I attempted to curve my arms into fists, however ache exploded in my cranium on the defiance, worse than the sudden flare from earlier than. This stabbed far deeper and gouged an area inside my mind till I gasped.

I gasped.

Realizing it was going to harm, I prised my lips aside, and mentioned by a guttural snarl of ache, “No.”

It harm so badly my knees buckled and I wanted my husbands have been right here. I needed them to brush me into their arms, to encompass me with security and affection and care. However there was solely me, Honey, and Nightmare right here. One thing stored them busy elsewhere, and I didn’t doubt that was by design. Her design.

“No?” Nightmare gave me that look once more—like I used to be amusing and lovable, like a kitten attempting and failing to climb a staircase. “I hope you don’t assume it was a request, Cat. Choose up the bag, each of you, carry it to the lake with out being seen, and throw it into the water.” Her voice hardened, and my subsequent gasp of ache despatched me to my knees on the exhausting floor. “Now.”

Her phrases rocked by my head just like the aftermath of an explosion, and I bit again a whimper when Honey knelt beside me—to not test if I used to be okay however as a result of she was certain as tightly by Nightmare’s order as I used to be. Her arms went to the black holdall however her eyes discovered mine, watery and filled with ache.

We’ll be okay, I silently conveyed. We’ll be okay, I promise.

We simply needed to do what Nightmare needed and the command would launch, and we’d be free. Similar to the day within the clearing, the place—the place I killed Darya.

Tears burned my eyes and acid razed by my abdomen, however I didn’t have sufficient management over my physique to vomit so it stayed in my abdomen, my throat, my mouth. I used to be glad I hadn’t eaten a meal in hours.

My arms discovered the tough canvas of the black bag, and I gritted my enamel. Preventing. Failing.

Sweat beaded on my head. A scream scratched on the inside my cranium, however my fingers wrapped across the deal with and slowly, towards my will, I stood.

“Good,” Nightmare praised, nearly candy now, nothing menacing remaining in her voice. I couldn’t even shudder. “Now, take it to the lake.”

All we needed to do was carry a bag of hay to the lake. That was all. It was solely hay—we’d seen it. And the lake wasn’t far. We’d be fantastic.

We needed to be fantastic.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

DEATH

Nothing felt proper right here. I knew it in my bones, felt the clang of alarm by my physique, however I couldn’t clarify it with any form of logic. This magic was outdated and had a will of its personal, nevertheless it was failsafe in my arms. As Demise, it could bend to my command even when it hated it.

“I’ve a very dangerous feeling about this,” Tor mentioned gruffly, standing outdoors the triangle minimize into the grass behind my greenhouse. The fortress loomed over us, its darkish shadow hiding the image we’d carved into the bottom and the darkness we’d all despatched to fill it. Mud speckled his black leather-based jacket and stained his arms.

“It gained’t work,” Distress mentioned quietly, his eyes on the triangle of energy, arms crossed over his slim chest. “It’s not sufficient.”

“We’ll by no means know till we attempt,” I countered, matching his delicate tone. “We agreed it’s price a attempt.”

“I do know,” Miz muttered, his expression troublesome to learn. He seemed moody and indignant however I knew Distress, and I may inform he was concealing one thing greater, some deeper emotion. I squeezed his shoulder, and when that didn’t chill out even an inch of pressure from him, I pulled him into my arms, brushing a kiss over his lips. “If this works, we kill all of them. I don’t care in the event that they’re compelled.”

“High-quality by me,” Tor agreed with a shrug. He was frowning on the image minimize into the grass.

I launched Miz with one other reassuring kiss, every of us standing at a distinct level of the triangle. From Tor’s informal surveillance on Cat’s telephone we knew she and Honey had been looking the library at Ford for any hints of a curse and easy methods to break it. We additionally knew there was nothing there to search out; any books that had been at Ford have been moved right here 600 years in the past to my library. And in one in every of them, we’d discovered one of many authentic sigils used to summon Nightmare—or in concept any dying god. We’d adjusted it with a single scrawled image to summon her followers.

In concept.

No matter occurred, at the least Cat was protected together with her pal. Nightmare solely attacked when she was alone.

“All this bullshit over a husband who didn’t even like her,” Tor muttered, shaking his head. “You’d assume she’d need to die to go be with him, however no.”

“Love ruins folks,” Distress mentioned with a frown. “It leads solely to insanity.”

Tor’s face cracked in a smile, and he would have nudged Miz if he have been shut sufficient. “I occur to love that model of insanity.”

“It’ll kill you finally.”

“I can’t be killed.”

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