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My heart dropped.
Cowboy, I thought. What have you done?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Walker
“He’s blood-bound to a dual. No interference.”
Freya stared at me in horror.
Her skin glowed from the power writhing inside her, and her dark veins grew more and more swollen. Light completely swallowed her irises, and her hands shook. I didn’t doubt Josephine’s claims—if Freya didn’t release that magic soon, she’d die.
And she wouldn’t release it until my blood pact was complete, not if it meant taking out Josephine in the process.
And killing me.
Josephine still faced Freya. The Bloodblade was loose in her grip, and breathlessness had slipped into her speech. Using the Bloodblade—trying to kill my sister—had tired her. Even more to my advantage, a witch had once again underestimated me.
For the last time, a witch underestimated me.
Hesitation no longer existed for me. It had ceased the moment Josephine wielded the Bloodblade against Cadence. Hell, it had ceased the moment I’d seen Freya crumpled on the ground. With a true witch hunter’s speed, I slipped around Josephine, wrenched the Bloodblade from her grip, and drove it into her stomach.
Its jet-black hilt burned my palms, and molten heat moved through my whole body. Its magic rattled my chest and shook my bones. Red light streaked from the blade and into Josephine’s prone body.
For the first time, Josephine faced me with fear in her eyes. Red lightning snaked under her skin, but she found the strength to look over my shoulder.
“You’ll understand now, dearest,” she whispered.
Freya screamed.
I finally grasped the Bloodblade’s true power. It raged through me like a lightning rod. The heat before was nothing. It had been a hot summer day or a warm bath.
This was an inferno.
My vision darkened around the edges, but the blade glowed brighter and brighter. I closed my eyes against its blinding heat, but it still burned the backs of my eyelids. Its deep, bellowing power filled my ears. Every inch of my skin was on fire from the pain of holding it, but I couldn’t let go if I wanted to. My hand was no longer my own to control. I opened my mouth to scream, but my throat felt like ash itself.
My lungs gave up on breathing, and the familiar beat of my heart stuttered to an end. Calm darkness settled over me.
I was done.
I’d saved them.
*
Freya
You’ll understand now, dearest.
As red lightning moved through Walker, the Bloodblade, and into Josephine herself, the echo of those words drowned out Josephine’s dying screams. The power killed her in what felt like an instant, though it must have been more like a century to her, judging by the torment on her face. One heartbeat, she stood shrieking. The next, she was nothing but a dry bone on the forest floor.
When Walker fell to the ground, I did understand.
Humans were so very, very fragile.
Josephine had learned the hard way. Now, so had I.
I rushed to his side, only to be met by the Master. He grinned and revealed his blood-stained fangs.
