Arabella watched the wicked expression on Noah's face, as if he was triumphant despite the look on his face that seemed hurt at the same time. His laughter cracked through the silence, low at first, then building into something unhinged. "This… this is fitting. This is justice. A snake slain, her venom rotting in her throat."
Arabella tightened her hold on Cassius's arm, her expression paling. She had seen Noah's fury before, his grief, his sorrow, but never this elation. Never this madness.
"Noah," Arabella called softly this time, her tone more like one soothing a wounded animal than a warrior still standing in battle. "It's over. Alice is gone."
Noah lifted his eyes to hers, a strange, purring smile curling his lips. "I know," he murmured. Then, tilting his head toward the serpent's dying gaze, he added almost tenderly, "But she won't truly die. I've made sure of that. She will linger, alive in death, condemned to suffer as nothing more than a bodiless husk."
