I held his gaze. “I’m thankful for your help.”
He shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
Keeran looked up at me. “What’s the plan?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “I think I’m going to this mass grave.”
Keeran stood. “I’m going with you.”
“Me too,” Thomas said.
I glanced to the stairs and listened. From her slow, steady breathing and heartbeat, Thea was still sleeping. And Luana was still out. Until she came back, I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving Thea alone.
So, I went after her. I tracked Luana’s scent and later heard her rapid breathing as she ran through the woods. She sensed me approaching and stopped. In her wolf form, she turned to me.
“I’m going out with Keeran and Thomas,” I said. “Can you stay at the house with Thea until we come back?”
She nodded her head once, then ran toward the house. And I met Keeran and Thomas on the way. Keeran thought about trying teleporting again, but since he was out for days last time he did that, he used magic to increase his speed. Still, he wasn’t as fast as a vampire, and it took us hours to arrive at the mass grave Thomas had found.
In the dark, I could see the shapes of the trees and a small hill in a clearing. But once Keeran illuminated the place with a red flame on his palm, I could see the hill was moved dirt. This large mount was the mass grave.
And we were now about to dig it up to find Alex’s body.
Hell.
Keeran slapped his hands and the flame blinked out, then reappeared in several spots around the clearing, illuminating the mass grave. He stared at the dirt in front of us. “I can try to locate Alex’s body, but I’m not sure how it’ll go.”
Accordingly to Thea, Keeran was powerful, but he still lacked training. Most of the time, he didn’t know the spell he could perform. In the past few months, Thea had been trying to teach him all she could, but since she wasn’t able to show him anything other than telling him the theory, his training was lacking. Still, he often surprised us with his abilities.
“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to try,” I said, hopeful. That would save time and strength.
“By any chance, you don’t have anything from him?”
I thought for a minute, but I had never wanted anything Alex had, and I hadn’t taken anything from the castle when we fled. “No.”
“I can try go to the castle and search his chambers,” Thomas said.
“Didn’t you say you were having issues getting into the castle?” I asked. “Besides, would you be able to grab whatever you found?” I asked.
Thomas’s face fell. “Not for long.”
“Then I would have to sneak in there. That would take a long time.”
“Not to mention too risky,” Keeran said. “It’s unlikely you can sneak in a half-destroyed castle full of witches and werewolves. Besides, who says this Alex’s chambers are intact? Maybe a witch moved in and his things were gone.”
Hell. “Then you just try the spell however you can perform it. If you find him or not, we begin digging soon.”
As expected, the spell didn’t work. Under closed eyes and gritted teeth, Keeran searched and searched. There were moments when he thought he was nearing Alex’s body, but then the energy snapped and he lost it again.
Meanwhile, we were wasting time.
Before Keeran gave up on the spell, I was already digging.
Two hours later, I was chest deep in turned dirt and lost limbs. The dirt and the dead didn’t bother me much when compared to the smell. With my enhanced senses, the rotten smell of decomposing flesh revolved my stomach every two seconds.
Keeran joined me, and he had to run away from the site twice to throw up. I guessed he wasn’t used to seeing so many bodies—and touching them.
Meanwhile, Thomas hovered over the site, trying to get glimpses of the bodies emerging from the ground in case we missed something.
Every corpse I found, I pulled out, so I could make sure it wasn’t who I was looking for. Most of the bodies here had already started decomposing, and the faces were deformed or half-missing. I hoped I could recognize Alex.
I lost count when I moved fifty bodies and nothing. We kept going, but the hope that we would find Alex here was slowly fading.
Sighing, I stepped back—and tripped on a corpse. I bent down to pull the body out of my way. The back was turned to me, and all I could see was blood and dirt over the messy, brown hair and the white shirt. The moment I grabbed the shoulders, I knew. My eyes widened, and I suddenly could make out his mangled body—his hair, his wide shoulder.
“Here,” I shouted as I jumped out of the hole, with the body in my arms. I laid the body on the ground and turned it around.
I sucked in a sharp breath. It was Alex all right, but he had hundreds of open, festered wounds, and dirt in his mouth. I closed my eyes for a moment, disgusted by this scene. One thing was to touch and move the body of a person I didn’t know. Not that it was all right, but it was easier. Even though I hadn’t liked him and we didn’t get along, I hadn’t wished such a terrible fate for him. Yes, I had killed the vampire, but if I had a choice, he would have received a proper burial.
Like every dead person here. I didn’t care if they were my enemies and had tried to kill me. No one deserved to be thrown in a ditch and left to rot.
If I ever regained control of DuMoir Castle, I would arrange for a proper burial for all the dead in here. That was a promise.
“Where’s the amulet?” Thomas asked and my mind returned to the task at hand.
I knelt beside the body and opened his ripped shirt. And there it was. Lord Reynard’s thick, silver cross, lying on his chest as if it had been waiting for me.
I reached out, wrapped my fingers around it, tugged … and it didn’t come off. I tugged again, with more force, but the necklace and the pendant didn’t move half an inch.
“What the hell?” I asked, trying it again.
“What’s happening?” Thomas asked. “Why can’t you take it?”
Keeran knelt on the other side of the body. “Remember what Lord Reynard said. To retrieve the amulet, you’ll have to make a great sacrifice.”
My inside went cold. “Yes. He said I would have to reveal a truth.” At the moment, when Lord Reynard had told me that, I hadn’t connected the dots. I thought the truth would be to apologize to Alex’s dead body for having killed him. Something like that.
But now that we were here and the necklace wasn’t moving, I realized what I had to do. What I had to say.
I looked at Thomas.
“What is it?” he asked. So innocent. So lost. And it was all because of me.
I opened my mouth, but the words caught in my dry throat.
“Drake?” Keeran asked. “What’s the problem?”
I didn’t take my eyes from the boy I had raised. He had to know the truth. He had to hear it from me. Not only because revealing this sad truth would give me the Blood Amulet, but because he needed it to be set free. He needed to hear it to find peace.
I stuffed my chest and blurted it out, “I was the one who killed your parents.”
Thomas’s eyes bulged. “But … but you saved me.”
I shook my head. “It was one of the few times I was lost in bloodlust. I couldn’t control myself. I had no idea what I was doing. Until you hugged my leg. You were so little for an eight-year-old boy, and you were so scared. You hadn’t even seen what I had done to your parents. But the moment you laid your little hands on my leg, I woke up from the daze. I can’t even begin to explain how shameful and guilty I felt.” He would never know how it hurt me. In the beginning, I could barely look at him without hurting. “But I knew what I could do to try to find forgiveness. I snatched you before Prince Dorian and Albert could find you and made you my blood slave. Though, I never considered you that. To me, you were always my little brother.”
Thomas just stared at me, frozen in the air.
“Thomas?” Keeran asked, voic
e low. “Are you okay?”
Thomas’s brows slammed down. “Okay? Am I okay? I just found out I was raised by the monster who killed my parents.” He gasped. “The monster who got me killed.”
I stood. “Thomas, that’s not—”
“Shut up!” he shouted. “I hate you. No, hate isn’t a strong enough word for what I’m feeling right now.” He clenched his fists. “I never want to see you again, in this life or the next.”
Just like that, Thomas disappeared.
I stared at the spot where he had stood for some time, but that wouldn’t bring him back. He had vanished from sight, but now that he knew the truth behind his parents’ death, he would be able to move on to the next world.
A long breath escaped through my gritted teeth and I knelt down beside Alex’s body.
“I’m sorry,” Keeran said.
“Not more than I am,” I whispered.
“What are you gonna do now?”
What was I going to do about Thomas? I had no idea. As far as I knew, he was already gone from this world. Besides feeling incredibly sad about losing him forever, and the festering guilt and shame that would certainly never leave me, I was relieved to have finally told him the truth.
I hoped he really found peace now.
Miserable, I reached for the necklace, and this time when I closed my hand around and pulled, it came easily. “I’m gonna take this home and get ready for a war.”
16
Thea
I felt a deep tug inside my chest a few seconds before Drake walked into our bedroom. I stared at him for a moment, a little stunned at seeing him covered in dark blood and dirt. But more than that, what alarmed me was his drooped shoulders and the bleakness in his green eyes.
I stood from the armchair I had been reading in and approached him. “What happened?”
He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t ask again. Instead, I embraced him and held him tight. He pressed his face to my neck and inhaled deeply. If I wasn’t so weak, I would have offered him some of my blood. That was sure to cheer him up.
I didn’t know how long we stayed there, embracing each other as if it was the end of the world, but suddenly Drake finally said, “I told Thomas that I killed his parents.”
I held him ever tighter. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” he whispered.
He then told me what happened in the last few hours they had been gone. I was glad he had found the Blood Amulet, but my heart ached for him now that Thomas had left.
“Come on,” I said, sliding my hand into his. “I’ll prepare a bath for you.”
I wished I could have comforted him in another way, but making love was off limits nowadays. Instead, I prepared him a nice, warm bath, and massaged the tension from his shoulders and back.
It was the middle of the night, when we usually stayed up, but this time, Drake went back to bed with me, where he held me tight until we fell asleep.
I looked out the window to the full moon rising on the horizon.
“It’s time,” I said, taking my jacket from the armchair in the corner of the bedroom.
Drake helped me with my jacket. “Are you sure you’re okay to go? We can postpone it. No, I can go and you stay.”
Since coming back with the amulet three days ago, and losing Thomas, Drake had been unusually quiet and even more protective than before. If it depended on him, I would never leave our bed, let alone our bedroom.
I cupped his face. “I’m fine.” It was the truth. Since learning about the pregnancy, I had been weaker and weaker. I didn’t think I had ever felt as energetic and healthy as before getting pregnant, but there were a few occasions when I felt well enough to go down to the kitchen and have a meal with the others. Or sit in the living room and read a book. Besides, I had prepared for this moment, by conserving my energy and eating right and drinking lots of Bagatha’s tonic. However, as it went, my well phases never lasted long, so the sooner we left, the faster we would get there before I started feeling too weak again. “I’m ready.”
He turned his face toward my hand and placed a soft kiss on my palm. “I love you.”
A smile turned my lips up. “To what do I owe this declaration?”
“Nothing. Everything. I just wanted you to know. I love you.”
I rose to my tiptoes. “I love you too.” I pressed my lips to his, wishing he could really feel my love through my gentle kiss.
Drake’s body tensed. His arms wound around my waist, and I sensed the battle in him—the battle for control. The same battle he had been fighting the last couple of months. It hurt me that I couldn’t help much with it.
I broke the kiss before it deepened too much, and I lost all the little strength I still had to other things. A great way, but not one I should engage in right now.
Drake rested his forehead on mine and inhaled deeply. “Let’s go.”
We found Luana and Keeran in the living room, waiting for us. Luana with her leather pants and tunic and braided hair, Keeran in his black clothes and long leather jacket—both looked ready for battle.
Luana held up a small thermal bottle. “I’ve got more tonic here, just in case.”
“Good thinking,” Drake said. “Ready?”
The three of us said yes, and a minute later, we marched outside.
Luana glanced up at the full moon. “Um. There are some clouds approaching. I might have to stick to the shadows of the trees, otherwise I won’t be able to control my shapeshifting.”
She then turned around, took off her clothes, and transformed into her wolf self. Keeran picked up her clothes, folded them, and put them inside a small pouch hanging from his waist.
Luana let out a short howl, indicating she was ready. Together, we trekked to the Undying Well. It was far from the house, so to help out, Keeran put a spell on the both of us to increase our speed. We wouldn’t match a vampire and a werewolf, but at least this way we were faster than humans—and I was less tired.
Halfway to the agreed meeting place, Luana slowed down and stopped. We halted beside her as she transformed back into her human body. Avoiding looking at her, Keeran took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.
“I smell it too,” Drake said.
I glanced around. “What?”
“Blood,” Luana said. She held Keeran’s jacket tight around her body.
“Where?” Keeran asked.
“This way.” Like a cat on the hunt, Drake moved with silent and fast precision. In the blink of an eye, he was leaning over a bush twenty feet away. He let out a deep growl.
We rushed to his side and stared to whatever had ticked him.
My blood chilled.
Weeping, she was crouched beside the trunk of an arching tree, with her dress in rags, and bloody wounds on her legs and hands.
“Ebby,” I whispered, not believing the sight in front of me.
“Help,” she croaked.
“I’ll show you,” Drake muttered before advancing on her. I put out my arm just in time and stopped him. “She betrayed you. She deserves to die.”
Nobody deserved to die, but Ebby came pretty close. I might be able to convince Drake to not kill her, to leave her, but first, I wanted to know what was going on.
I rested my hand on Drake’s chest. “Give me a moment with her,” I whispered before kneeling beside her. “What happened?”
Ebby’s crying intensified, but she wiped her tears, smearing blood from her hands on her cheeks. “Princess Morda. She tried to kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because I failed her again.” She sniffed. “I had the opportunity to kill you and lost you. She said she wouldn’t tolerate any more mistakes.”
I frowned. “How are you alive?”
She stared at me, confused. “What?”
“If Morda wanted to kill you, she would have. How are you alive?”
“Your servant escaped an entire mansion full of witches, why can’t I?” she snapped, gesturing to Keeran.
“Because I helped him escape,” I said. Her eyes bugged. “Besides, Keeran is stronger than you are.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Okay, I confess, it wasn’t like that. Like you said, I’m weak.” A new tear rolled down her cheek. “Princess Morda called a few witches to her new throne room, me included. At first, I thought it was to assign us a new mission, but when we got there, we learned we would be publicly executed to show the other witches, and the werewolves living in the castle, what happened to people who failed her orders.” Her jaw trembled. “She tied us down and started performing the Bloodbone Ritual on us, one by one. Polina was beside me and she panicked. Like your pet had done, Polina used her magic to break free and try to escape. Then chaos ensued. Many other witches got free and fought back. I did too.” She held her head high. “In that moment, Princess Morda lost control of the castle and I used that chance to escape.”
I pressed my lips together. Publicly killing the witches who had failed her? It did sound like something Morda would do. However, I still found it hard to believe Ebby had escaped.
“Where are the other witches who escaped?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t pay attention to anything other than running and fleeing.” She shrugged. “Maybe they were caught? Maybe a few made it out and are hiding, like me? I don’t know!” A sob shook her body.
I glanced to Drake, Luana, and Keeran.
“You can’t possibly believe her,” Drake said, his eyes hard.
“I’ll never believe her again, not completely at least.” I stood. “But I can’t just leave her here like this.”
Drake’s jaw ticked. “I love that you’re caring and want to help everyone, but some people simply don’t deserve your help. And this girl is one of them.”
“I understand, but I still can’t leave her here.”
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