Liam blinked from his position on the floor, his vision still rattled, just in time to catch sight of the pretty blond secretary steadying herself on her heels. She’d produced a snub-nosed pistol and pointed it now, shakily, at Kreutzer and Pitr, back and forth.

“You’ve done enough. To Germany, to her people, to all of us. I can’t stand for it. I won’t stand for it any longer.”

Kreutzer struggled to keep himself from breaking into a laugh.

“I—I will be strong against the tide of hate,” she stammered. “We must—resist—”

The chamber door shattered in an explosion of wood splinters. The beasts were here.

They poured forth like a poisonous gas, filling the chamber. Joints creaking back the wrong way, skinless muscles bunching, wounds seeping and oozing. The pack leader crouched and sprang—and before she could summon a scream, they descended on her.

In seconds, she was nothing but shreds of flesh.

“Sweet, stupid Ilse.” Kreutzer clucked his tongue. “Far too little, my dear. You’re far too late.”

The beasts circled Kreutzer, teeth snapping, but Pitr held them back with an upturned hand. An eyeless rust-colored snout snuffled at Liam’s torso, his neck and throat.

Liam slowed his breathing and savored his own fear. He welcomed it. It would fuel him. Biting down on his tongue to add to his pain, he reached out to unleash the rest of his stored energy—

But there was nothing left.

“I told you you didn’t want it enough,” Pitr said. “You strive and strive. But you’ll never be willing to do what it takes to seize true control.”

A thousand eyeless faces pressed in, their razor teeth dripping with fresh blood.

Liam flinched as their hot, decaying breaths raked across his skin. Maybe Pitr was right. Maybe he couldn’t seize complete control over the entire shadow realm.

But maybe he could do whatever it took to close the rift for good.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

SIMONE

Wewelsburg Castle was a crypt, and it was quickly suffocating them.

“This way,” Phillip called. The electric lights dotting the corridor flickered once to reveal a partially collapsed doorway, then fell dark again. “The antennae were up here.”

“The electricity’s barely working. How will we power a signal?” Simone’s heart was beating furiously, a trapped bird trying to take flight. Evangeline was waiting, just out of reach, past the shadow-touched soldiers and monsters and whispers. Evangeline had promised to find them a way out—she could summon the full force of her Resistance network—if they could just hold out—

Another flicker of electricity, enough to remind Simone of the concrete walls squeezing in around them. Her breath hitched as she reached out to steady herself. She imagined a wall of bones, crowned with countless eyeless skulls staring down at her, laughing, soaking up all her secrets to throw back in her face.