Page 90 of A Fury Of Shadows

Mae closed the distance to him, clasped his face, and tugged him down for a kiss that scorched his soul.

Happiness. Relief. Sorrow. Anger. Love.

The emotions wrapped him in a storm that threatened to wreck his heart and tear his mind apart. His only anchor was the woman in his arms, her heat cocooning him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against him, the passion in her touch and her lips making his body burn.

It was a while before he lifted his head and pulled back. He gazed into the Witch Queen’s bright eyes and said the words he should have told her a long time ago.

“I love you, Mae.”

She sobbed and clenched her hands on his shirt.

Brimstone whined. Hellreaver trembled.

“I—I love you too!” Mae blubbered.

Nikolai chuckled at her messy face. He wiped snot from her nose with his sleeve. “You’re an ugly crier.”

She punched him in the gut. He gasped, laughter bubbling up his throat. He grabbed her fingers and stayed her hand as she made to lift it off his belly.

“Erase the rest of the Illusion Sorcery.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “Make me the man you fell in love with, Mae.”

Her breath caught, her skin hot against his.

“Okay,” she said tremulously.

Nikolai reached up and steadied Alastair. Heat seeped into his flesh as she drew on her magic. Redness flared in Brimstone’s eyes. Crimson bloomed around Hellreaver.

“Are you ready?” Mae asked.

Nikolai steeled himself and dipped his chin.

She inhaled and invoked the conjuration. “Dissever!”

A crimson fire laced with white magic and gold runes blazed through his blood and Alastair’s until it reached their cores. The vestiges of the Illusion Sorcery they had inadvertently fallen under shattered and disappeared as the spell blasted it to smithereens.

Every memory Nikolai had lost returned in a kaleidoscope that made his head spin and his chest tighten with a remorse so deep he feared it would drown him. Alastair shuddered under his hand.

The last images drew a tortured sound from them both.

All the horrific things they had done to Mae, Brimstone, and Hellreaver in that church in Concord blazed through Nikolai’s mind. He didn’t realize he was weeping until Mae kissed his wet cheeks and hugged him to her.

“I’m sorry!” he cried brokenly in the crook of her neck. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Mae! Your leg!”

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s all healed up.”

She held him for a long time, her tears soaking into his hair.

Alastair drooped, his body trembling. Brimstone made a soft sound. The crow hesitated before flying down. The demon fox nudged him gently with his snout before sitting and curling his tail around him.

Nikolai finally raised his head, his jaw set in a hard line.

He grasped Mae’s shoulders. “I have something to say to you.” He swallowed and looked at Brimstone and Hellreaver. “All three of you.”

Mae’s eyes flared when he told them about Barquiel and the rift. Disbelief drained the color from her face as he described whom he had seen in the cave, deep inside the Underworld.

Crimson detonated around the Witch Queen and her bonds when he recounted what Barquiel intended to do and Vedran’s dark goals.

CHAPTER34

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