Long tendrils of a white flame floated in the air between the frozen creatures and Jinx’s outstretched hand, creating the illusion that she was connected to our remaining foes by ropes.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
It wasn’t Jinx’s midnight-black eyes, the white flame, or her words alone that made my stomach drop; it was the sheer power that radiated off her.
Silky black hair curled up around her head defying gravity as she repeated the chant.
Looking at Jinx was like looking at Lyla.
No.
It was worse.
The adage “you don’t look fate in the eyes” seemed more like genuine advice and less like a whimsical saying. She was power incarnate, a type of power that didn’t seem native to the realms of the High Court.
She dropped her outstretched hand, and the white ropes dissipated.
The bodies of the infected and ungodly dropped—Jinx was the only one still alive.
They were all dead.
Black receded, and Jinx’s eyes went back to normal. Her breathing was labored and loud in the aftermath of whatever she’d done.
The sunshine exploding from her cuffed wrist extinguished like it had never existed. The room plunged into shadows.
“What are you?” I croaked.
She lifted her head in my direction and whispered, “You already know.” Her words trailed off into an agonized moan as she convulsed on the floor.
My heart clenched with worry as my mind rebelled.
I tried to crawl forward to help her, but exhaustion punched through me, and I collapsed face first onto blood-covered stone.
The threat was eliminated.
But was it?
As I drifted into consciousness, the Latin saying, “Anima tua est mori,” repeated inside my head. Its literal translation was, “Your soul must die.”
The white ropes made of flames had been their souls stretching as she pulled them out of their bodies.
She’d consumed them.
The kings were the chosen soldiers of the sun god, and even they could only see souls and judge them; they couldn’t take them.
The power to consume a soul was the ability of a dark god.
Jinx had destroyed them all—she was a terrible creature of lore.
She was a soulmancer.
Chapter 54
Corvus Malum
MISSING MATES
Nyctophobia （noun）： abnormal fear of darkness.
DAY 36, HOUR 3
My thoughts blanked.
Arabella and Sadie were missing.
Once again, I’d lost my fucking Revered in the middle of a battle. Once again, we failed her.
This time, she wasn’t nearby.
We’d checked.
For some heinous reason, the bond sickness wasn’t working when we actually needed it.
I opened my mouth and bellowed, scarlet flames pouring out as I burned the infected and ungodly to ash.
Since we’d come to this realm, since I’d realized what Arabella was to me, my powers had been intensifying. My flames burned hotter and brighter, and I had no urge to hold them back.
The fire wanted to destroy the world, and I wanted to destroy the world for her.
Our interests were aligned.
“We can’t find them anywhere. We’ve done an entire sweep of the castle,” Jax’s panicked voice crackled over the earpiece.
“Where the fuck IS MY REVERED?” I bellowed like a mad man.
When we’d realized that both Arabella and Sadie were missing, I’d ordered everyone to fan out and search for them.
Finding Arabella was the priority.
Fuck the war.
Fuck the High Court. They’d cautioned me against unleashing too much of my power because they didn’t want me to go mindless with rage and accidentally kill the soldiers on our side.
Too late.
I was mindless.
Flames of pure destruction poured off me as I scorched the last dozen ungodly that remained. Before their ashes had touched the ground, I’d already turned and was running down the hall toward the group.
We had to find Arabella.
I couldn’t lose her.
I wouldn’t survive.
Chapter 55
Aran
CONFESSIONS OF A MONSTER
Lacuna （noun）： a blank space or a missing part.
DAY 36, HOUR 8
“Wake up.” I slapped Sadie on the cheek, then leaned over and repeated the action on Jinx.
I’d opened my eyes about an hour ago and found myself in a room filled with dead bodies.
Sadie and Jinx were passed out among the carnage.
After retracting my wings, I’d stumbled over to Jinx and picked her up gingerly. Then, I’d carried her over to where Sadie was slumped over.
The first issue was Jinx’s dislocated shoulders and fingers; one by one, I’d set them back into place. I couldn’t do anything about her bruises or potentially broken bones, so I’d braided her messy hair to get it off her face. I’d wiped the dirt from her eyes.