Page 113 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Dagna had brought reinforcements, and she had done it fast.

Nishi’s voice snapped through the cave. “Kill them all.”

Faith stepped to the mouth, weapon up, face fierce. “Come on, give it your best shot.”

Aurora’s laugh was short. “I like you more every minute.”

Greyson planted himself near the seam device, hands glowing. “I can keep the exit open, but if they shove us against it, it’ll tear.”

“Then don’t let them shove,” Faith said.

Eve’s hellfire ignited fully now, contained in her palms, bright and hot. She seemed as if she wanted to set the entire forest on fire, and only the memory of a hospital kept her from doing it.

Tegan stared down at the relic, then back up at Dagna. “You used this to call the dead.”

Dagna’s smile brightened. “And it answered. Like a good little bell.”

Tegan’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t control them.”

“It doesn’t need to,” Dagna said sweetly. “That’s what he is for.”

Drathar lifted one hand, fingers curling like he was pulling on invisible threads. The spirit driven shells twitched as a group, then surged forward.

My necromancy stirred in response, but it hit resistance immediately. Like trying to wade through mud. The relic’s pulse interfered, making the dead feel slippery and half out of reach.

I pushed anyway, reaching for the nearest corpse, trying to grab its animating force.

It bucked away, not because it was stronger than me, but because something was scrambling the signal. The relic’s call was still echoing through them, and Drathar’s control layered on top like a second set of hands.

I ground my teeth. “I can’t get a hold.”

Eve shouted without looking back. “Then pin bodies, not spirits.”

Easier said than done, but I tried. I thrust my hands outward and forced pressure into the nearest cluster, locking joints, freezing movement long enough for Faith to fire into skulls and for Nishi to slice through tendons and drop them into useless piles.

They kept moving anyway, twitching like broken marionettes.

“Fire,” I yelled. “We need fire.”

Eve obliged.

She threw a tight burst low to the ground, and the nearest spirit driven shells ignited. The shriek that followed was not a human sound. It was the sound of something angry being ripped out of its anchor. The corpses collapsed into ash and stillness.

Faith exhaled. “That’s more like it.”

Aurora stepped in beside Faith, fast and controlled, shifting just enough that her eyes flashed gold and her canines showed. She moved like she was built for a hunt, and the way she tore into a corpse made it clear she was.

Greyson kept the seam stable, his face pale with effort. The air around the exit rippled, but it held.

Tegan backed deeper into the cave, cradling the relic like it might try to bite. Her face was tight with concentration.

Dagna followed her with spells.

Not fire. Not lightning. Something colder.

Dagna’s hands flicked and twisted, and thin bands of dark energy snapped toward Tegan’s wrists like restraints. They didn’t land fully, but they sparked against the air, trying to latch onto the relic.

Dagna wasn’t aiming for Tegan. She was aiming for the stone heart in her hands.