“I knew you’d come,” Imogen whispered, a faint smile twisting those bloodless lips.
The weakness of her voice cut deeper even than Silas’s blade, but I made myself smile back and gripped her hands tighter.
“OfcourseI came,” I whispered, my voice muddled by tears.
In that moment, it hit me. What Imogen had been for me all those years, I’d been for her. The one person she felt she could trust. The one person who would be there no matter what.
Except that Ihadn’tbeen there when it counted, andnow she was dying.
“Hold on,” I rasped, mentally groping for something I could do —anythingthat might stop this. If I rewove the wards, if I opened the cipher . . .
But Imogen’s eyelids had fluttered closed. Her grip on my hands slackened.
“No,” I growled, squeezing her tighter — shaking her to make her open her eyes.
But Imogen didn’t answer. Her head just flopped from side to side, and I knew that she was gone.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Imogen’s body slumped forward as her hand went limp in mine. I pulled back to stare at my friend’s slack face, and a gaping hole opened inside of me.
She was dead.
Fury and devastation raged in that void, whipping through me in a howl of agony and leaving only emptiness in its wake.
I fought and thrashed, hoping my fury might provide an anchor to keep me from slipping into that dark abyss, but it just grew and grew.
My nails broke as I dragged them down the rough brick wall, fresh pain ripping through me as I clawed against the void that was threatening to swallow me whole.
A mighty howl tore from my throat, and the ground beneath me trembled. The walls shuddered, and my ears filled with the crack of mortar and the groan of concrete.
There was a sound like the earth being split in two, and I threw myself down on the floor as the houseimploded.
Bits of concrete, brick, and plastic flew everywhere, andI covered my head with my hands. The shrapnel should have torn me to bits, but when I dared lift my gaze, I saw the pieces swirling around me — ricocheting off an invisible shield.
A sob tore through me as I collapsed once again, listening to the dust and debris rain down around me. My witchwood blade grew hot against my thigh, but I paid it no mind.
My whole body ached as I lay there, bleeding out in the basement of the wrecked house. Humid outside air coated my skin, and my temples throbbed.
I’d killed Silas and his hunters. They were gone, but so was Imogen.
I’d lost the one person who mattered to me in this world. Maybe it was fitting that I die here, too.
“Hello, darling.”
The voice shook me out of my misery —made me jerk my head up and look around.
My scream was a muffled gurgle in my throat as I stared up at the demon.
He was broad and dark-skinned with closely cropped hair, though I supposed he could look any way he wanted. A pair of bat-like wings stretched out behind him, nearly filling the void left by the far basement wall.
I urged my broken body to move, but my muscles wouldn’t obey.
“Such a feeble, pathetic thing,” crooned another higher-pitched voice. “Are yousureshe is the one?”
I whipped my head around to look over my shoulder and found another demon sneering down at me — this one with white-blond hair. He wore a ruffled cream shirt, a velvet waistcoat, and matching trousers,though his companion was dressed head to toe in black leather.
