Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Gasping for air, Marco tries to get back onto his feet. Using magic, I don’t let him. I push him down, again and again.
“Give it up,” I tell him and come closer, holding out my other hand and quickly shift my gaze to Vivian. “You don’t have the upper hand anymore. I do.”
For a split second, I believe it whole heartedly.
“Mom,” Antonio tries again, stepping closer to her. Vivian flinches at the sound of his voice. Is it from guilt? Shame?
Is she scared?
It doesn’t matter. We have to get the key from her and stop her before she figures out a way to free Vaelric.
“You don’t have to do this,” Antonio goes on. “You can still walk away. We can make things right.” The void in his eyes doesn’t match his words. There’s no coming back after this. She watched him die once and is prepared to do it again all for the chance a demon might give her power.
But what is the point in having power if you have no one you love to share it with?
“Someday,” Vivian says, blinking rapidly. “You’ll understand.”
“No.” Antonio’s head slowly moves and and forth. “I won’t.”
Suddenly, pain throbs my palm, radiating out from the spot where the demon quill poked me. It travels up my arm, reverberating through my whole body. Sucking in a breath, I look down at my hand. The pinprick has split open.
Vaelric knows I’m here, this close to the key. Blood wells on my palm and the pain throbs with each beat of my heart. Closing my fist, I try to hide the fact that I’m bleeding. The pain is making me weak, and I lose my grip on Marco.
Then Vivian sees that I’m bleeding. Her eyes light up and she dodges around Antonio, shoving him as far to the side as she can.
“Wren!” Antonio shouts, shifting his weight and spinning around. He counters Vivian’s attempt to knock him out of the way and instead grabs her by her shoulder. She comes to a sudden halt and the key goes flying out of her grasp. I watch it as if it’s in slow motion being played out before me.
The little metal pendant with Vaelric’s sigil engraved on it hits the floor. It bounces once. Twice. Three times before coming to a stop. It’s only feet from me, yet for some reason, I cannot make myself move to pick it up.
Because if I do, then it’s over.
Vaelric is free and there’s nothing I can do to put him back in the box. The very thing we’re standing here trying to prevent will happen and it will happen because of me.
But then something moves in so fast it’s just a blur. A gust of wind blows my hair back and Xavier appears before me. He reaches down, picking up the key.
“You can hate me all you want later,” Xavier says, emotion burning in his eyes. “You just have to be alive to do it.” He puts it in my bloody-slick palm. My fingers tremble as he curls them around the metal, trapping it there, holding my hand tightly between both of his.
The metal grows hot, burning my hands for a split second. But then it stops. Nothing happens. Everyone freezes, all holding our breath. Did it not work? Was my blood not enough? Maybe I’m not a Blackwood after all.
The ground doesn’t tremble, thunder doesn’t boom around us. No flames erupt from the crack in the earth before us.
I uncurl my fingers, looking at the pendant. The sigil is still there. Unchanged. Etched into the metal like it’s always been. Lips parting, I look at Xavier, but then Vivian shudders. She stumbles back, one step, then another, her movements jerky and wrong, like something inside her is trying to remember how to use her body.
“Thank you, Florence,” she says, but it’s not Vivian anymore.
It’s Vaelric.