Page 197 of Villainous Intent

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, his eyes never leaving Dread’s approaching figure. “I’ve got you.”

The shadows around Dread suddenly surged forward like spears. Cipher shoved me down to the ground as the darkness struck.

When I looked up, time seemed to slow.

Three shadow spikes were piercing through Cipher’s body, one through his chest, another through his shoulder, a third through his abdomen. His back was arched in agony, his mouth open in a silent scream.

“No!”

Dread laughed, the sound reverberating through the empty plaza as he twisted his hand. As suddenly as they had appeared, the shadows withdrew, slithering back to their master. Without their support, Cipher fell backward, his body crumpling to the concrete with a sickening thud.

I scrambled to him. Blood poured from the wounds, dark and relentless.

“Please no,” I pressed my good hand against the largest wound, feeling the warmth of his blood seep between my fingers. “Cipher, please.”

His body shuddered beneath my touch. A wet, rattling sound escaped his lips, just pain given voice.

I moved my blood-slick hand to his face, cradling it. “Look at me,” I begged. “Cipher, look at me.”

His silver eyes were open but vacant, staring upward at nothing.

“Stay with me,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Please stay with me.”

Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth when he tried to speak. A single word, maybe my name, lost in a wet gurgle.

“You can’t die,” I said, my voice rising with hysteria.

His eyelids fluttered, a moment of recognition sparking before dimming again. His hand twitched at his side, fingers stretching toward me but lacking the strength to reach.

“Please,” I sobbed, pressing my forehead against his.

Behind me, Dread’s footsteps approached.

“How touching.”

I ignored him, focusing only on Cipher’s face. “Please,” I whispered against his skin. “Don’t leave me. I need you.”

Cold hands grabbed me from behind, yanking me away from Cipher. I screamed, clawing at the arms that encircled my waist, but Dread’s grip was unbreakable as he twisted me in his arms.

“Tell me, Annie,” Dread whispered, leaning in closer. “How did it feel? To see your knight in shining armor swoop in to rescue you? To have that brief moment of hope, only to watch it die before your eyes?”

He grabbed my face and forced me to look down at Cipher’s broken body.

“Hope is the cruelest gift I can give,” Dread said. “Because when I snatch it away, the despair that follows is so much sweeter than if there had been no hope at all.”

Dread jerked my face until I was forced to look at him. He held up the Hammer. “Did you know he bartered your life for this? Well, now I guess he doesn’t need it.”

He seized my arms, crushing me against his chest as my feet left the ground. The world tilted violently, buildings and rubble shrinking beneath us as he rocketed upward.

CHAPTER 41

ANNIE

I thrashed against Dread’s grip as the wind whipped my hair across my face, desperate to reach any exposed skin. If I could touch him⁠—

But he was holding me with my back pressed against his chest, my arms pinned uselessly at my sides.

Dread banked sharply, circling the training ground’s replica of the Tower. The familiar architecture loomed before us, a perfect miniature of the building I’d called home for so many years.