Two flat black silhouettes wafted toward me, the familiar horrible sense of wrongness that trailed after them filling the room. Several people ran out the door, while others huddled in the back, evidently too intrigued with the nightmare about to happen to leave.

Portia, I refuse to allow you to do this! Theo's mind was horrified as he realized my intentions.

There's no other way, my sweet Theo. I love you.

"Hashmallim, do your job!"

Sweetling, my soul is not worth banishment—

Draperies from the far end of the room were ripped from the walls, twisting through the air, flashing brilliant blue streaks as the tornado I'd summoned gathered itself and burst into being.

Milo must have realized at that moment what I intended to do. His face was white and twisted with terror as he shoved his wife aside, leaping over her to race toward the nearest window.

The windows in the ballroom shattered inward with a noise that sounded as if it came from the depths of Abaddon itself. Milo screamed as I directed the tornado on top of him. I ran forward as the Hashmallim reached me, eluding their grasp just as I eluded Theo's.

"I won't allow this!" Theo bellowed at me, lunging forward.

"I can't allow anything other than this," I answered and, for a moment, our being was one. It was a moment of the brightest love, the worst pain. I wanted it to go on forever.

Carol screamed, a high, wailing noise that was sucked up by the tornado, her body consumed by the vortex. Milo tried to get away, but it had him before he could do more than bellow my name. I directed it back toward me as the Hashmallim descended.

"I will always love you," I told Theo as the nearest Hashmallim grabbed me. I threw myself forward, into the screaming wind and cloth, the Hashmallim behind me jerking all of us, the whole twisting vortex, into the black abyss of nothing that was the Akasha.

Chapter 24

Time passed. I don't know how much because consciousness returned slowly to me, but when I regained my senses I was aware of the sound of a woman sobbing and a man screaming his fury at the top of his lungs.

I smiled even without opening my eyes. My plan had worked. I hadn't been sure if the Hashmallim would be able to extract me alone from the maelstrom of a powerful tornado, counting on the probability that they would just suck the whole mess out of the Court and into limbo. "Welcome to the Akasha," I said.

Strong hands jerked me off the ground, holding my neck in a vise of pain. Spots danced before my eyes as Milo's contorted face swam in and out of focus.

"You! You did this to us! You have destroyed everything!"

"Yes, I did. I'm just glad it worked," I croaked, kicking him in the groin at the same time I slammed the palm of my hand into his nose. There was a delightful crunching sound from his face that I fervently hoped was a bone breaking. Milo screamed again, dropping me to clutch his genitals, blood streaming down his face.

"It's over," I told the pathetic man rolling around on the ground. I spread my arms to indicate the rocky black landscape that spread out in an endless plain of misery. "And this is all you have to show for your evil plans. It's worth having to spend the rest of eternity here knowing that you're never going to step foot in the Court again."

Milo spat out some names for me that I felt were best ignored.

"I just have one question," I said, looking around. The Akasha looked the same as when I'd been here for the trial. Carol was draped over a nearby mound of earth, her sobs raw and painful on the ear. I strolled over to her, stopping just beyond her reach. "Why me? Why did you come to me when I inadvertently summoned you? Surely you hadn't been waiting around for me to do so?"

She looked up, her face blotched red and white with a combination of tears, agony, and fury. "Such arrogance! You think this was about you? You were nothing more than a convenient scapegoat, mortal. Long ago we had settled on Theo North as the means to demand a renascence—but when you thrust yourself in the way, we decided the two of you together would do just as well. You were both dispensable."

She spat with the last word. I jumped back, smiling at her. I'm sure she thought her words were cut ting, but I took immense pleasure in the fact that their wicked plans to use us had failed.

She collapsed in another wave of sobbing.

"Well, then." I wandered away, trying to get my bearings. Beyond the small raised area we inhabited, a faint path cut between the scrubby vegetation and boulders that littered the plain floor, a trail twisting through it to the plateau. The same cluster of rocks was in the center, the faint shapes of the Hashmallim visible in between sharp upthrusts of rock. "I guess it's time to get to know the neighbors. I trust you two will be fine on your own?"

"You'll never leave here either," Milo screamed at me, pulling himself onto his knees. "You'll never again see your Dark One. You have damned him to an eternity of hell, just as you have yourself."

"No," I said, touching my chest. "Theo is a part of me. He will always be here, inside me. Nothing can change that, not even banishment to the Akasha."

"Fool," Milo snarled, his face twisted with rage and hate. "He will forget you."

I shook my head as I started down the path. "You really should learn to have more faith. I've found it's worth the effort."

He raged after me, hurling invective, rocks, and bits of the scraggly black shrubs that dotted the landscape. I dodged all of them, feeling it preferable to spend the rest of my existence talking with the Hashmallim over indulging in Milo and Carol's company. The sooner I got used to them, the better for all of us.

The familiar sense of impossibility grew the closer I got to the Hashmallim, their flat, two-dimensional voids seemingly sucking in surrounding light. The air around us grew darker as I began the climb to the crown of the rock formation.

I took every ounce of strength I had to push myself up the path, but what else did I have to do with my time?

"Hello," I said, looking up into the terrifying black nothingness of the nearest Hashmallim. "I'm Portia Harding, and if you don't mind, I'm here to tell you about the man I love. His name is Theo, and he's a nephilim."

"Dark One is the preferred term. Nephilim cannot be members of the Court of Divine Blood, and as I am, in fact, a member, I must abandon my claim on that particular title."

My heart leaped at the familiar deep, softly Irish voice that rumbled around inside me until I felt it in my blood. The Hashmallim moved to reveal Theo standing with his arms opened wide.

I sobbed his name as I threw myself on him, merging myself body and soul with him. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"I know." He kissed me once, a kiss that spoke volumes, yet left me wanting so much more. "My sweet little virtue. Are you through being a martyr? Would you like to go home?"

"I can leave?" I clutched him even tighter, overjoyed to find the darkness inside of him was gone. "You've got your soul back. It worked?"

"Of course it worked. You are my Beloved," he said dryly. "Your selfless act completed the Joining, returning my soul. In addition, your brave—albeit foolish, and never again to be attempted without first receiving approval from me—act saved the Court. The mare have a few things to say about the method of your madness, but after a little pressure by the sovereign, they have rewarded your bravery by granting you full membership in the Court, as well as anticipating the exculpation you would present on my behalf."

"The sovereign?" I gazed into his eyes, basking in the glow of love and happiness that shone there. "The sovereign who never makes an appearance showed up?"