Sin knelt beside me, tears glistening in his eyes. “I did all of this for you. I’m the one who broke the seal to open Charmden to outsiders. How do you think War got in? He was supposed to kill Hoax during the ceremony, but Hoax escaped. Losing my mother wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was you beingkidnapped. That necklace I gave you was supposed to mark you as off-limits, but I’m assuming War needed to have you—just like my father couldn’t resist! My mother is dead because of what I’ve done for you! She was the only one who cared for me!”
He spat the words, gripping my face so hard his nails dug into my cheeks. “This is what I get for loving a jezebel and trusting a Hex13. I protected you in my own way, and all you had to do was be patient! Maybe I should just kill us both!”
Sin hoisted me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing. Blair and Jinx burst from the ruins of the house, wings slicing the air, while four of Hoax’s warriors gave chase, hurling fire and lightning. Orbs exploded against car hoods, alarms shrieking up and down the street.
“Let her go, Sin!” Jinx screamed.
“Mind your business! This is between me and my wife!” Sin snapped, his wings unfurling in a wild, desperate flutter. He was never a good flyer—most fairy-elf bastards weren’t. Their wings weren’t built for altitude.
The thorn lodged in my neck, its venom seeping into my veins, suffocating my healing magic. My strength faltered; even my bladder gave out. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision. I was as good as dead.
“You’re making a big damn mistake, wimp!” Blair shouted, dodging a bolt of electricity.
Sin’s frantic flight sent us careening into a streetlight. Cars screeched to a halt, humans spilling out with their phones, faces lit up with shock and curiosity. Then, a golden spark split the sky. We crashed onto the roof of a truck, the windows shattering in a rain of glass. My vision flickered, darkness creeping in as ashadow swept over the street, snuffing out daylight. Someone or something else was coming.
Suddenly, we weren’t in the real world anymore. The neighborhood looked the same—cracked pavement, dented cars, shattered glass—but all the humans had vanished. We’d been pulled into a replica world, a perfect copy of the block, emptied of everyone except us.
Jinx and Blair rushed to my side. Blair yanked the thorn from my throat. “Come on, Eboenia. I know you can fight it. Damn it, Blair, she’s turning purple!” Jinx shouted, just as a dagger buried itself in her stomach, flinging her across the asphalt. Hoax’s warriors pounced on Blair, fists and boots raining down.
I gasped, lungs burning, as my body finally fought off the venom. Sin seized my locs, yanking me off the truck.
“Rotten runs in your bloodline! That’s why everyone’s dead. My father poisoned your mother because she killed his seed; she was his whore! He fucked her whenever he wanted to, even against her own will! My mother warned me about you, but my father convinced me—good pussy runs in your bloodline!” he snarled, venom in every word.
Hot, scalding tears blurred my vision, and my heart hammered so hard I thought it might crack my ribs. I wanted to scream, to claw at the truth he’d just forced into the light, but all I could do was choke on the pain.
Every memory of my mother twisted into something ugly and broken. The image of Hoax flashed in my mind—his cruel hands, his mocking voice. He once told me I was a fighter, just like her. Now I understood the weight of those words. The horror of what he’d done to me, what he must have done to her, crashedover me like a tidal wave. My hatred for Hoax didn’t just triple—it exploded, burning through my veins, dragging me into the darkness War wanted me to explore.
A portal spun open in front of us, symbols whirling around its rim. I knew that magic—the man who owned my soul was coming. War stepped through, shirtless, gears and eyes glowing gold, black jeans and Timbs grounding him like a god among mortals. His heavy medallion flickered, casting shards of light. His brother, Grim, followed, shotgun slung over his shoulder, looking like a shadow as his long cape swirled around him.
“Lil’ nigga, I know you ain’t think you were gonna take my pussy fairy, did you?” War wickedly grinned, a chain materializing around his wrist.
“I’ll let y’all handle this,” Grim said, floating toward Blair and Jinx, who were getting stomped in the street.
War’s energy ripped me out of Sin’s grasp, yanking me through the air until my body hovered weightless above the ground. When I reached him, he wrapped his arm around me, holding me tight.
“I told your hardheaded ass to wait for me! I’m not showing you any mercy when we get back to Charm City!”War’s voice thundered in my head.
Sin’s face twisted with rage. “I helped you get into Charmden and you backstabbed me!” he yelled at War.
War just smirked. “Now, why in the fuck would you trust a man who hates your bitch-ass daddy? Keep it a hunnid, twinkle ears, I was never on your side and never will be. I spared you in Charmden. I could’ve laid you out next to your mother. If anything, you should be thanking me!”
Sin’s fists clenched, trembling with anger. Behind him, I caught a glimpse of Grim tearing through Hoax’s warriors—his shotgun blasting orbs that exploded bodies into piles of guts, painting the street with carnage.
“I’m going to kill you! You betrayed me—I trusted your thieving ass!” Sin shouted, his voice cracking.
“I saw her through your memories when you came to me. Even those intimate moments, when she looked bored with you on top of her—you don’t know what the hell to do with that magical pussy. The moral of the story? You should’ve handled it yourself and never come to another man to do your dirty work, because in the end, he’s going to take it all. You gave her to me, dummy. Don’t worry, though—I’ll still kill your bitch-ass daddy as promised. Consider this a fair exchange, no robberies,” War responded.
“She’ll never love you. The dark curse you put on her will falter!” Sin screamed.
War just chuckled. “Grim, pack this nigga up! He’s useful for target practice!” he called out.
Without hesitation, Grim swung the butt of his gun into the back of Sin’s head. Sin crumpled to the ground, unconscious, and Grim tossed a luminous net over him, binding him tight.
Jinx and Blair limped over to me, bloodied and battered. Jinx clutched her wound. “Leave her with us!”she told War.
“War…help them,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
He pulled me closer. “I didn’t come here for them,” he said, eyes never leaving mine.
