Steadfast

“Are you here to witness my handiwork?” Elizabeth said. Her lovely face betrayed no hint of the evil that lurked within. Her eyes sparkled with the deepest happiness.

“Go away.” Mateo didn’t feel like he had anything else to say to Elizabeth, now or ever.

Elizabeth went on as though he hadn’t spoken. “I should have known you were near. Your strength makes me more powerful.”

He hated this—the fact that being a Steadfast meant he gave more power to any witch he came near. Though he was Nadia’s Steadfast, bound to her and able to give her more energy than he would anyone else, Mateo couldn’t prevent Elizabeth from feeding off it, too, like a leech. “I’d stop it if I could.”

“There is one way,” she said. “You could die.”

Ignore her, he told himself, and he might have been able to, except that Verlaine stepped past him, heading toward Asa. “Are you okay?” she said, then turned to Elizabeth. “What did you do to him?”

Asa shook his head, and he smiled, though it was only a shadow of his normal smirk. “Verlaine, don’t.”

Verlaine didn’t listen. She shouted at Elizabeth as though she was outraged. “What did you do?”

“Nothing that is not my right,” Elizabeth replied. The lilt in her voice made him wonder if she was trying not to laugh.

She’d tortured Asa. Mateo understood that now. As little as he liked the demon, he hated the idea of torturing anyone or anything. “Every time I think I’ve learned just how disgusting you really are, I realize I haven’t even seen the half of it.”

Elizabeth didn’t reply. For a few moments she gazed at Verlaine, who stood there with her fists clenched at her sides in impotent fury. “You’re irrelevant. You—” She turned to Mateo, expression hardening. “It’s been useful having a Steadfast around. But as you’re sworn to Nadia, and she refuses to swear herself to me, you’re simply a tool she can use to oppose my plans. And I think she’s had use of you nearly long enough.”

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.”