by Sarah Piper
“There is nothing fair about someone trading the eternal life of a child to further their own greedy ends, and you fucking know it, asshole.”
Sebastian unleashed a scream of frustration, but he’d lost, and he knew it. Resigned, he could only glare at me now. “What are you asking me, witch? Be specific. You know I relish in the fine print.”
“Release Ronan from his contract,” I said. “From all connection to you. And just so we’re clear, I’m not asking you.” I pressed the toe of my boot against his balls, making him squirm. “I’m telling you.”
Sebastian’s face turned purple with anger, but eventually, he nodded. “You and Ronan are both released from your agreements. My claim on your souls is hereby relinquished.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I took a step backward and lowered the gun. “Hey, don’t look so glum. Lucky for you, I do honor my own agreements.”
“Trinity?” he asked, perking up.
I nodded. “But before I release her to you, and release you back to hell, there’s one thing I need to know.”
“What’s that?”
“Why her?” I asked, genuinely curious. “What was so special about Trinity’s deal that you spent all these decades trying to find her?”
For a long while, I didn’t think he was going to answer. But then he finally sighed, and said, “It was never about her deal, Silversbane. Trinity O’Leary murdered your father. Do you have any idea what that did to your grandmother? To know that her daughter-in-law murdered her only son? Her only child?”
My mouth hung open, my eyes wide with shock. “You wanted to bring her to justice for what she’d done to my family?”
“No. I wanted to bring her to justice to give your grandmother the peace she deserved. Sadly, I was never able to do that for her.”
His voice was so human in that moment, so broken, I almost forgot he was the Prince of Hell.
“You can do that for her now,” I said, allowing him a one-time moment of my compassion. “But Trinity won’t do you much good if you don’t survive the night.”
“Speak plainly, Silversbane. I may not have that much longer to stay and chat.”
“I have the power to save your life,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “But I’ve got some terms of my own. And no, Sebastian—I won’t be negotiating.”
He nodded for me to continue, helpless to do anything but.
“I expect Ronan to be fully released from his contract, as I’ve already mentioned. He will never again be subject to your demands. Trinity will be handed over to you to do with as you please, so long as she is never released, and never returned to the earthly realm, in any form. You will also relocate your primary place of business back to hell, also never to operate from our realm again.”
“But I love Las Vegas!” he whined. “That’s where—”
“Furthermore,” I continued, “At a minimum of twice per year, or more if I deem necessary, you and I will meet on neutral territory to review the current conditions in both the supernatural communities as well as the demonic realms as part of an ongoing effort to maintain balance and ensure no one faction grows too strong again.”
“That is a big ask,” he said, nearly panting now. “I can’t just—”
I held up my hand, cutting him off. “The hounds stay with me as well. They’re no longer your possessions, but my companions.”
Sebastian seethed, but he knew he had no choice. Not if he wanted to walk out of here tonight.
“And in return?” he asked. “How do you propose to spare my life, now that you’ve shot me full of poison?”
I saw the resignation in his eyes, and in that moment, I knew I’d finally won.
Sebastian would agree to every last one of my demands.
I was finally free of him.
I retrieved a vial of Asher’s blood and a syringe from my jacket pocket, holding it before his eyes.
“What is this?” he asked.
“It’s the only possible antidote for what ails you.”
Hope flickered in his eyes, but then dimmed. “Possible? You’re asking me to wager my life and business and future on a mere possibility?”
“Nothing is guaranteed, Sebastian. In this life or the next, above or below. But you know what I’ve learned?” I set the vial and needle before him, then turned and walked away, leaving him with one last thought to ponder. “Some things are worth taking a chance on, aren’t they?”
Thirty-Five
GRAY
After the snow stopped falling, after the blood stopped running in the streets, after the wounded had been treated, after the fires stopped burning, after the final clash of swords faded into the night, I stood in the middle of the warehouse district and took stock of my people. My home.
Blackmoon Bay was ours again. Everything we’d fought for. Everything we’d finally reclaimed.
But as we’d learned time and again, nothing came without a cost.
The city we loved, the city we’d saved… It had been gutted. Rebuilding would take months. Years. Not just the physical construction, but the slow, painstaking resurrection of trust among neighbors, supernatural and human alike.
We’d lost Reva. Two witches from the Bay had been killed by hunters. A fae soldier had taken down one of Elena’s shifters—a rookie cop I’d just met last week. Bex, one of Verona’s witches, was mauled to death by a hybrid shifter. And McKenna, perhaps most tragically of all, was wounded in a magical explosion caused by the Bay witches. None of them had known she was in the vicinity. By the time anyone realized she was missing, it was too late.
Every one of those souls had fought for me. For their sisters. For freedom. For all of us.
Every one of those souls was gone.
And still, the fight wasn’t truly over. We’d taken out the leadership, the base, but there were still sleeper cells in other cities that would need to be eradicated.
It was so much to consider. So much to mourn.
I hadn’t even begun to process these losses. To allow myself to truly feel them.
Yet now I stood before Sheyah, the Queen of the Summer Court, guardian of my soul, wondering what news would befall us next.
“Queen Sheyah,” I said reverently, forcing myself to stay strong for just a little longer. Later, back in the arms of my rebels, I could fall apart. But not now. Not yet.
“You and your people have fought bravely,” she said. “As I told Mr. Alvarez, I am deeply sorry that it had to come to this at all. I am especially sorry for the losses you have personally suffered.”
I choked back a sob and lowered my eyes. “As am I, your Highness. Thank you for your kindness.”
“I wanted you to know that I have disbanded the Fae Council. Talia and Fenlos were captured trying to leave the city. They will be escorted back to my realm as prisoners, where they will be dealt with according to our laws. The Council shall be replaced with a new group comprised of representatives from each of the supernatural races, as well as three witches. As guardians of earth’s magic, we thought your people should be better represented.” She paused to let it sink in, then asked the question I knew was coming next. “Would you consider serving on such a council?”
I was honored by the Queen’s faith, but in truth, I had no interest in a government job. My place was here in the Bay, rebuilding my home, however long that took.
As diplomatically as I could manage, I said, “Regretfully, I must pass on the opportunity, though it is quite an honor. I’m wondering if you might consider my sister, Addie.” Addie was a natural peacemaker. I knew she’d be perfect for the role, and she’d enjoy it, too.
The Queen gave a small bow of her head. “If she is willing, then it shall be our honor to have her serve.”
“Thank you,” I said.
At this, the queen took my hands, surprising me with her touch. “There is one more matter I wish to discuss with you, and it is one of great importance.”
I nodded, my stomach fizzing. It could only be about one thing.
<
br /> My soul. My eternal fate.
“I have come with a blessing from the Old One,” she said, her voice taking on an official tone that was as intimidating as it was regal. In that moment, I was grateful we were on the same side.
“You, heir of Silversbane,” she continued, “daughter of Darkwinter, daughter of the first witches, daughter of the night, shall not be damned.”
Before I could even ask what she’d meant, she released my hands and retrieved a glowing sphere from her cloak.
I gasped. The moonglass.
Without warning, she smashed the glass on the ground, and I watched with tears in my eyes as my soul swirled before me, floating back home, filling me completely.
“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling whole and right for the first time in years. In decades. “I don’t know what to say. I’m…”
I trailed off, but when I looked up to meet her eyes, the Queen was already gone, leaving nothing but mist and memory in her wake.
Goodbye was the most painful word in the English language, and I’d already had to say it way too many times in this life.
Calla, the mother I loved and missed every single day.
My life in Phoenicia, the home she and I had shared there.
Sophie.
Reva.
McKenna.
All the others I had only just begun to know, their names still fresh on my lips from the very first time I’d ever uttered them.
The accounting made my heart ache.
After everything we had endured, I thought the universe might hit the pause button, give me a chance to catch my breath. To heal my heart.
But it turns out there was one final goodbye on my horizon.
And no matter how many times she tried to explain it, my brain refused to accept her words.
“We’ve all made deals to keep each other safe,” Haley said. We were back by the vans now, taking stock of what was left, trying to figure out accommodations for the next few nights, and she leaned against the side of the one with the tinted windows, her eyes imploring me to understand. “There was no other way.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“By her grace, I was able to stay and fight, Gray. To see this through with you—to fight by your side as my sister and as my best friend. And I've never felt more proud or honored. But now it’s over. We did what we set out to do. And I have to pay the price for that grace.”
Her grace…
Realization suddenly dawned, and I remembered Haley in the crypts, performing the blood spell that would ultimately save us from the hybrids.
The spell echoed in my memory.
Blood of hell, blood of night
I call on the darkness to show us the light
May evil and malice and violence intended
Return to its hosts uprooted, upended
Dark Goddess I bend, Dark Goddess I bow
Hear my petition, and thusly I vow
My service is yours, by blood and by blade
Until my last breath shall deem it unmade.
“You pledged her your service,” I said, remembering. I closed my eyes as the word hung between us, burning through my heart.
Pledged…
“I have been called to her court to meet with her elite guard. She has an assignment for me, possibly training. I don’t know the details.”
“So you’re just, what?” I asked. “At her beck and call?”
“That’s kind of how it works. She’s a goddess. I invoked her, and she heeded my call. We… We would have died otherwise.”
A shadow darkened her eyes, and for the first time since I’d met her, Haley seemed to have lost her sparkle.
“I love you, Gray,” she said now. “I just need you to know that.”
“Then why does this feel like a permanent goodbye?”
“It's not—I promise you that. But it might be a while before I can see you again. Take care of Addie and Georgie for me, okay?”
“You aren’t going to tell them?”
At this, her face crumpled, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I can’t.”
I hugged her close, feeling the tremble of her sobs in my arms. I tried as hard as I could to hold on tight, to make her stay, to undo the spell that had bound her to this fate.
But in the end, like so many others who’d come before her, I just had to let her go.
Thirty-Six
GRAY
After more time and broken hearts than we could count, my rebels and I finally returned to the place we’d once called home. The place we’d decided, somewhere between the end of the Battle for Blackmoon Bay and the showers and naps at the Kingston hotel and the long drive into these woods on the outskirts of town, to call home for good.
The safe house was neglected from our long absence and partially damaged from the storms, but it was still standing, untouched by the violence that had decimated the city.
Inside, we wandered in silence, the only sounds the click-clack of the hounds’ nails against the hardwood floors as we tried to get our bearings again, each of us coping with our own pain, our own losses.
Back in one of the bedrooms, I found my old book of shadows. It was cold to the touch, no magic sparking.
I closed my eyes, a feeling of loneliness threatening to suck me out to sea.
But then a familiar scent—leather and whiskey—followed a firm touch on my shoulders.
“Don’t suffer in silence, love,” Darius whispered from behind, his lips brushing my ear.
Seconds later, his scent mingled with Asher’s spicy cinnamon, followed by Ronan’s cloves and campfire, and the woodsy vanilla that could only belong to Emilio. Liam came last, bringing with him the ocean and the memories of our first kiss.
Slowly, they coaxed me back into the living room, where Asher started a fire in the fireplace and Ronan put on some mellow music. Emilio rummaged through the kitchen, finding enough non-perishables to put together a small feast. From his old room in the basement, Darius retrieved a few bottles of fancy French wine he’d been saving for a special occasion, knowing that this moment of togetherness, of aliveness, of love was more special than any occasion we could possibly celebrate.
Tonight, there were no battles to fight. No plans to make. No enemies to track. No blood to spill. And as we sat together to enjoy our makeshift dinner, I looked around the table and knew that in that moment, all of us were grateful for this peace.
Finishing our meal, the last bottle of wine empty, we all seemed to sense the shift in energy. Wordlessly, we rose from the table and made our way to the living room, the demons moving aside the furniture, making room in front of the fireplace for the mattresses and blankets Darius and Emilio were dragging out of the bedrooms.
Until we got a proper ginormous bed, it was the only way we could all fit together comfortably. The only way we could do all the things we wanted to do.
To feel.
To love.
To be.
It was the first time I’d ever been with all of them at the same time, and though I was nervous, I was excited, too. Happy. It felt right, all of us like this. It felt like home—a reminder of everything we’d fought for.
The fire crackled and popped, bathing the room in a soft orange glow, and I looked at my men and smiled, slowly stripping out of my clothes and kneeling before the flames.
I was about to invite them to join me when Liam cleared his throat, raising his hand in an adorably awkward gesture. “I just wanted to say that I’ve completed my research and feel much more prepared.”
“What research?” I asked, and poor Liam’s cheeks turned the color of apples.
“There were some… films…” he stammered, scratching the back of his head. “It was suggested that I might watch and take notes…”
He trailed off, and I looked at the rest of the guys, trying not to laugh.
“You made him watch porn?” I asked.
“Made him?” Ronan said. “That’s not exactly how I’d descri
be it.”
“I can’t believe you guys!”
“To be fair,” Emilio said, “he did ask for our help.”
I looked to Liam for confirmation.
He gave me a sheepish smile, the tips of his ears turning bright red to match his cheeks. “I thought perhaps they could direct me toward learning different… different skills.”
“By watching porn?”
He ducked his head, clearly mortified. “My understanding was that watching such… films… I thought it was tradition for males on the earthly plane to prepare for events such as these.”
I glared at Asher, knowing full well he was the ringleader in all of this. The incubus was covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking with the laugh he could barely contain. He refused to meet my eyes.
“Liam,” I called, gesturing for him to disrobe and join me by the fireplace. He did as I asked, more nervous about admitting to watching porn than stripping naked in front of four other dudes. As he knelt beside me, I pulled him in for a kiss, then glanced up at Asher. “Since you boys like watching so much, that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
They unleashed a chorus of groans, but I was unfazed. Gazing into Liam’s ancient blue eyes, I took his face between my hands, tracing the line of his jaw with my fingertips, making him shiver.
“Liam, you are amazing,” I said. “The way you touched me that night… I’ve been fantasizing about it ever since.”
“You… You have?”
I bit my lower lip, nodding.
“Thinking about you now, knowing you want to touch me again…” I grabbed his hand and guided it between my legs, letting him feel how wet I was. How turned on. How incredibly powerful his touch really was.
He let out a low moan, his fingers sliding into a perfect rhythm. It didn’t matter that he was inexperienced, or that he didn’t remember doing this before he became Death. He was in tune with my body on a level that went far beyond the physical, and he knew instinctively how to touch me, how to bring us both to the very brink of insanity.
