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“Pity, little witch,” he teased. “He would’ve been so delicious.”
Cadence sobbed at his words, but one of the Elders kept her from trying to bypass the vampire before us. I simmered in my own stillness, even as magic roiled and raged in my veins.
Walker could not be gone.
“You must leave here now,” Gloria said from behind me. “You too are bound by the rules of the blood bond.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he said and shook his pointer finger. “They technically died at the same time. Josephine was not the only one tired of living in darkness, stuck under the thumb of the Leaders’ rule. Our fight is not over.”
The Master’s followers and the dark witches stirred behind him. All the golems had promptly turned back into sand upon Josephine’s death. My grip on the magic raging inside me loosened a fraction, and my skin glowed even brighter.
I shook with disbelief.
Walker had saved us.
A human boy who hadn’t even thought himself capable of fitting into this world had saved it, yet these monsters were still hungry for blood. They would make nothing of his bravery because he was nothing to them.
As I realized just how much he was to me, my heart cracked open and, with it, power that was distinctly mine unleashed itself, mingling with the magic of my fallen sisters.
It burned.
“Get out of here,” I whispered to my remaining allies.
I only held back a second longer. It was the last saving grace I had left for them.
With one shuddering breath, I erupted.
Flames as red as my hair flew across the field and assaulted my enemies. Sweat beaded down my skin, and power roared in my ears. Vampires and witches portaled away, but many were not quick enough. I didn’t care one way or another. All I knew was that this had to end.
No one else would get in my way.
I had to save him.
My flames burned for a few heartbeats after the last dark witch had escaped. My fire burned the blood from the ground and the dark magic from the soil. I stopped the flames before all the power I contained could slip away. For a moment, there was only my ragged breaths, the dim hum of magic, and Walker’s too-still form on the only unburned patch of ground left.
“They’re all gone, Freya,” Cadence said behind me. “It’s over.”
Her small, broken voice brought me back to reality. I turned and saw that all of my coven had returned. They must’ve portaled back to me as soon as they felt my flames run their course. Each witch stood like statues, unsure of how to mourn the witch hunter who’d saved us all.
Cadence ran to her brother, but I took careful steps in his direction. Now that the rage had burned its way across the whole battlefield, I was filled with dread.
“The wolves?” I said. “Arion?”
“They made it out,” Gloria answered. “We’d already begun portaling them away when we saw the magic fighting to be unleashed.”
I nodded, but I didn’t have it in my heart to feel relief.
You’ll understand now, darling.
As the blood moon gave way to sunrise, Walker’s sun-kissed skin remained pale. His curls were crusted with blood and dirt. The Bloodblade lay dormant at his side. Its power was nothing more than a whisper on the wind. Even his godsdamned hat had fallen off. Everything was so terribly still.
Except for Cadence.
She sobbed and fell to the ground from the force of her pain. She really was a witch—she’d waited to truly lose it until our enemy was defeated once and for all. An Elder, Rhea, tried to comfort her. I couldn’t bring myself to do the same, though I knew it was what he would’ve wanted.
He’d gotten enough of what he wanted when he died for me.
I knelt by his side and wondered how I’d ever get up. There would be no vengeance for me to chase, and no kind-eyed boy to raise my spirits. Staring at his ghastly face, a part of me shattered. That part of me screamed and cried and raged at the world for taking something so precious from her. So vital.
