And deep within the heart of that explosion, my sword consumed the energy that was my father, sucking him dry until there was nothing but dust and memory left.
And those remnants she burned.
My father was dead. Gone.
I had my revenge, but I felt no better for it. I just felt… empty.
As empty as Ilianna’s life would be without Mirri…
Oh god, Mirri.
I didn’t think, I just reacted. In an instant I was in Aedh form and streaking across the city. The fierce energy that was the Brindle’s protective field reared up in front of me but just as abruptly gave way. I raced unimpeded through the shadowed halls, not changing shape until I neared the chamber where Ilianna, Kiandra, and Zaira had been attempting to free Mirri from my father’s noose. I hit the doors at a run, and with enough force to slam them back against the walls. The crash reverberated through the silent halls and, in the room, three figures spun.
Three, not four.
A sob tore at my throat. I stumbled, tried to catch my balance, and failed. I hit the stone floor hard enough to shred my jeans and skin my knees, but I didn’t care.
My gaze met Ilianna’s. There was nothing there. No anger, no grief. No pain. Nothing other than surprise.
I swallowed hard, and somehow managed to say, “Mirri? Is she —?”
Zaira said, “What the hell —” about the same time as Azriel appeared behind me and said, “Risa, there is no need —”
“Ilianna!” I cut them both off, my voice rising to a near shout as I added, “Is Mirri okay?”
She didn’t answer, just stepped to one side. And there, sitting on the floor, looking shocked and a little worse for wear, was Mirri.
She waved a hand as my gaze met hers, but didn’t actually speak. Though there was no sign of the energy collar around her neck, her throat was red-raw and decidedly painful-looking.
But she was alive, even if hurt, and the relief that swept through me was so great that if I hadn’t already been on my knees, I soon would have been. I closed my eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. At least one thing had gone right. It might not have been the most important thing – at least in terms of what was at stake for both this world and the other – but on a personal level, this was the only thing that really mattered. I’d done a lot of things wrong, but at least I hadn’t killed Ilianna’s heart.
Ilianna walked over, knelt in front of me, and wrapped her arms around me. She didn’t say anything, and neither did I. Not for the longest time.
“Tell me,” she said eventually.
I drew in a deep, shuddering breath and pulled away from her embrace. “My father said he’d killed her. I had no reason to believe he lied but —”
“You came here to check anyway.” Ilianna smiled, but there was a fierce light in her eyes. “We didn’t break the collar, but we did beat the bastard at his own game.”
I frowned. “Meaning what?”
“It was you who gave us the idea, actually.” She rose, dusted off her knees, then offered me a hand.
I accepted it, and climbed wearily to my feet. Azriel touched my elbow, not holding me up, but there in case I needed him.
“Or rather,” Ilianna continued, “our discussion about creating personal wards and using the wearer’s life force or aura to power the devices.”
“I’m not seeing the connection.”
Ilianna smiled. “Neither did we, not at first. But once we realized the cord hadn’t tapped into Mirri’s aural shield, it was then a matter of where else could it be getting its energy from.”
“The source was its creator,” Azriel commented.
Ilianna glanced past me and nodded. “Yes. And as Risa had pointed out, I’d learned enough of the magic to subvert her father’s wards to our own use, so it was simply a matter of unpicking the appropriate threads in the collar and rerouting those.”
She made it all sound so easy when it was obvious from the haggard appearance and tired stance of all three women that it had been anything but.
“So when my father tried to kill her —”
“The energy rebounded back to him.”
“Which would explain the fierceness of the explosion,” Azriel commented. “It wasn’t just Amaya.”
“Explosion? What explosion?” Ilianna said.
“The explosion that killed my father and destroyed our home.”
“If losing our home is the price we have to pay to rid the world of that bastard, then good riddance, warehouse.” Her voice was grim. “And the key?”
My gaze went to Kiandra. Even though her expression gave little away, I had no doubt she knew what had happened.
“The key is lost,” she said, immediately confirming my thoughts. “The second gate is open.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, fuck,” Ilianna said.
“Yeah,” I said. “That, and a whole lot more.”
“The sorceress?” Kiandra asked.
“Gone.” I hesitated. “Maybe.”
She nodded, her expression stoic. But I had a strange feeling that nothing I’d said had surprised her. That the loss of the second key and the opening of its gate were events she’d long known would happen.
“There is still hope left,” she said softly. “At least there is as long as you and the last key remain in play.”
“If the safety of the world depends on my actions,” I said bitterly, “then heaven help the fucking world.”
She blinked; then her gaze refocused. I suddenly realized she’d been seeing into the future.
“To use a worn-out cliché, the fate of the world hangs in the balance. You must not give up, Risa, no matter what it costs or however much you might want to.”
I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t.
Hell on Earth might be one step closer, but there was no way I was about to bring my child into a world overrun by hell’s spawn.
Somehow, I’d find a way to stop the Raziq and secure the third key.
We’ll find, not you’ll find, Azriel corrected, voice stern. Whatever we do from now on, we do it together.
I twined my fingers through his but felt no safer for the comfort of his touch.
Because I knew, just as he knew, just as Kiandra undoubtedly knew, that even together we might not be strong enough to win the last, and perhaps the most important, battle of all.
The battle for life.
Darkness Falls
Don’t miss our special preview of Darkness Falls, the thrilling conclusion to Keri Arthur’s fantastic Dark Angels series…
The Raziq were coming.
The energy of their approach was very distant, but it blasted heat and thunder across my senses and sent them reeling. But even worse was the sheer and utter depth of the rage that accompanied that distant wave. I’d known they’d be angry that we’d deceived them, but this… this was murderous.
Up until now, the Raziq had used minor demons to kidnap me whenever they’d wanted to talk to me – although their version of talk generally involved some kind of torture. This time, however, there would be no talking. There would be only death and destruction.
And they would take out everyone – and everything – around us in the process.
It was a horrendous prospect given we were still at the Brindle, a place that not only held aeons of witch knowledge, but was also home to at least two dozen witches.
“We cannot stay here.” The familiar masculine tones broke through the fear holding me captive.
My gaze met Azriel’s. In addition to being my guardian, he was my lover, the father of my child, and the being I was now linked to forever, in both life and afterlife. When I died, I would become what he was – a Mijai, a reaper warrior tasked with protecting the gates to heaven and hell, and hunting down those demons who broke through hell’s gate to cause havoc here on Earth.