He didn’t hear the rest. They were sucked inside.

  Chapter

  Seventeen

  Grey surrounded them in the nothing that was the Void. A nothing so profound, it stole her breath, her reason, her soul.

  And her sight. She was blind. She was deaf. She felt nothing. She was nothing. Less than nothing. She was⁠—

  “Don’t let it in. Fight it, Korinna.”

  Ilia’s voice sounded in her head. Or next to her head? She wasn’t sure. Nothing sounded like it should. Nothing looked like it should. Or felt like it should.

  Tam’s hand squeezed hers and she clicked into place.

  She looked up at him. He was pale and grey-looking – as if seen through mist – but he was there. And so was she. And they weren’t nothing. They were something. More than something. They were everything. Even with what she held between them, they were one. Whole. The power of Oestra last night had shown her that truth.

  “Okay?” he asked, voice echoing and distant.

  “Yes.” Her voice too was an echoing husk, barely sounding like her at all. “I just lost myself for a moment.”

  “I know what you mean. This place …” He gestured around him with his free hand. “It’s so vast and yet feels like it’s collapsing in on me at the same time.”

  She sucked in a desperate breath. “That’s exactly it.”

  “We need to get ready,” Ilia said. “And we need to block the exit. We can’t let anything else escape from here.”

  “Gods, that’s right. Did it attack Jules? I heard her scream. We have to go back and see.”

  Tam turned, but Korinna tugged his hand, stopping him despite feeling his desperation and worry as strongly as she felt her own. “We can’t go back now. You know we can’t. We have to finish what we came here to do. We won’t get a second chance.”

  “But my mum … that scream.”

  Korinna squeezed his hand in hers. “She will be fine. Violetta was fighting it. You saw that as clearly as I did. And Bastien is there too, all pumped up on the power of Oestra. He won’t let anything hurt her or the baby. Together they will keep her safe.”

  He looked torn, but finally, he nodded. “I just hope she’s alright.”

  “Korinna is right. I too am certain Bastien and Violetta have it in hand,” Ilia said. The spirit’s head jerked around and she took a long sniff of the air. “She’s coming. Be ready.”

  There was nothing to see – everything was grey and foggy within a few feet of where they stood – but she too could feel it. A sense of something rushing towards them.

  “How do you know it’s her?”

  “She used me for years. I know her feel and her scent. It’s definitely her.” She looked at Tam, taking a longer sniff. “I can smell your mother’s power. It’s with her, though not in her.”

  “That’s one good thing. At least we won’t have to fight against Jules’ power,” Korinna said.

  “She couldn’t have use of it until she exited the Void anyway. She cannot take Vesta’s magic fully into herself until she is in the Earthly Realm because that is the heart and seat of that power. It will not activate until she is standing on your Earth.”

  “You seem to know a lot more about the Void than you told Tam,” Korinna said.

  “To speak of forbidden things is to bring attention where it is not wanted.” She pointed behind her. “Out there, there is much I cannot say. In here, there is no one to hear but you.”

  “I wish I had more time to question you on what you have learned.”

  The feeling of something rushing towards them grew suddenly stronger. “I too wish for that, but we do not have time,” Ilia said. “Gather your power. She is here. We cannot let her through.”

  Wind whipped around them, bringing with it a foul stench that made Korinna want to vomit. And with the stench, a sound like tens of thousands of voices screaming.

  “What is that sound?” Tam said, clapping his free hand over his ear.

  She gasped as a horrible thought hit her. “That’s not … the Pompeiian souls, is it?”

  “She took on your vow,” Ilia answered. “So it is possible that when she was returned to this place, the souls were thrust upon her so she would be able to complete the vow.”

  “Gods! They sound tortured. How can she stand it?” Tears in her eyes, Korinna wanted to put her hands to her ears to shut out the sound. But she didn’t. Not only did she have to keep hold of Tam’s hand, but she had done this to them, so she deserved to listen to their pain.

  “I don’t think she cares,” Ilia said curtly. Korinna stared at her, brow raised. Ilia shrugged. “Why would she care when she’s caused just as much suffering to so many others?”

  Tam gripped Korinna’s hand tighter, pulling her attention back to him. “We will send them to Elysium soon.”

  She shot him a grateful smile. “Yes, we will.”

  With a rush of sound and a wild push of air, Clodia suddenly appeared before them, her face lighting with maniacal glee as she saw them. “Tamuel and Korinna! It had to be you that opened the tear early. Thank you for being too stupid for words and doing half my job for me. Now, step aside, or would you like me to drain you again?”

  “I wouldn’t be so gleeful if I were you,” Ilia said. “Now!”

  Her hands gripped around theirs – touch ghostly but firm – and her power surged into the ring. Korinna didn’t even hesitate – she lifted their hands and pushed a stream of power right at Clodia, hitting her in the chest.

  The witch screamed as she disappeared in a flare of bright light. When the light dissipated, she was no longer in sight.

  “Where’s she gone? It can’t have been that easy,” Tam said, glancing around.

  “She’s still here,” Ilia said. “Watch out!”

  Tamuel pushed his power into the ring and raised a shield just in time. The ancient witch flew at them from the side, magic surging from her hands like black lightning. It hit the shield and sparks flew off it to be swallowed in the grey of the Void.

  Clodia screamed in frustration and bombarded the shield with more black lightning so that it cascaded over its circumference, trying to find a way through. Where in all the Hells was she getting that power from? He’d never seen anything quite like it. Or felt anything like it - not only was it incredibly strong, but it had a feel to it that he could only describe as … well, evil. Unlike any other magic he’d come into contact with, it was oily and roiling and made him feel nauseated with every contact. And it had an acrid stench to it and a barbed quality that made him think of thorns that kept working into his magic even when the main thrust had dissipated.

  He didn’t know how much longer he could hold against a bombardment of such magic. Especially with the soul-wind attacking them too. He was about to shout out his worry when Rinna hit the ancient witch with another blast of power that somehow went through his shield – maybe because it was the same kind of energy or from the same source of power. He didn’t know, but it worked, forcing Clodia to defend rather than attack.

  He grinned. They had this: together.

  As Rinna fought Clodia with wave after wave of power garnered from Ilia and Ostara, he worked seamlessly alongside her, using the ring to channel and intensify their magics. He held the shield firm against the glancing blows Clodia managed to get through, and against the screaming soul-wind. And Rinna … she fought like he’d never seen her fight before. She was magnificent as she brought up one spell after another – most of them the ones he’d taught her from the Eleusinian Mysteries Grimoire – keeping Clodia at bay, pushing her back. Kyria, their Amazonian trainer, would be proud.

  Even so, as she fought, the toll began to show, the strain written on her face. He wished he could help, but all his attention went into keeping the shield up, protecting them not only from Clodia’s strikes, but from the shrieking souls.

  Speaking of which, they were so loud now and getting stronger as they scratched and scraped at the edges of the shield closest to Rinna, trying to get to his love. Did they blame her or see her as their salvation? He couldn’t take the risk and let them through to find out.

  “How are we supposed to take them with us if they are fighting us too?” he yelled over the noise at Ilia.

  She didn’t answer, so he turned his head to look at her. By the Gods, how long could she last with Rinna pulling on her power like that? The prismatic colours that had been so bright out of the Void were now fainter and less distinct. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I will last, but we have to finish this fast. Too much time⁠—”

  The chronometer on his wrist began to buzz, signalling that the sigil spell was fast running out of juice. If they didn’t get out of here soon, their souls would be ripped from them and they’d be as lost in the Void as the Pompeii spirits had been all these years.

  “Rinna! You have to finish this.”

  Turning her head slightly, she spoke through gritted teeth. “I’m giving it all I’ve got. But she’s too strong.”

  “She shouldn’t be. She’s not using either of our powers and she hasn’t got my mother’s magic either – you heard what Ilia said about that. Her power alone isn’t enough to fight ours combined.” And yet it was. That strange quality to her power he’d noticed earlier hadn’t dissipated at all. “Maybe she’s found something in the Void.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s strong.” Rinna’s mouth pulled back in a grimace as she shot another bolt of power at Clodia, connecting a mighty blast with the black lightning the evil witch had just let loose. She shook, as if the magic had hit her, and stumbled, the green-gold light in the ring fluttering.

  “Rinna!”

  He wanted to help but had to keep the shield strong. Even as he thought it, the shield fluttered nearest Rinna. Holy Hells! The spirits bashed away at it, harder and harder. It was all he could do to tighten his control and push as much as he could of the power left to him into the shield nearest her.

  Rinna trembled violently, her hands shaking so badly her spells went wide.

  “Here, take this,” Ilia yelled.

  Suddenly golden light hit Rinna from behind and she snapped upright, gasping, but to her credit, didn’t skip a beat. She pulled the power down through herself, twining it with hers and Ilia’s power and what little Tam could still spare, then pushed it through the ring, but it wasn’t quite enough.

  “Ilia, she needs more.”

  Ilia gritted her teeth and cried out in pain, but then lit up like the morning dawn. “There. Use that. But hurry. It will not last for much longer.”

  “Why? Where are you pulling it from?”

  She jerked her head back through the tear. “Ostara rises. And with her comes the dawn of a new life.”

  His eyes widened in horror. “Jules! The baby? Jules is having the baby?” She nodded. “And you’re using the power of its birth?”

  “She gives it freely. I would not take without asking.”

  Holy mother in all the Heavens. “Please, don’t hurt my mother or the baby.”

  “Do not worry. She’s incredibly strong. Stronger than she should be.”

  “She’ll be even stronger when we get her power back to her.”

  “I wasn’t talking about your mother.”

  Just then, Rinna shouted a spell – one that was horribly familiar. He’d only found half of it in the Eleusinian Mysteries Grimoire, but she’d found the entire thing.

  He’d complained about all the incomplete spells to Persephone when he’d seen her in the Underworld; she’d said the only way the entirety of it could be opened was with a combination of a certain magic and blood – magic and blood with direct ties to its creator, Triptolemus.

  He gasped.

  That could only mean one thing.

  He glanced at the ring on Korinna’s hand, glowing with the power of the supposedly lesser God – or demi-God; the literature was always uncertain on his exact status – that had created it, a God who had lived in service to Demeter and Persephone and had created the Mysteries for them.

  But had he?

  No. He didn’t think so now. Because, if only his magic and his blood – or magic and blood related to his – could fully open it, then he had created it for himself.

  And his progeny.

  To what end, he didn’t know. But by all accounts, Triptolemus had been beloved by everyone; a lesser God who gave everything he was to better the lot of those around him, and who valued life and nature above all things.

  And that lesser God’s blood, his magic, it ran in Rinna.

  He was so stupid not to have seen it before. It explained so much about why she was able to work the ring so well.

  It was meant to be her ring.

  But even with the ring, she still struggled. Maybe, like the grimoire, it was meant to be accessed fully with her magic and her blood.

  A barrage of black lightning slipped under Rinna’s defensive spell and hit the shield with a massive crack. The shield shuddered and fine fault-lines began to show in its surface as barbs of it continued to work their way into the barrier. “Rinna. I can’t hold this for much longer.”

  “More power. I need more power.”

  Ilia nodded and bore down – Tamuel could swear he saw a faint dawn-coloured thread span from her and through the tear. It lit up and pulsed and power shot through them all. Rinna steadied once more, the ring’s light strengthening. She threw another round of attacking spells – he couldn’t remember them learning all those, nor some of the defensive spells she’d used to force Clodia’s attacks aside. Was it instinct or something else? Something deep inside her that, despite herself, was slipping out.

  Gods, he hoped so, because he was afraid that unless she did let all her power out, they weren’t getting out of this alive. Ilia was almost translucent, her touch like the whisper of a cobweb. He was afraid she wasn’t going to last much longer doing what she was doing. And he certainly was running out of juice.

  So was Rinna. He could see it in the blue ringing her lips and the red around her eyes, the sweat dripping down her face. It was taking everything for her to just keep up with Clodia, let alone vanquish her.

  And the evil witch herself – somehow, she seemed as strong as she’d been when she first came shrieking towards them out of the Void-grey.

  They needed more power. And the only place they could get it from was buried deep inside Rinna. She had to let it out. Now.

  “Rinna, we’re losing. You have to let go of your control spell and use all your power. Now!”

  She turned her head, eyes desperate and full of pain as they met his. “I can’t.”

  “But you have to. Ilia is using birth power from Jules and Ostara combined, but she can’t maintain the link for long. We’re about to run out of the boost.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t understand. I’ve already tried. I can’t. The spell broke under the pressure of all the magic I’ve been using a few minutes ago. But still, my full power won’t come.”

  “What do you mean it won’t come?”

  A tear of blood dripped from the corner of her eye. “I don’t know. It’s there, but it won’t do what I want. I’ve damaged it. Or my link to it. I don’t know what to do. I’m so sorry. I should have listened. I should have done what you asked.” She cried out as Clodia sent another barrage that beat back Rinna’s defensive spell until it hit the shield, causing more cracks. “Tam! I don’t know what to do. We’re going to lose.”

  “Not if you use your blood.”

  Chapter

  Eighteen

  “What?” Korinna’s gaze whipped to her mate’s. Why was he asking her to use blood magic? “I can’t use blood magic!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s evil.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s life. It’s love. Your blood will save us all.”

  “Are you insane?”

  “No, I’m right. Use your blood, Rinna. It’s the only way.”

  Tam stared at her as the shield cracked around them and Ilia slumped behind them, almost completely drained. The spirit had given her all, as had Tam – he was almost as pale as Ilia and lines of exhaustion dragged at his handsome face. They barely had anything more to give. She was the only one with an untapped source of magic. But because she’d been so afraid of it, of herself, she’d kept it trapped, beaten down, for so long, and now she needed to use it, wanted to use it, it wouldn’t come to her call.

  And Tam thought she could access it with her blood? Why? Why would he even think that? And what did he mean that her blood would save them all?

  Clodia sent another barrage at them and she managed just in time to throw up a repulsing spell, sending the power skittering into the grey of the Void.

  “Rinna, you have to use your blood. Now.”

  “I can’t, Tam. You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  “Of course I do. You opened the grimoire with your blood, didn’t you?”

  He knew? He knew. How did he know? Hells. Every hope she had for their future was suddenly dissolving before her eyes.

  “And I saw you use it when we fought back the entity – it’s what truly powered the wand. I just didn’t put two and two together until now.”

  Gods – he’d known all this time? How was it he looked at her with anything close to love? She wanted to ask him, but nearly every shred of her energy went into fighting back Clodia’s attacks, the evil witch strengthening as she weakened.

  “It’s why, isn’t it? Why you think your power is evil? Because you used blood magic?”

  “It is evil,” she managed to gasp.

  “Was it evil when I used this?” he held up his arm, showing the sigil that had allowed them to be here … using magic powered by blood.

  For a second, her mind blanked. How had she not thought of that before? Tam had used blood magic. Not once, but three times now – and he wasn’t evil. His magic wasn’t evil. Could it be …?

  Clodia’s cackling and a fresh attack drowned out what Tam was yelling at her. Tapping into every ounce of what she had left, she managed to hold back the onslaught, only catching the end of what Tam was shouting.

 

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