Allegiance(61)

I don’t know if it was Mage’s voice or just timing, but I caught a twitch in Bishop’s left eye. So minor, so quick, any ordinary person would have missed it.

“Bishop!” I hissed, leaning forward, my hair grazing his cheek. He had been this way—lifeless—for almost an hour, since I’d cast the Causal Enchantment, begging the Fates to mend his broken heart, to erase the pain of Fiona—heck, erase her existence if necessary!—and bring the old Bishop back to us. As soon as the last words touched my tongue, Bishop’s sad gray eyes drifted shut. They hadn’t opened since. I was beginning to worry that the only peace for him would be in death. Maybe the Fates knew that. Maybe they were right.

“Sofie, I think you need to come with me,” Mage’s tone had turned icy in warning. I looked up to see her stern expression, her features struggling to stay composed, setting off a current of dread.

“How important is it?” I skimmed over the heap of Merth in the corner of the room. I had removed the bindings soon after Bishop lost consciousness so I’d know when he came to.

“Important enough to bind Bishop back up and leave him here to deal with later,” Mage confirmed.

I ran my finger along my sleeping patient’s cheek, gazed at his smooth, unfurrowed forehead, at his trouble-free mouth—and disappointment churned. “I don’t know, Mage. If he wakes up better but is bound by Merth … I don’t know how to explain that. Tell me what’s going—”

“Lilly has Evangeline.”

My head snapped up to see Mage’s onyx eyes penetrating my soul. I swallowed, sure I’d misheard that. “What?”

“Lilly has Evangeline,” Mage repeated without any hint of annoyance.

“What? Mage—what do you mean ‘Lilly has Evangeline’? Did she come here and snatch her away? How do you know?” I was ready to grab her and shake the information out of her.

Mage sighed. “It seems Amelie and Evangeline decided to sneak out for some last-minute Christmas shopping. The Sentinel and the witches found out and captured Eve but Lilly stopped the van and pulled her out. She left the mess on the streets of Paris.”

I silently vowed I’d skin Amelie alive when I saw her next. “And how would the Sentinel and witches find out about them?”

“Let’s worry about that later.”

My eyes bounced between the door and Mage. “Are they on their way back here?”

“Well, that’s the problem. Lilly has taken Evangeline to some unknown destination—for what reason, I don’t know. Kait and Galen have shown up with a disheveled Amelie and a stubborn witch who they’re interrogating as we speak.”

Lilly had Evangeline and was going to do God knows what to her. A combination of terror and fury collided inside me, creating the perfect storm. “Oh, I’m going to kill Amelie when I get hold of her,” I warned through gritted teeth. For now, as much as I’d like to be by Bishop’s side, Mage was right. I needed to deal with this.

I hopped onto my feet and leaned over to grab a fistful of Merth strands, wincing with their sting. “I’m sorry, Bishop,” I apologized, looking down at his charming young face. I froze. There! In his left eye, a shift under his lid. And another, in his right eye, stayed my hand. “Bishop?”

Lids popped open suddenly, dazzling charcoal irises wide with shock. They rolled, they skittered, they walked over the surfaces around me until they landed on my face. Please be fixed.

A giant grin spread across his lips.




9. Strange Allegiances—Evangeline



The city highways traded off for rolling snow-covered hills and quiet country houses. Lilly never slowed once, clearly heading to a specific location, one she didn’t divulge to me. When we turned into a driveway with an arched entranceway and a low stone wall a half hour later, I had chewed off every last one of my nails—even with a throbbing jaw. By the bronzed crosses on stone pillars comprising the entrance gates, I could see we were entering a cemetery. Suddenly, I was sitting stiffer, my eyes wider, my senses keener, thoughts of my pained jaw falling to the background.

“Why are we here?” I hazarded to ask.

A tiny, almost shy smile. “We have something in common, human. Let me show you.”

Something in common. In a cemetery. I inhaled and exhaled slowly. Repeat: In. Out. In. Out. I focused on the pretty trees, the blue sky. Anything to keep my imagination from sending me into a frenzy. As long as she had something to show me, she wouldn’t be killing me.

The sports car rebelled as Lilly forced it through the fresh snow, sliding this way and that and spinning its wheels as it struggled to climb a small slope. By the acres of rolling hills and mature trees, I could tell this was both an ancient and large cemetery. Full of thousands of bodies … possibly one more after today.