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Falling.
Failing.
“What is going on?” Vindictia’s eyes widened as her lips paused their silent movement.
Chaos sounded behind me as Arzen appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She was still in the half-human form the mortals were comfortable with as she held her sword before her. Her blade dripped tar that made the stone sizzle when it landed in muddied drops. Her raven hair was mussed, her curls returned, and she had blood smeared all over her as she bared her teeth and looked around the room.
Sarika pushed out from behind her. She had a bloodied handprint on her face as her wide eyes took in Eden on her knees.
Arzen tried to reach out and grab Sarika as she ran by, but she pried her arm away and ran forward.
Vindictia’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as she looked over the mortal woman before she settled her gaze on Arzen. “Really?” She looked at me with her nose wrinkled in disgust. “You had to call for reinforcements? Maybe you’re not as powerful as Maledictia led me to believe.”
I sure didn’t feel powerful now. “Or maybe I know better than to be arrogant with the things I love.”
She threw her head back and laughed as a burst of orange magic kept Sarika from getting to Eden. Her feet went up over her head and she sailed toward the stone wall. Arzen moved quickly. Her tail wrapped around Sarika’s waist and she pulled her into her chest, wrapping protective arms around her.
“Love?” Vindictia barked out the word. “You can’t be serious. You’re not capable of love, demon. It’s for that very reason you don’t even need a heart in your chest.”
With Arzen no longer blocking the way, the other women poured into the room. They all looked in a state. Torn clothes with splatters of blood on them. I wondered just what Vindicita had put them through.
Lulu and Catalina looked unbelievably fierce as they took in the state of their granddaughter.
The statue shook.
Imani, Alicia, and Olivia held onto each other as they stared, unsure of what to do as the ground shook beneath our feet and the light between each stone on the floor intensified. The web Eden knelt on bowed slightly and she bobbed atop it, the threads in her arms cutting deeper in her flesh.
“Edie!” Olivia cried, her eyes filled with tears. Imani grabbed her as she tried to run forward, the stone under her foot disappearing to leave an empty void in its place.
“You’ve made a mistake,” I whispered low, reaching into my chest to the place where Eden now lived and attempted to pour all my power into it. It was slow work, like trudging through water that resisted every step. I would do it though. For Eden, I would. Wherever she was, she needed it and I hoped when she felt it, she would know how to use it.
“Mistake?” Her hands whipped out and Catalina and Lulu fell back onto their asses. Their hands wrapped around one another as Alicia ran over, her eyes searching over them. “I don’t make mistakes.”
“Don’t you?” It was suddenly all making sense to me. Vindictia believed anyone could stand in Eden’s shoes. She believed whomever I was bound to by her clever spell would have my key placed in their chest and she could do whatever she planned here now to try and take control of it.
That love alone was enough to hold a demon’s key. To open a demon’s box. To move the contents inside.
How foolish.
She laughed lightly, creating a wall of orange magic that kept Imani and Olivia from running forward. “Everything was planned. The spell was placed in a book I sent into their world, another urged her to buy it.”
Olivia gaped at her words, recognition making her brows shoot up as she pounded her fist against the orange glass.
“The spell that made that useless mortal your wife and the injury I placed knowing you’d heal the rot and it would weaken you… making you finally reveal Maledictia to me. And now, Maledictia will get her wish.”
I shook my head. “I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.” Witchcraft was thick in the air and I knew she was working her magic. The only reason to do that was to bring Maledictia back. To free her from the stone and give her life once more. In order to win and claim her vengeance, that also had to come with me losing Eden.
An exchange.
A gift for the witch I imprisoned in stone.
The only way for them to get the key was to use Eden’s body. I knew that now and I hated how long it took me to realize their full plan.
“The moment Eden is gone so will be the key.” There was no denying what this was, and it wasn’t the work of a witch. This was something inked on my bone. Something that flooded my blood. This was primal and destined.
Fated.
These binds were more than words. More than sorcery and spells. These binds were the kind that couldn’t be created but were there already.
