The Coven (Coven of Bones, #1)(77)

He hadn’t been able to compel Lorelai because of the bones. He couldn’t compel me any longer either, I realized.

“Bring who?” I asked, glancing around the room. I tried to think of who he might have to hurt me, who he might think he could use to force me to become a monster like him.

Iban.

I stared at the door that led to the halls, watching for any sign of the male witch who had become one of the closest things I had to a friend. In spite of the fact that I suspected he didn’t approve of what he assumed was happening between Gray and me, he hadn’t judged me for it.

My heart sunk, dropping into my stomach as two figures strode into the Tribunal room. My father’s face was twisted with arrogance as he guided the small figure at his side. His knife lingered just in front of Ash’s throat as everything in me stilled.

“No.”

“Do as you’re told, and I promise you nothing will happen to your brother,” he said, running his nose along my cheek.

I gasped, breath evading me as my father took up his place at the side of the room. Ash’s gaze held mine, the terror in his brown eyes hardening something inside me that I’d sworn I’d always keep soft.

Killing the ember of life within me and turning it to rot and decay.

“I will kill you for this,” I growled at my father, my jaw tensing as I rolled my neck.

“Don’t worry, baby girl. You won’t live long enough to make good on that threat,” he said, his laugh coating my skin.

Gray touched a hand to the bone necklace, drawing my attention back to him with a ragged gasp. He leaned in, whispering in my ear as he smiled. “Do what you’re told, and I’ll let you kill him and raise him as many times as it takes for you to work out that anger.”

“And what about the hatred I feel for you? Do I get to kill you, too?” I asked, wincing when he stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist once again.

He held me, that dark magic that existed within him drawing mine to the surface. He covered my hand with his, raising my palm to face Susannah. Her bones had started to heal, forming back into her original shape just enough that I could make out the horror on her face.

Her bones covered with raw, bloodied flesh as the magic sprang forward in dark tendrils. It wrapped around her as Gray raised his knife to my palm and slashed the skin. My blood dripped down, the dark tendrils swallowing it as it grew.

Susannah’s eye sockets filled with opaque flesh, muscles wrapping around her leg bones. Gray raised my other hand toward George, doing the same as life once again filled his features. Reversing the rot that claimed a body was disgusting work; their bodies a mess of blood and gore and organs.

When it seemed like Susannah would fill out with skin finally, Gray tore my hands down and severed the magic. The freshly grown flesh melted from their bodies, dropping to the ground as liquid. The thick, viscous blood slid across the floor, gathering in a pool just on top of the mirror and filling the space between the pile of organs.

George shook his head as the last of his flesh faded, leaving him as nothing but bones again. They sparkled for just a moment as he turned to face his other half, the Covenant reaching toward one another.

The tips of their finger bones just brushed against one another—the barest of touches—and the Covenant exploded into bone dust. I stared in horror at the space they’d once occupied, only turning my attention away when Gray spun me to face him.

His eyes were on mine as he placed his hand on top of one of my shoulders, steadying me against the panic I felt. Not knowing what he was doing, what was next, was almost too much to bear. The tip of his blade pressed into my stomach, pushing forward slowly as he held me still.

I gasped as it cut me open, sliding into my skin.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, touching his forehead to mine as he pushed the blade into the hilt. I wheezed, gasping for breath as the white hot burning consumed me. “It will be over soon.”

The betrayal hurt almost as much as the knife. It felt as if it punctured a hole in my heart that would never heal. I stared up at him as tears streamed down my cheeks, whimpering in pain as he dragged the blade up and made the wound bigger.

I couldn’t breathe.

“Gray,” I mumbled, swaying on my feet as he pulled the knife free and tossed it to the side.

“I didn’t expect to regret this part,” he said, slipping his fingers into the hole he’d created in my stomach.

I pulled against his grip, tears streaming down my face as Ash screamed from the side of the room. Gray held my gaze as his hand filled the chasm the knife had made, grasping onto something and pulling it free slowly.

The fabric he pulled from my abdomen was stained with blood, wrapped around something curved and narrow. He sank his teeth into his wrist, pressing the wounds to my mouth and offering me the blood I needed to heal.

To heal the wound he’d inflicted.

Because he’d fucking stabbed me.

I struggled, pulling away as my hands covered my stomach and tried to stem the bleeding. “What is that?” I asked, staring at the rune covered fabric in horror. The symbols were painted in black, standing out sharply against the bright red of my blood. Gray continued to shove his wrist against my mouth, forcing me to drink more and waiting until my stomach healed before he answered my question.

Unwrapping the fabric, he held up a single rib bone and smiled.