Page 107 of Claim the Twilight
“Areyoupityingme? You…the weak. The victim. The broken.You?”
She flinches at my words, fuelling my attack. “You were nothing then, and you are nothing now. I don’t need you, and soon, you’ll be gone, and I’ll be free.”
“Will you?” She meets my gaze steadily. “No, Lov. You’ll never be free if you’re not whole. And you’ll never be whole without me. I am the heart of you. The warm, beating heart, and without me you’re nothing but a vengeful shell.”
If she thinks she can hurt me, she’s mistaken. Nothing can hurt me now. I made sure of it when I stripped her from me.
Nothing willeverhurt me again.
I clip from the room. I have a world to cleanse.
Chapter 45
ORINA
Ikissed Ezekiel’s cold cheek. “I love you.” I imagined he heard me. Hoped that we would be reunited soon.
Godor waited outside the safe room. “You know what to do.”
He nodded. “I will guard him with my life. We will see you at the rendezvous point.”
“If he wakes and isn’t himself, don’t hesitate?—”
“I will render him unconscious with the serum Holly has brewed.”
“Okay…good.”
I left him at the door to the safe room and headed up the stairs to the main house.
Last night had been a whirlwind of planning. Seeing Hemlock had changed everything. Our evacuation would have to wait a little.
I’d hoped for Padma to return. For us to have a way to end Loviator once and for all, but we were inching toward midday and couldn’t risk waiting any longer. Our seventy-two hours were up. Hours I was beginning to believe had been gifted tous, not because of Loviator’s altruistic desire to save lives but becausesheneeded the time. Needed it to build her strength so she could step fully into our world, blasting open the gates to her prison once and for all. Fighting us was probably sapping her energy.
The truce had allowed her to grow in power.
It was time to end it.
By saving Hemlock, we’d take back our Plan B. We could use it later, once we’d figured out how to channel and hone the power Hemlock had the potential to unleashwithoutkilling him in the process. There had to be a way, and maybe the beings of Morningstar held a solution. Getting Hemlock back would be a huge blow to Loviator.
To ensure a decent distraction, we needed to hit both breaches at the same time. It meant splitting up. The batlings and Holly headed to the breach where Merry, Crush, and the Faoladh were stationed, and Kaster took the rest of us to the main breach. The ghouls had wanted to stay and fight, but I’d convinced them to leave. They’d have been evacuated by now. They were safe, and soon, so would we be.
I entered the foyer where everyone was waiting, ready to depart.
It was time to go antagonize a goddess.
The main breachwas on an abandoned industrial site in Old Town. Boarded up buildings bordered a huge lot with fields of swaying grass to the far right.
The breach sat between the lot and the fields, a glowing purple aperture that split the fabric of our world vertically from the ground to the sky.
Otherworld energy hummed against my skin, and a bitter tang coated my tongue. The air from Loviator’s realm was seeping into ours.
“Fuck,” Nyx said softly from beside me, her eyes wide as she stared at the breach. Her lips thinning, she pulled her daggers from the holsters at her hip.
The plan was to attack both breaches simultaneously at one p.m.—five hours before sunset. Hopefully that would give us enough time to get out of Dracul before Loviator could retaliate in person.
We stood facing the doorway that would bring death into our world, waiting as the minutes ticked by. Ordell and Nyx flanked me, Sin and Ramiel standing a little behind us, ready to take to the air. The white wings were spread out, covering enough ground to attack the breach from all angles, and Kaster himself stood in front of us, Lorenzo at his side.
“One minute left!” Ordell called out.
