Steadfast(68)

Mateo froze as he realized that, for Elizabeth, killing him would be no more than swatting an irritating fly. He had no magic to use against her, nothing, and in that split second he decided just to rush her—at least hurt her before she took him out.

And the night sky lit up all around them.

Verlaine screamed, and Mateo jumped, but instantly he realized Asa was as startled as they were, and even Elizabeth looked surprised. The brilliance coalesced into a sphere that surrounded him and Verlaine both. He’d seen this before, but where?

This was what he’d seen Halloween night, in the fire that had nearly killed him. This sphere—this protective spell that shielded them completely—that was how he’d been rescued by Nadia.

He turned, knowing where he would see her even before he heard her voice.

Nadia walked closer to them, her features becoming clearer as she stepped closer to the light. Her dark eyes focused intently on Elizabeth. “Mateo’s mine,” she said. “Don’t ever forget it.”


“You’re back.” Mateo couldn’t stop grinning. “You’re back and—you’re you.”

Nadia probably thought he was talking nonsense. But he knew that whatever dark magic Nadia had learned about on her trip hadn’t changed her; if anything, it had only made her stronger.

“We should talk, you and I.” Elizabeth’s voice sounded strange. If she weren’t so damn powerful, if she hadn’t been holding every one of the cards, Mateo would have sworn she sounded . . . desperate.

“There’s nothing to say.” With that, Nadia stepped through the protective sphere. Its shimmering surface sparkled around her as she broke through, then reformed behind her. When her arms went around him, Mateo embraced her tightly. He buried his face in the curve of her neck and the curtain of her black hair, just to breathe in her scent.

How could he ever have doubted her?

Verlaine called out, “Asa?”

“Never mind me, Verlaine,” Asa said. His voice sounded more distant. Mateo didn’t even bother looking up. “I’m not worth it.”

“They’re going.” Verlaine’s voice was quieter now, more intense; obviously she was speaking to Nadia. “Elizabeth’s getting away.”

“Let her go,” Nadia whispered against Mateo’s cheek.

After a few more moments, the sphere vanished, dimming until it was a faint glow, and then nothingness. Elizabeth was done. The danger was gone. It didn’t even matter. Now Mateo just stood on the beach holding the girl he loved.

“Okay. Well.” Verlaine sounded very distant. “Obviously I could set myself on fire right now and nobody would notice. Right? Right. Catch you later.” Her footsteps crunched through the sand as she walked away.

They wound up at his house, where he held Nadia while she sobbed out the truth about her mother. Mateo had spent much of the past month loathing the former Mrs. Caldani on Nadia’s behalf. But she wasn’t at all the cold, heartless woman he’d believed her to be—

—well, she hadn’t been. Cold and heartless was exactly what she had become, but she had done it to save her daughter from damnation. No matter what, Mateo thought, her sacrifice deserved respect.

“I can never tell Dad,” Nadia whispered. They lay in front of the fireplace, tangled up in each other. “So he’ll never know the truth. Neither will Cole. I just wish they could know how much we were loved.”

“At least you know. Right now, I get that it hurts like hell—but at least you got your answers.”

Nadia propped herself on one elbow. The firelight behind her painted her black hair nearly auburn. Her wind-chapped cheeks were pink, her eyes swollen from crying, and yet to him she had never been more beautiful. “You thought I loved you less.”

Mateo shook his head. “I listened to Asa, and I shouldn’t have.”

“Demons mess with humans’ heads. It’s what they do. But it’s not the lies others say to us that destroy us. It’s the lies we tell ourselves.” Nadia’s hand brushed along his cheek, trembling and tentative. “Never believe that I don’t love you completely. I love you more than any power. Any secret. Anything else in the world I could ever hope to gain. I’d give it all up for you if I had to, to keep you safe—”

“You don’t have to give up anything for me.” He folded her close against his chest, willing her to hear his heartbeat and know it only belonged to her. “And I’ll never doubt you again.”

They began to kiss, first tenderly, then more passionately. Mateo closed his eyes, felt the softness of her in his arms, and the warmth of the fire.

His hands found the cradle of her waist and hips; his lips brushed against the line of her collarbone. Nadia’s fingers slipped beneath his sweater, tracing the lines of every muscle. He felt as though she were learning him by heart.

“Do you have to be anywhere?” she whispered against his cheek. Her words were hardly any louder than her trembling breath.

“No.” Mateo pressed his lips to the soft triangle of skin exposed by the deep V of her sweater. “Nowhere but here. Nowhere but with you.”

For now, the evil they faced, the entire rest of the screwed-up world, seemed very far away.

Outside the Perez home, an unearthly wind whipped through the trees, shearing away the final leaves of autumn. Some people swore they saw heat lightning crackle through the clouds—even though the night was so cold that frost masked the windows and covered the ground. Sinkholes still unfilled after the strange events of autumn crumbled and quaked, filling in with new, soft earth, as though attempting to erase the town’s scars. And the crows swirled up into the air, dark, shining wings glittering in the moonlight, disturbed by a force they could not recognize.