GRAY
Ten minutes earlier
I picked up the textbook from my desk halfway through the
class. “Turn to page 193,” I said, thumbing through the pages to find the number myself.
We’d made our way past the history of the bargain that created the coven in the first place already, but I wanted to discuss it from a different vantage point. Beelzebub and Leviathan waited at the back of the class, their presence unnecessary. However, Beelzebub was always with me if he couldn’t be with Margot.
It was as if the bastard couldn’t function being alone anymore.
“We discussed the bargain I made with Charlotte at the beginning of this class,” I said, setting the textbook down. “But we did not discuss it from my point of view. Now that the truth is out, I thought we could take some time today to address any questions you may have.”
Leviathan raised his brow at the back of the room, his perpetually intrigued face not matching the enormity of his size and the intimidation that came with it.
“Why are you even teaching this class? Don’t you have better things to do? Witches to eat?” one of the students asked, his face flushed with fear as he spoke.
“First of all, there’s only one witch who is a part of my diet plan,” I said, resulting in the startled laughter of some of the other students. “Second, I happen to believe that our greatest achievements come in the undertakings of the generation that comes after ours. The best thing we can do for the
world is give our children the chance to thrive. Knowledge is power, and it is the best gift I can give to you all in the changing environment around you,” I said, shocking the one boy into silence.
The fear faded from his face slowly, his gaze dropping to my stomach.
Blinding pain followed, making me stumble into the side of my desk.
I touched a hand to my stomach, staring down at it when I pulled it away. Bright, viscous blood covered it, seeping from a wound in my gut that I had no explanation for.
Beelzebub and Leviathan got to their feet, their expressions shocked as they stared at my abdomen. I met their gazes, already heading for the door.
“Willow,” I said, my voice laced with the panic I felt. For her to be injured severely enough that it would affect me, for neither of us to be healing…
“Get the others,” I said to Leviathan, watching as the massive archdemon burst out of the classroom.
I followed the tether of Willow’s pain, letting it guide me down the stairs. I stumbled on the steps, the bond between us pulling from my magic to keep her alive. The Source slid through me, using me as a conduit to keep my wife from dying, yet I couldn’t grasp it for myself in any way.
Willow needed it all.
Beelzebub and I moved in a flurry of motion, even when the bell rang, and students piled into the hallway. I shoved them to the side, bleeding all over the floor, as I made my way to her. I groaned, grasping the railing as the pain in my stomach twisted, tearing through my innards in an echo of what Willow was suffering.
Only one weapon could have done this; only one knife could hurt her this way.
It may not have killed me, but Willow’s life slid between my fingers as I tried to reach her. The Source could only sustain her for so long. My only comfort and breath of relief was that I would follow after her and be with her in Hell.
But she would never be the same once she was separated from the very earth that she loved so dearly.
“Gray, she may already be gone,” Beelzebub said, his voice strained as he eyed the fresh flow of blood dripping down my pants to splash onto the floor.
I grunted, pushing past that horrifying thought. “I would be too,” I said, dispelling it with the only logic I could hang onto at that moment. “She’s clinging to life.”
“Where is she?” Beelzebub asked, knowing I could feel her. He eyed me as if I was weak, a hindrance to him reaching her in time.
I hated it. I hate that, for the first time in centuries, I was vulnerable. And it was the first time that mattered.
“The Tribunal room,” I said, following the tether to Willow. Her pain was like an anchor, radiating through the darkened halls of Hollow’s Grove. “Go!” I snapped, watching as he pumped his wings. He dove over the stairwell, flying to get to my wife faster than I could.
Without my wings, the useless scars on my back were all that remained, and with no power to claim for myself, I couldn’t get to her as quickly as he could.
I just hoped he’d reach her in time.
