And now I’d managed to sleep through getting untied and retied. Just my luck.
The blindfold had been removed, so I could finally take in my surroundings. Candlelight flickered throughout the cloistered room. The smell of soil, blood, and death clung to the walls, but it was overshadowed by the scents of at least a dozen supernaturals. They loomed over me, cloaks covering their faces and bodies.
To my left Morta chanted in some ancient language. I couldn’t see her face, but I’d recognize that voice from anywhere.
One of the shrouded figures caressed my cheek. I ground my teeth together. Lila.
My eyes darted about, and it only took a moment for me to truly understand my predicament. I wore a white dress and lay on a wooden slab. I was going to die just like those other women. Except my expression wouldn’t look peaceful like the others. Nope. Thanks to my immunity to glamour, mine would be contorted in agony and horror. No dignity for the dead.
The earth rocked again, but Morta’s voice never wavered.
“Help me,” I begged the cloaked figures, my skin flaring to life.
“Earplugs, lovely,” Lila said.
Morta talked over us, her voice filling the chamber. The candles flickered, and the incantation came to an end.
The group stirred, and I saw a flash of metal pass hands.
“No, please,” I said, thrashing in my bindings, “think about what you’re doing.”
“It’s going to be alright, Proserpine. We’re almost done.” Morta lifted my head, and I felt the brush of twine rope as it passed over my face and hair before coming to rest around my neck. I closed my eyes. A noose.
When I opened them, the group loomed over me. I felt the noose tighten, and I began to choke.
I glanced at the shadowed faces that watched me. I couldn’t see their eyes, but based on their smiles, they wouldn’t help. They were excited to witness my death.
Two knives lifted, one to my side, and the other directly above me. I knew enough from the previous victims to know what was to come. A slash to my neck and a stab to my heart.
I began to struggle in earnest, but even with my supernatural strength, I couldn’t break through my bonds.
Black dots began to smudge out my surroundings. Losing consciousness. My eyes completely clouded over, and I saw the knife above me start to move. In that second before I blacked out completely, I screamed.
I felt a slice of pain, and then nothing.
Andre descended the stairs, his every step causing the earth to shudder beneath his feet. Bad techno music blared in his ears and somewhere below him he could sense magic building. The walls shivered, huge chunks of plaster raining down on him.
Dead. All who participated tonight, dead. He wasn’t going to make it quick either. It would be slow and messy, and they’d be begging for mercy just like she’d been. And he’d give them the same chance they gave her.
The earth rippled out from under his feet, the tremors getting increasingly severe. He left the stairs and stalked down the hall.
The cord connecting him to Gabrielle flared, tightening his chest almost painfully, and then … it was gone.
Chapter 26
I stood in an empty bedroom.
I rubbed a hand over my neck. Had I died? Where was everyone? More importantly, where was I?
The same smells of blood and brimstone that had clung to the room I’d first found myself in lingered in this room as well, only here they were stronger.
Casting my hearing out, I listened for the sounds of my tormenters. Nothing. Not a single heartbeat. In the distance I thought I heard echoing screams, but nothing else seemed to stir in this place.
I eyed the bed, a hulking four-poster number carved with intricate designs. Skirting around it, I made my way to the window.
Outside I saw … the castle grounds. I placed my hand to the glass. Everything was covered in snow, just like it had been in my dreams.
“Evening, consort.”
My dress swished as I whipped around. Standing on the other side of the room, his hands in the pockets of his designer suit, was the devil.
Andre roared, uncaring that the castle, which had survived centuries of attacks, was tearing apart from the shockwaves of his power. Anguish like he’d never experienced before now choked him.
He staggered, then fell to a knee. The world was red. Red with his bleeding heart, with his blood, with his tears. They dripped down his face, marring the ground in front of him.
The impossible had happened. Gabrielle, gone.
But she was his soulmate. She was supposed to live forever. With him. They were supposed to save each other.
He gripped his heart with his hand. Here was where he felt the cord most powerfully. But now, nothing.
They killed her.
Anger eclipsed his pain. He pushed himself to his feet, stepping over a rafter that had splintered and fallen.
He roared again, this time not in pain, but in rage, and the plastered walls running alongside him cracked. The entire castle seemed to scream in agony.
He could begin to smell the fear of the occupants trapped in the bowels of his place. They knew he was coming, which meant they knew they were never leaving.
They’d delivered Gabrielle to hell. Now it was his turn to give them a taste of it.
I blinked, and the devil stood in front of me.
Reflexively, I threw my fist out, aiming for his jaw.
He caught it in his own. “Now that is no way to treat your spouse.”
“We are not married.”
“You’re right, we aren’t—not officially anyway.” The words were barely out of his mouth when he picked me up and tossed me onto the bed. I rolled across it and swung myself to my feet on the other side of it.
When I looked up, he again stood in front of me, smelling of brimstone and blood. I flinched. He’d moved faster than I could follow with my eyes. The devil’s almond-shaped eyes appraised me.
“You want me to have sex with you?” I asked incredulously.
“That does seem to be an integral part of marriage, so yes, I do.”
I tried to sidestep him, but he blocked me.