Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(109)

“I’m here too, my love!” Viggo cried out, mimicking Mortimer’s position and dropping to his knees beside his rival, the charm again thick in his voice. “We had no idea you were out.” Lethal eyes flipped to me. “We would have come sooner.”

“I … I …” Veronique croaked, her words stunted by a violent coughing spasm. Sharp gasps sounded as a trickle of blood escaped the corner of her mouth.

“Please. Release her. I will turn myself over to you without challenge. Just please, let her live,” Mortimer pleaded with Imogen, still on his knees.

“You will turn yourself over to me because you have no other choice. Negotiating is pointless,” Imogen hissed, showing a set of perfectly even teeth. “You can’t break through this wall, and if you make me wait too long, you’ll watch her die.”

If looks could kill, the one Mortimer laid upon Imogen at that point should have withered her into a hundred-year-old corpse. Turning to Mage, he hissed, “Where the hell is Sofie?” And I realized then, he didn’t know.

“She’s … indisposed,” Mage answered cryptically.

“Oh, she’ll be here,” Imogen chuckled. “She’s never far behind these two.”

“Doubt it,” came Mage’s cool response, leveling Imogen with a hateful stare.

“Damn her!” With another vicious war cry, Viggo tore away, the lone witch outside the circle his next target, followed by three more Sentinel men. If this continued, none of Imogen’s guard would be standing. Did she care?

A lighthearted cackle contradicted the massacre like polka music at a fatal car wreck. “Go ahead! For every one you kill here, we have another hundred hidden away for tomorrow.” A quick glance at the standing Sentinel showed unease with Imogen’s license to kill. Feet began to shift backward, eyes darting toward the gaping exit.

“In that case,” Mage murmured with a vicious smile. I turned in time to see her fingertips slip from Bishop’s solid bicep. She waved him forward. “You’ve earned it. Let none escape,” she ordered.

Bishop didn’t hesitate, not for a second. The wolves took up his flanks, mowing down any Sentinel who dared run.

I buried my gaze in Veronique’s face again as silent tears welled in my eyes and screams of terror echoed, my heart aching for what they had turned my dear broken friend in to. This was quickly spiraling down into hell. How long before it simply exploded and we all ceased to exist?

Veronique was still conscious, her eyes straining to see what was happening beyond the curtain of my draped hair. I wouldn’t let her see, though. She didn’t need her last memories of life to be this. And she couldn’t die without making her decision. The right decision.

“I wasn’t lying about Viggo,” I whispered. I felt a ripple of tension course through her body but I pushed forward. “You must choose Mortimer, Veronique. You must!”

“Yes, you must,” a familiar French lilt repeated, and my heart stopped. My head flew up. There, in the midst of pandemonium outside the circle, her red mane cascading over her shoulders stood Sofie. For just a second, I smiled. I actually smiled. For just that second, our eyes locked and I believed everything would be okay.

She broke her focus to measure the situation, her eyes narrowing as she took in the freshly killed bodies; to Viggo and Bishop, in the midst of the kill, who hadn’t noticed her yet; to the witches within the circle. They skimmed over Fiona’s resting spot. I could swear I caught a ghost of a smile but … No. Sofie would never find amusement in Fiona’s death …

“Sofie,” Imogen purred, “just like that. It’s as if I called and you answered. We’re one big happy family now, aren’t we?”

Sofie’s lips curled back into a hideous sneer. “I’m sorry. The Fates and I had some things to discuss.”

Imogen struggled to keep her face composed. I could tell Sofie’s words and confident air ruffled the leader.

Viggo took notice of Sofie and stopped tearing apart the Sentinel to run to her side. Bishop, in his own little world of oblivion, continued without abandon.

“Do something!” Mortimer screamed, still on his knees. “Break down this barrier and kill them!”

“I can’t.” Two words I hadn’t expected from Sofie. My stomach tightened. Sofie always could. Or at least she could try. No … I hadn’t expected this.

“Even Sofie’s not strong enough to break a spell cast by twenty-four powerful sorceresses,” Imogen said as she approached me. Her hand grasped my shoulder, digging into my bone as it yanked me up. I scrambled to follow while trying to protect Veronique’s head from smashing against the stones.

“But there’s so much I can do,” Imogen said. “First, you will contain that madman over there.” Imogen nodded her head toward Bishop. “And then we will immobilize you with this lovely weed you made available to us.” Imogen dragged me along as she prattled off demands. “Once that’s done—”

Sofie’s snicker stopped Imogen dead in her tracks, bristling. “Or should I just kill them all here in front of you instead? Would that be more satisfactory?” Imogen offered.

“You’re so lucky I can’t get inside that circle, Imogen. All I’d have to do is get to you. Then this spell would break and the five of us would end you.” Sofie’s plump lips curled in a way I so rarely saw. A predator’s smile. “We’d take such pleasure in it.”