Page 128 of Divine Oaths

Angelica screamed, and Alaster grabbed his father, shoving him away.

“Stop! Angelica’s like family, and Honey needs her help!”

But General Winhall surged forward, knocking into Alaster and possessing his body.

The president screamed, desperate to help his son. “Spare them,” he pleaded.

One of the wraith-possessed officers pulled a gun from his holster. I crumpled to the floor as bullets hit the walls, ricocheting dangerously, their shrapnel plummeting into Alaster. When I looked up, Vivian was there, grabbing the officer’s hands, forcing him to misdirect his shots.

Alaster cried out in pain as the general jolted from his body. And with the last burst of energy he could muster, Alaster grabbed the blade from the ground, turned, and sliced through his father’s ring finger.

The end of the president’s finger, and the ring attached to it, landed near me, splattering blood across my arm.

The president and the general’s cries were a squall tearing through the corridor. He lurched into Alaster’s body once more and then he plunged the knife into President Saint James’s heart.

When he yanked it out, the blade went flying across the floor, blood gushing from the president’s chest.

“This is your penitence.” Alaster was sobbing, yet the general’s eerie laughter spilled from his mouth. “I will take your son, and he will take your life. And never again shall your lineage stray from me.”

Vivian continued to wrestle with the officer for the gun, unable to fully possess him. Each time the other officer tried to yank her away, she disappeared and reappeared to fight them off again. I was frozen, watching it all, but somehow Jojo was quietly in motion, untying me.

“Take the ring,” Angelica whispered when she was freed. “Find the general’s remains, and burn them both. And when you find Kasem, let him return to his body. We have a chance to rebind him.”

With my hands trembling, and my face and clothes dripping with the president’s blood, I grabbed the ring with the finger attached to it, while Jojo managed to retrieve the blade.

Jojo helped me stand, and without looking back, we fled the medical center and ran for our lives. Behind us, bullets and screams rang out. And I knew that Alaster, now possessed by the general, would soon be after us.

“How will we find the general’s remains?” Jojo asked when we turned the corner.

Fighting back nausea, I touched the ring for a moment. The vision was violent. A vile remnant of the past. But between the flashes of war and bloodshed, of cruelty and violence, the image of a small box hidden in the base of a statue emerged.

“The library,” I said. “He’s buried there. Near the statue.”

We raced through the halls, Jojo messaging Kasem about our meeting spot, asking him to come with a shovel and a lighter—all things we’d need for a banishment ritual.

We turned sharply at the door, racing outside and toward the library.

“Take this,” Jojo said, placing the blade back in my satchel. “You’ll need it for the binding ritual.”

We were the first to arrive at the statue. I pointed Jojo to the precise spot and he began to dig with his hands. Soon after, Kasem and Honey arrived, Honey leaning heavily against him, weakened by the poison. Kasem looked worn too. With the veil between the realms thinning, and his wraith form unbound from his body, a soft glow emanated from him, casting embers of gold and silver around them.

Gently, he positioned Honey against the statue and handed Jojo the shovel. When Kasem turned to me, his gaze was fierce.

In that moment, everything else gave way as we sank into each other’s embrace. Kasem kissed me and I drew him closer, kissing him back, feeling safe and whole and hopeful for the first time since the night’s events had unfolded.

“It’s almost midnight,” I said, pulling away reluctantly. “We need to do the binding ritual. Now.”

“Vivian and Angelica are on their way. She can only channel from her left hand, and Vivian is trying to gather spirits of the Ԑnhye to help.” He glanced at my hand, where I was still holding the president’s blood-splattered finger with the ring attached.

“Let me take that from you. We’ll need to burn it with his remains.”

But something was wrong. When I tried to hand the ring to Kasem, the edges of my vision blurred, turning grainy and red. A voice called my name, over and over again. And something inside me told me to listen. Behind us, Jojo and Honey were crouched over a small wooden box. They’d found his remains.

“Sianna,” Kasem said. He touched my cheek, turning my gaze back to him. “Don’t be afraid. We can do this.”

His other hand reached for me, reached for the president’s finger and the ring. But my hands moved before I could stop them, the general’s hold over the ring manifesting. I pushed Kasem away, yanking the gold ring off the president’s remains.

“Sianna, no!” Kasem shouted.