Anka pushed Daisy onto her back and laughed. “Now I’m going to destroy you.”

Daisy tried to push Anka’s face away from her, but when her hand touched Anka’s cheek, Anka screamed, as her skin sizzled and burned. Daisy was as surprised as she was. Anka rolled off her, and there was a deeply burned handprint on her face.

“Drasas! Drasas!”

Anka stumbled to her feet.

Asha hurried over. “Madam, are you all right?”

“Don’t worry about me—bring Drasas’s body. Now.”

Byron recovered and was by Daisy’s side in a millisecond. “What happened?”

Daisy looked at her hand in astonishment. There wasn’t a mark on it. “I really don’t know.”

Amelia reached them. “Byron, Daisy—are you okay?”

“Yes, we’re safe.”

“She closed the portal out of spite. I wanted to go find Torija,” Daisy cried.

“Daisy, come with me,” Amelia said as she marched to the middle of the circle.

“Amelia, what are you doing?” Byron shouted.

“Just trust me. Daisy, let’s hold hands and close our eyes. Can you feel it?”

“Yes.” Daisy experienced an incredible force travelling the circuit between their two arms. The more she concentrated, the faster the power raced around the circuit of their arms. The wind started to whip around them. “Amelia, what’s happening?”

“Just keep concentrating.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Torija stepped on an island between the cliff edge and the abyss below. Lots and lots of spirits were waiting for her. She recognized some of the faces. “It’s them.”

“Yes,” Angele said, “the souls you killed or had killed. You must face them if you want to seek their forgiveness.”

“How can I be forgiven?”

“It depends on the sincerity of your apology and the grace of those to whom your apology is directed.”

Torija looked up and saw her grandmother, the Grand Duchess, walking with the aid of her stick.

She immediately dropped to her knees. “Grandmother, I don’t know how to say—”

“You don’t have to say, little Victorija. We neglected one of our own. Byron’s father and I should have come and helped you and your mother, but we were ignorant of what you were going through. But Angele showed me everything, as well as your very own Brassard.”

Daisy. Torija’s heart ached.

“Come talk to us all, and tell us what’s in your heart.”

Torija was frightened. She was never frightened of anything, apart from her father.

“Come, my dear,” Lucia said.

Torija thought of Daisy and her courage in handing herself over to the Dred vampires, just so she could try to redeem her. The thought made her move forward. As she stood on the island of rock, she followed her instincts and bowed down on one knee.

The spirits encircled her, just as in her nightmares, but this time she didn’t scream.

The spirits spoke as one voice. “You wished to speak.”