Page 61 of Broken Shadows

Beyond her, a second woman leans over a makeshift pentagram of twigs, muttering spells. None of them seem to notice us.

“Oh my fuck,” Rosa exclaims when she spots them.

“They’re just ghosts,” I say with a flick of my hand. “They’ll draw from our energy, but they’re not sentient like spirits.”

Aiden's eyes are twice as wide. “Sentient? Like they don’t have feelings?” His shoulders droop. “Great! Psychopath ghosts are even worse.”

Lorcan sighs. “That’s sentiment, you idiot. She means the ghosts are not aware. They’re just imprints of time left on this earth.”

“Oh.” Aiden falls silent and Gideon shoots Lorcan a glare filled with promise and threat.

Gomez stirs from his sleep as I walk through the first gateway, his claws digging into my shoulder. “It’s okay Gomey.”

His noses twitches as he curls his head around to get a better look at me, his round eyes somehow appearing bigger than normal. Once satisfied that everything is okay, he nuzzles back into my neck.

Once we’re all through the rusted, iron gate, Gideon takes the lead with Aiden in tow. If my research is correct, the second gateway should reveal itself to us soon.

“Fuck,” Ezra whispers, slowing his pace to match mine, and by default, Lorcan’s. “We’re going to have to go through the trials.”

Lorcan blows out a long exhale. “I forgot about those. But I’m sure we’ll get through them quickly.”

I flick my gaze to Lorcan, admiring how the blue-ish hue to his hair is even more prominent under the moonlight.

“Youwill,” Rosa points out. “Because you, Ezra, and Gideon are princes of Hell. What about us mortals?”

Ezra takes the opportunity to lean closer. “Awe, Sugar, I’ll take care of you.”

She leans in the opposite direction. “As much as it pains me to admit it, I may need you too.”

Silence envelops us as we delve deeper into the woods, the spray of pale moonlight casting shadows from the branches onto the well-beaten dirt path.

We tread carefully over the mossy mattress below. I grab Lorcan’s biceps when my feet slide over a slick rock. Gomez’s claws dig into my shoulder as we weave our way through the labyrinth of twisted trunks, then past a circle of stones.

Heat sizzles in my fingertips, warming them against the icy gusts. My death magic hums the closer we venture, my skin prickling with electricity. “We’re close,” I exclaim.

Every log, twig and blade of grass is etched with the magic of my coven, of my family. It calls to me, the whistles of the wind echoing their chants.

The trees narrow, along with the path through them, and we venture off the beaten track.

“Agh!” Rosa jumps back a foot as a snake slithers across our path, its obsidian scales shimmering under the moonlight.

I watch the creature disappear into the underbrush. “It’s more scared of you, than you are of it,” I say as she hugs her arms around her, slowly backing away into the tree line where I’m certain more of them are.

She shakes her head. “I highly doubt that.”

Ezra pats her on the back. “It’s not venomous, sweetness.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asks.

Aiden rushes to Rosa’s side. “I’m with Rosa. I hate snakes. I can’t believe I’m saying this,” he adds, rubbing his palms up and down his arms, “but how long until we reach the final gateway?”

Lorcan’s dark chuckle sounds in my mind, his words searing through our bond.Does he think Hell is going to be any better?

Give him a break.I bite back.We’re all tired. He doesn’t need you adding to his misery.

Why not?Lorcan flashes me a white, wide grin in the darkness.The crueler I am to him, the less he’ll think about the real dangers surrounding him.

My brows flick up in surprise.So you’re doing him a kindness? You?

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