Page 127 of Hexbound
"Step aside." Chilling, the way his voice came out. He felt like someone else had said the words.
"You made your father a promise," she pointed out, her green eyes flashing fire. "And you will regret this forever if you hurt him."
Bishop stabbed a finger toward Sebastian and screamed, "He cost my fathereverything! Look around you, Verity. All of the blood, all of the bodies here, all of this catastrophe... it's onhim!"
"I see this quite clearly," she retorted. "A lot of people made choices that brought them here tonight. Your father made a choice. Morgana made a choice. You and Ianthe and Agatha all made choices. Even I made a choice. But you had friends and family around you, whereas he had none from what I can tell." Her expression softened, and she took a half step toward him. "Adrian, I know what it's like to be backed into a corner and to feel like you don't have any more options left. I never wanted to join the Crows, but it was that or starve. Or lift my skirts for coin. I made the best choice I could at the time, and I've spent years stealing and dabbling in cons ever since. I always knew it was wrong. I always felt shame to do so. But I didn't have any other option. Maybe Sebastian didn't either, when the demon made him the offer."
Bishop shook his head.No. He couldn't believe that she was daring to defy him. "You know nothing."
"I know you're hurting right now," she shot back, fearless as always. "So I won't take that personally." A tear slid down her cheek. "I want to help you. But I can't let you do this. You said that you loved me."
He flinched. "I do."
"Then trust me now. This is not you. This is themaladroisespeaking, your emotions, everything.... If you still feel this way in three days’ time then I will step aside, but you're not thinking clearly now."
"Don't tell me what I am or aren't thinking," he snarled. "You don't know me. You don't know what I'm capable of." A killer. It burned his soul. That was all he was, all he ever could be. Themaladroiselurked over his shoulder, haunting him. Horroway's gift or not, he would never escape the sins of his past, and nor would she.
But at least he could finish what he'd started. Stop those who threatened the Order and the people he loved. His gaze locked on Sebastian, but all he saw was his father's face. "Get out of my way."
"Don't do this," she warned, her eyes pleading with him as he took a step forward. "Please don't do this, Adrian. I love you. I want to protect you from the world, from your grief, but protecting you also means protecting you from yourself."
Something shifted to his side. Bishop half turned, seeing a man in a cloak lift something toward him.
A pistol.
"Adrian!" Verity screamed.
He tried to form a ward just as the pistol discharged. Too slow. Too damned slow. His life flashed before his eyes in the second it took for the bullet to arrive.
Verity slammed into his arms, translocating out of nowhere, her body jerking and her eyes going wide. "No!" he screamed, wrapping his arms around her.
Not her. Please, not her. Damn the gods, take me instead!
Verity coughed and blood wet her lips, her knees going out from under her as the whisper of death slid through his veins. "Adrian," she whispered, her eyes wide and shocked. He could almost sense that small glimmer of perfect white light lifting from her as her soul began to separate. Catching it desperately in his metaphorical hands, he slammed it back inside her with his magic.
"No!" Bishop lowered them both to the ground. "Verity! Verity! Stay with me!"
There was blood on her dress, and as he pressed his fingertips to the wound, he felt the sucking draw of power as her light slowly began to extinguish.
Agatha's heart had pushed him to the limits of his healing talents, but this.... This exceeded them. Her lungs were punctured on the left, and fluid filled the pericardial sac surrounding her heart, plus the bleeding into her abdomen. An artery ruptured even as he psychically examined the wound. Those leaf-green eyes met his, wide and frightened, and he squeezed her hand.
"You're not going to die," he told her. "I won't let you die."
But where to start? Her lungs? Her heart? He could feel her slipping through his fingers, like sand.
Bishop looked up into a face he didn't know. The pistol was still smoking, the shooter's hand trembling as he lowered it, his mouth dropping open in shock.
"I didn't mean for her...." Osiris's voice, from a face he barely recognized as some other sorcerer in the order.
Bishop saw red. Thrusting out his hand, he curled his fingers and ripped at Osiris's soul with some kind of power he'd never felt before. Osiris's body collapsed as that small soul light streamed toward him. Bishop's hand closed over it, and power roared through his veins.
Death surrounded him. Themaladroisehovered there, on the edge of his consciousness, but it didn't pull at him as it usually did. "I can't lose you," he whispered, stroking her precious face. "Not you too."
She couldn't speak. There was no breath in her lungs, and only the faintest hint of lucidity glimmered in her green eyes. But she somehow mouthed the words,Love you.
Bishop forced all of the power from Osiris's death into her. He healed the artery even as it ruptured again. Forced the liquid in her lungs to reabsorb. Too much. Too much damage.Please. Please. Please.
But she was dying, and he knew it.
