his hands from Madde’s. “No, thank you.”

“Any woman would be lucky to have you,” Madde insisted, his eyes bright and earnest even as Passion walked backwards, retreating from the veil. “You deserve to be romanced like all your favourite books, Pash. Just because that ice queen broke your heart doesn’t mean love always ends in heartbreak. Look at me, I’m married to a serial killer!”

I winced. “Not how I’d prefer to be known, love.”

“Be brave,” Madde urged Passion as the huge man fled. “Love and happiness and eye-rolling orgasms await you, my friend!”

Passion groaned and vanished on the spot, though not before I saw a flush colour his cheeks. I hoped he wasn’t going for good; we’d need his help, along with all our godly friends who waited on the other side of the veil to back us up when Violence inevitably overpowered us.

“I think you embarrassed him,” I told Madde, a smile on my face despite everything that was at stake in Ford.