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Back Black Magic Sanction Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Title Page
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-one
  23. Twenty-two
  24. Twenty-three
  25. Twenty-four
  26. Twenty-five
  27. Twenty-six
  28. Twenty-seven
  29. Twenty-eight
  30. Twenty-nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-one
  33. Thirty-two
  34. Thirty-three
  35. Thirty-four
  36. Thirty-five
  37. Thirty-six
  38. Acknowledgements
  39. Also by Kim Harrison
  40. Copyright
  41. About the Publisher
  42. Cover

“No,” she said firmly. “I want you to stay when I go. Break tradition again, my love, and burn me alone in the home we built. I don’t want you with me. You aren’t done. You see too far ahead. You need to make the world in your thoughts a real one that our children can fly in.”

“Take the charm, Mattie,” Jenks said roughly, “and we’ll see the future together.”

“I’d rather hear it from you,” she whispered, and my throat tightened as the tears slipped down. “I want to watch your eyes light up when you tell me. I’ll wait for you under the bluebells. I’ll be there always.”

“Mattie?” Jenks cried, pulling her closer as he sensed her slipping away. “I don’t want to be without you. I need you!”

Matalina’s eyes opened wide, but I wasn’t sure she was seeing him anymore. “Not as much as you … think,” she said carefully. “Look what you’ve done. I’m going to die happy. All my children will survive. What mother can say that on her last breath? Thank you, Jenks. Sing to me? I’m so tired.” Her eyes closed as she struggled to take a last breath, not to continue her life, but to breathe her last words. “I love you.”

“Please, Mattie!” Jenks cried, desperate. “We can do this together. We can do anything together! Please …”

But she was gone, and he was alone though he held his wife, rocking her as he cried.

Twenty-two

Twenty-two

I could do nothing, helpless as I looked down on them. Jenks … My tears hit the ground beside him, and I struggled to do something—anything—but I was useless. I was too damn big. “Jenks?” I whispered, my hands corralling him.

He blinked, the green of his eyes going deep into me. “She’s not here …,” he warbled, as if in shock.

I was too big. I couldn’t hug him. I couldn’t tell him it was okay by holding him until he found himself. “Ivy!” I shouted, then dropped to my elbows, trying to get closer. Matalina’s face was streaked with blood and a silver dust, making her look like a weary angel. “Jenks, I’m sorry,” I whispered, my throat too tight for more. God, I’m so sorry.

His eyes were wide, and the tears still spilled from him, turning to glittering sparkles as they dried. A smear of blood was on his cheek where Matalina had touched him last. “She went to guard the back door,” he said as if dazed. “They must have been holding back,” he said, and my chest clenched. “I should have sung her to sleep. She was so tired, and she wanted me to sing.” Bewildered, he looked at me, his wings unmoving. “I’m alone,” he said as if in wonder. “I promised to stay with her forever. And here I am. Alone. And she’s gone.”