“Is that her?” Corrine whispered, hovering in the air a few feet away from me. I couldn’t see what she was pointing to at first, but then I noticed. The witches surrounding the lake to our right were parting, making way for Lilith, who had changed, now wearing a pure white dress that trailed down to her feet. She was walking toward the pool. Her long dark hair hung down her shoulders, and it had been braided with thorny twigs—from a rose bush, I guessed. Clasped in her hands was a bouquet of blood-red roses.
“We’ve spotted her,” I whispered down to Kiev. “Just hold on a little longer…”
My words sent shivers running down my spine, despite the fact that he had Lilith’s protective spell around him. Not only that, the black witches couldn’t afford to harm him as long as they suspected him to be Magnus.
I reached instinctively for my waist, and then realized I’d discarded my clothes along with the dagger that I kept there. Kiev had no weapon, so I looked around at the others. “Do any of you have a dagger or any kind of weapon?” I asked.
Caleb was the first to reach into his belt and withdraw a knife. I lowered myself to him, took the blade and placed it on the ground so Kiev could pick it up. I looked my husband steadily in the eye. “You know what to do with it.”
He nodded, clenching his jaw.
Checking the scene once again, Lilith had now reached the edge of the lake. Stretching out her arms, she levitated into the air and hovered over the center of it. My stomach churned as all of the witches surrounding her withdrew their knives from their sheaths. Each witch stood directly behind a human, the blades pointing downward, ready to strike as soon as the time was right.
I’d never witnessed a ritual quite like this. But I hoped that they planned to bring those daggers down later rather than sooner…
Once Lilith had stopped drifting upward, and it seemed that she had raised herself as high as she was going to, I exchanged glances with Kiev and nodded. I felt like a nervous wreck watching him leave us and clamber over the rocks.
Kiev had to put on the performance of his life. If Lilith got even the slightest clue that he was not Magnus, everything would come crashing down upon us, all of our efforts down the drain.
“Lilith.” Magnus’ voice boomed down upon the sacrificial area.
Lilith’s eyes bulged in shock as her gaze shot toward Magnus standing on the rock. Her bouquet slipped from her hands and dropped into the lake. A deathly silence fell over the other witches as they all gazed at the vampire. Even Rhys looked speechless, though it was hard to read that warlock’s expression. I guessed his brain would soon start ticking over how to use Magnus’ appearance to his advantage.
“Magnus?” Lilith gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to you.” Kiev held out a hand, indicating that she approach.
She glided away from the pool and landed on the rock where Kiev stood. Her lips parted as she continued staring at him in awe.
“How did you get here?”
Kiev’s eyes darkened.
“What is wrong? Were you unable to escape on the boat?”
“I’ve woken from your spell,” Kiev said, his voice steady and free from emotion.
“Spell?” Lilith asked. “What are you talking about?”
He reached up and grabbed Lilith’s jaw. I had been afraid that the protection she had formed around him would prevent them from even touching. But it seemed that she was exempt.
Kiev nodded toward the lake, his eyes traveling over all the hogtied humans surrounding it. “I see now what drew you to me.”
Lilith’s face contorted with confusion.
“It made no sense to me at the time,” Kiev continued, “why you were so bent on pursuing a relationship with me even when the world you lived in forbade it. Why you made love to me so unhesitatingly behind your husband’s back. Why you kept returning to me even at the risk of destroying the reputation of your entire family… But now I understand. You knew what my immortality could do for you.”
Lilith began shaking her head furiously. “No,” she stammered. “No, Magnus. You have it all wrong.” She reached out to grip his arms but he brushed her away, causing her to stumble backward.
“Had I been a warlock, you wouldn’t have looked twice at me.”
“It’s not true, Magnus! I love you.” She launched toward him again and gripped his hands, shaking him.
“Magnus!” Rhys boomed. “Get away from her.”
When Kiev ignored him, he flew through the air toward him but, of course, he couldn’t touch him. Besides, Lilith blasted him back with a spell.
“I have too many reasons to disbelieve you,” Kiev said. “As far as I can see, every action of yours to date has led up to this ritual. From the moment we met, to allowing me to be kidnapped, dragging me from the life I’d managed to rebuild for myself, keeping me with you in your chamber for centuries so that you could stay alive… it’s all been leading up to this point.”
“I wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t love you,” she said, desperation in her voice. “I told you that already.”
“Then we do not share the same definition of love.”
She cast her eyes about at all the witches, waiting and staring up at her, then fixed her gaze on Magnus once more. “Then what do I have to do to prove it to you? Tell me!”
Kiev glanced down at the ceremonial setup. “Back out of this ritual.”