“Are we in heaven?” I asked.
Again, there was a flash of something that looked like a stone wall on the other side of this heavenly scene.
The Devil shook his head. “No. This isn’t an afterworld.” He frowned. “Something is different.”
“Afterworld? Like the afterlife?” Fear chilled me. “We aren’t dead, right?”
This place was gorgeous, but I didn’t want to stay here alone forever with the Devil—no matter how sexy he was—and a crazed sorceress named Mariketta.
“We are not dead.” His gaze met mine, calming. “You can feel your heartbeat, can you not?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.”
The woman turned to us, her dark hair and white dress blowing in the wind. The gown was simple and loose, the perfect beach dress for a goddess on vacation. Mariketta was no goddess—to my knowledge, at least—but she looked like one.
She was impossibly beautiful as she strolled toward us. “More visitors?”
Her voice rang like birdsong, and laughter followed it.
Childlike laughter.
I frowned. That wasn’t Mariketta.
I looked behind her and saw a child splashing in the sea.
The daughter she’d saved, and then avenged.
I looked back to her and slowly approached, the Devil a pace behind me. He’d made a point to charge into danger first, and I wondered if he were playing it safe now to avoid frightening Mariketta.
Hearing what she’d done to that town in France made me think she didn’t need coddling, however.
Behind her, I once again saw the flicker of stone wall.
“I am Carrow Burton.” I gestured to my companion. “And this is the Devil of Darkvale.”
Mariketta leaned against one of the white pillars. “How kind of you to pay me a visit. It gets rather dull here, despite its beauty.”
“What is this place?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“The Sorcerers’ Guild tower, of course. There are reasons we never let anyone inside unescorted.”
“But you’re telling us about it?” Worry pricked.
She shrugged and laughed. “Who will you tell?”
“My friends?”
“If you make it out of here.”
Aaand there it was. My senses had already been on high alert, but now they were laser focused. “Are you not dead, then?”
She laughed, a lovely sound despite the slight aura of dark magic that surrounded her. I didn’t get the impression that she was explicitly evil. Not even close, really. But she would do what it took to get what she wanted, and her magic made that clear.
“Oh, I’m quite dead. But sorcerers do things on their own schedule. If we choose, we can each have an enchanted room in the guild tower until we want to cross over.”
“Why have you not crossed over?” Did it have something to do with the tragedy we were trying to prevent? Could she help us?
Mariketta gestured to the child playing in the surf. “She is not yet ready.” She shrugged. “And this is a lovely place to spend time.”