Chapter 63

Chapter 63

ALICE

J oy was awake when she got home. Waiting up for her, like she always did, even when they fought. Even Joy’s anger held a kernel of love, always.

Looking at her where she sat on their shared bed—seeing her beautiful soft blonde hair, her bright intelligent eyes—looking at her hurt .

I have to protect her, Alice thought, her heart twisting in her chest. She looked away quickly, bending down next to their bed and reaching for her blades.

No matter what… I have to protect this.

Joy took one look at Alice’s face as she searched and knew something was wrong.

“Alice? What happened? You look… you look terrified.”

“It wasn’t Fey,” Alice told her. Joy’s gaze hardened, and she opened her mouth, probably to remind Alice she’d said so from the start. Alice raised her hand to silence her. “But it… it is a Blood Witch. Kallista is trying to find her now. I’m going after her. Fey and I are going to stop her.”

Fear of what could happen if they weren’t careful colored her next words. “I need you to hide, Joy. After I leave, I need you to lock the door, and —”

The air crackled with power.

“How dare you,” Joy hissed. Her voice was cold as ice. “How fucking dare you.”

“Joy—” Alice started, turning to look up at her. The power in the room roiled, a wild, untamed thing.

“I am not your pet,” Joy said in a voice full of power. “I am your partner, Alice. I am the last of the Queen’s Blades, and you will not treat me like… like a liability . You won’t leave me here like I’m some powerless thing . Not when I can help.”

Her eyes were so beautiful. So, so beautiful, even when she was angry.

And Alice loved her so much.

“Whatever this is, whatever you’re chasing. We will do it together, Alice,” Joy told her. “Don’t you dare try to sideline me.”

It hurt so much to look into those beautiful eyes.

Hurt so much to remember how it had felt to lose her.

“I can’t lose you again,” Alice admitted, the words catching in her throat. Her vision swam with tears. “I… it would kill me to lose you again, love. I wouldn’t survive it. I know I wouldn’t.”

Joy gave her a small, beautiful smile. With a little sigh, she hopped off the bed and reached underneath it. She found Alice’s blades with no effort at all and pulled them out.

“Then don’t lose me,” she answered, placing the weapons in Alice’s outstretched hands. “You don’t need to do this alone. You never did. Whatever this is… we will face it together. You need me, Alice. We need each other.”

It was true. They did need her. Fey was powerful—maybe the most powerful thing in the realm other than Kallista.

But Joy?

Joy was a force of nature.

Somewhere along the way, Alice had forgotten that. Had forgotten that the last time she’d been responsible for protecting the realm, she hadn’t done it alone. She’d never done it alone.

Swallowing her fears, Alice nodded .

“Get your blades, sister. The realm needs you,” she murmured, setting her blades down and reaching out to squeeze Joy’s hand in hers. Together… they would do this together.

Joy grinned and bounced to her feet, heading toward her dresser. Alice watched her, love blooming in her heart, when?—

Something moved in her peripheral vision, and Alice turned, frowning. Shadows, in the corner, writhing like living creatures. Before she could consider what that meant, before she could decide what to do, the shadow struck, reaching out for her and wrapping around her mind.

Dark. A void so deep it felt like the pits of hell, like staring into oblivion.

Then a voice. Delicious and deadly, like poisoned sweets.

“I found her,” Kallista's voice echoed through her head. Then the darkness shifted, changing, and images flooded her, fluttering before her eyes. The Western River. A factory—no, a warehouse. Two figures on the roof, surrounded by light.

“Come,” Kallista commanded. And then the images were gone, the void was gone, and Alice gasped as she returned to her body, blinking hard, the dim light of their bedroom suddenly seeming so bright it was blinding.

"Alice?" Joy asked. "What happened? The shadows... it's like they took you away…"

"Kallista," Alice gasped. Her head throbbed from the invasion. “She’s found the Blood Witch. I know where we need to go."

Then she shuddered, trying to shake off the feeling of that dark, empty void. Wrapping her arms around herself she murmured, "Goddess, that woman terrifies me."

Joy was already moving, scrambling with something in her dresser. She pulled a box out, flipping it open. Her blades—and her uniform. Alice hadn't realized she'd kept them.

"She showed you where to find her?" Joy asked, pulling off her nightclothes and slipping into her black leathers.

When she finished, Alice couldn’t help but admire the creature who stood before her. The last Queen’s Blade. The realm’s most powerful weapon.

A weapon she’d forgotten .

How could she have forgotten this side of her? This beautiful, deadly Witch she’d fallen in love with?

"Yeah, she did," Alice said, placing a soft kiss on Joy’s cheek, savoring the feeling of the mask under her lips. "It won’t be hard to find. From the looks of it, they've set up a beacon to welcome us.”

They followed the shadows.

Kallista made it easy, directing them through the city streets, her dark shadows leading the way. But the Blood Witch made it even easier.

The lights from the top of the building were visible from half a city away.

When they finally reached the building, Joy didn’t speak. She simply raised her hands, and a gentle current of wind lifted them both into the sky and toward the roof.