Vessel of Destruction (Daizlei Academy Book 4)

by Kel Carpenter

  I could stand here and argue. I could hurt her. I could try to kill her.

  But that wouldn’t bring them back, and it wouldn’t fix anything.

  I had to face the fact that my memories were pieced together by magic. Some might be real. Many were not. And that dreamland was perhaps the only place I might find the truth. That hurt.

  “You talk of the price of magic. This curse has been in play for a millennium . . .” I turned to the Crone. There was only one question left. It was the most important because her answer was not just life or death. It was everything. “What is it going to cost me to break it? What is the price, Livina?”

  The Crone sighed. Her lips pressed together, and she shook her head. She didn’t want to say it, and I knew. Deep down, I knew that Jo wasn’t wrong. That there was something more that the Crone had left out beyond the other part of my heritage. My legacy.

  “Three lives broke the balance when I brought Valda and Cirian back . . . and didn’t kill Atlanta. Three continued that day. It will take three deaths from Valda and Cirian’s line by your hand to right it.”

  I closed my eyes over the roaring. Waves. Waves were coming. They were pushing and pulling and threatening to drag me under.

  Three deaths.

  Alexandra. Lily. Me.

  Fate was a cruel, cruel thing.

  But I could not let this ocean drag me under. I could not let fate define me.

  I may be the Mother, but I refused be a monster.

  I would find a way to save them. To save us.

  Or I would die trying.

  Chapter 2

  I stumbled through the trees, my mind still twenty miles away. The training field was crowded but there was no clash of steel or lion’s roar. Only an unsettling hush that had fallen across the residence. A heavy tension was in the air that was more than just the shifting winds of a building storm. And there, at the center of it, I heard a voice.

  “She took my will from me. I’m telling you—” The sound of it made the carefully crafted control I had over myself begin to unravel. Just a little.

  I stepped forward, closing the space between myself and the crowd that still hadn’t noticed me. They were too busy focusing on him.

  “That Anastasia is dead.” The second voice was cold like the kiss of death—and angry. So angry.

  “Yes. I felt her influence leave. Look, you need to believe me—” The crack of lightning that cut him off was so large it filled the sky and thunder boomed. The ground itself shivered in response.

  “You knocked out your guards and attempted to run.” The voice of Blair’s demon was unyielding. Uncompromising. And above all—unforgiving.

  “Because she’s gone and as soon as she returns my days are numbered.” I had a good guess who the “she” in this equation was. “After what I did there is no way she would let me live. Not for all the information in the world. She is many things—but forgiving is not one of them.”

  “Is that so?” My voice carried across the training yard.

  A pause so deliciously filled with fear. No one, not the Shifters—not Lucas—not even Blair commented. Then as one, the body of the crowd turned and parted for me like the red sea—not because I moved them—but because they chose to.

  “Selena,” he whispered.

  And I stared—because it was all that I could do. A million thoughts ran through my mind, but I was completely sure that not a single one would slip through. My shields were impenetrable now—to all but Ash.

  I stared at him with my chin high and my hair whipping in the wind. My posture was straight and stiff and the presence of power saturated my skin. It filled my blood and bones and even the very breaths I took as I watched him.

  Yes, he was correct that I was not the forgiving type. But the man that kneeled at Blair’s feet was not the Lucas I remembered. He was not the boy who had been my friend. Nor was he the sneering figure that tried to kill Ash.

  He was a broken husk of the person he had been. A toy that Anastasia—Cirian—used then threw away.

  I could not forgive what he’d done no matter the version of him that did it, cruel as that might make me. Lily was turned and now held Cirian’s soul, largely because of the role he’d played. Ash would be dead if not for my gift. And me—I lost my best friend, who in many ways was my only friend—or so I thought.

  In losing him, I gained so much more. I found love, happiness, and a measure of peace—and even if I lost it all in this war, I still held it. I tasted what it would be like were there not a prophecy that demanded my life.

  No, despite the ocean of despair waiting to drag me under—despite the fury clawing at my chest, seeking some sort of reprieve from all the pain—despite the soul-crushing deed the ancients demanded of me—all I felt when I looked at him was pity.

  He was right that I still wanted to kill him, but I also knew deep down that I couldn’t do it. That Ash was right. Lucas may have broken something inside of me, but killing him wouldn’t fix it. The first step in not being a monster was killing out of necessity—not anger.

  “I wouldn’t hold it against you if you did,” Valda whispered.

  “But I would.”

  His eyes were black last time I looked at him. Now they were green. Bright, brilliant green that cracked and splintered under my steady gaze. He slowly lowered his eyes and then his face to the ground, as if giving up entirely.

  No, I couldn’t kill him.

  But he didn’t know that.

  “Hello, Lucas.”

  He flinched, backing away from Blair on his hands and knees. He hurried to get to his feet, and turned, running into Ash. It seemed that the less angry I acted, the more scared he was. Smart boy. He knew my tricks.

  “I want to go back to my cell now,” he hissed. Ash didn’t even spare him a glance. He watched me come forward between the rows of Shifters, hands in my pockets to keep from showing how tense I really was. Lucas moved to get away, but with Blair to his right and me approaching from behind him that didn’t leave much room to run. “I want to go back!” he yelled, stumbling and then falling. No one caught him.

  Not as his expensive suit that Anastasia had no doubt dressed him in splattered with mud. His knees hit the grass, and he curled inward on himself, hanging his head.

  Broken. He was truly broken.

  “If you’re so eager to go back, why were you trying to escape?” I mused the question aloud, even though I already knew the answer. “Where would you go?”

  Silence. He lifted his head, but his mouth was set in a firm line. The edges of misery and despondency lined his face like wrinkles.

  “I don’t know,” he said truthfully. I nodded.

  “Nowhere to go and thousands of Shifters to get through, assuming you got past Blair. Color me surprised, but that doesn’t sound like the choice of someone who wants to live.” I lifted an eyebrow, and maybe it was cruel to kick a man while he was down. Perhaps it was petty of me, but I didn’t care.

  “Maybe I don’t want to live.” He said the words so quietly, so hopelessly, that I had to work to hide my grimace. I hoped that Tori wasn’t somewhere in the crowd listening.

  “But you don’t want to die by my hand either?” He nodded once, almost imperceptibly—but I didn’t believe it. “You’re lying. You know how I know?” He looked at me again with very real terror.

  Oh yes, I’d figured him out. I’d pieced together moments that were Ash and moments that were him from my days at Daizlei. Lucas wasn’t nearly as good a liar.

  “I had the chance to kill you twice last night, and I didn’t. If I truly wanted you dead, you would be. We both know that, which leads me to think you waited to break out not because you’d rather they kill you—but because you knew I would stop them.” He didn’t dare let even a speck of hope shine through if he felt it. That’s good. It would make this easier. I won’t have to pretend. “You may not be able to live with the things you did, but you’re the only person alive that has any leads to my sister. So whether you
like it or not, you’re going to live, and you’re going to help me find her.”

  His mouth fell ajar, but it wasn’t him that spoke.

  “What do you mean he’s the only one alive?” Blair’s demon was an astute one. I’ll give her that. I’d been hoping to have this conversation with them in private, but hoping for things didn’t make them happen.

  I took a deep breath because as soon as the words came out there was no going back. The next Fortescue would have to move quickly to establish themselves before the paranormal world truly collapsed and all hell broke loose. Word of Anastasia’s death would reach every corner of the globe in less than a week. The following months would be a scramble for power as every species came out of the woodworks to challenge the Court for their unethical means of ruling. With no Fortescue holding power, the Supernatural Council would inevitably crumble and fall—leaving the world open for the taking.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let her death bring about an even darker age, one the world might not recover from.

  “I mean that for once in his life Lucas is telling the truth.” I paused and took a breath. “Anastasia Fortescue is dead. Murdered by the Vampires she’d formed an alliance with.”

  Gasps. Whispering. Muttered words of anarchy. Just as I’d predicted.

  People were simple that way. Paranormal or not, they all had the same motivations, triggers, and impulses.

  “Settle down,” Ash said, his voice projecting over the crowd. The Shifters brought themselves from a dull roar down to a true whispered hush, but they’d already flustered a demon that was sitting on the razor-thin edge of control and chaos.

  The winds blew uneasily. I glanced at Blair whose eyes were flickering between gray and black. Her demon wasn’t one to go quietly, but the shock of it threw her for a loop. I held my hand up for silence. Behind her Johanna slipped through the crowd, soundless as a wraith. She crept up on Blair from behind and raised her eyebrow. I shook my head slightly. Watching. Waiting. And then Blair’s eyes rolled back in her head. She clenched her fists and fat droplets of water fell from the sky. When she opened them, hail descended on us.

  I twisted my hand and mentally pulled her body to the ground, running at a breakneck speed to stop her. She thrashed, attempting to slash Lucas, only missing by a hairsbreadth as I crossed the remaining twenty feet and grabbed him by the jacket, throwing him behind me. Johanna was already moving to restrain her arms as I pulled the Kabar from my belt and brought the hilt down on the back of her head.

  She fell into Jo’s arms, limp and unmoving. I pinched the bridge of my nose and smoothed my hand down my face, letting out a heavy sigh. The sheer number of times I’d had to do that in the last week was disconcerting. If anything she was getting worse, not better.

  I bent over, holding out my arms, and Jo silently passed me the unconscious girl. Blair looked like she was sleeping, if you could overlook the fact that she was one of the lightest sleepers I knew. I clasped one arm around her back and the other under her knees. We had roughly two hours from now before she woke up, at which point only three of us could be in the same room or her demon would begin to feel cornered. One of us, likely me, would sit near her and the others would nonchalantly hang by the door. We had it down to a science, and I hated it. I hated what her demon put her through—put them both through—but I couldn’t change it.

  We all had to adapt.

  I leaned back with her in my arms, pointedly ignoring Lucas’s wide-eyed stare as Ash approached me. I knew the drill. Get her out of here while he dealt with the Shifters. We’d regroup after dinner once everyone had time to think.

  “Someone needs to deal with him. Do you have any shields on the property?” I asked in a hushed whisper. Half the people in a ten-meter radius would probably still hear it, but there was only so much you could do with Shifters. Their reflexes and hearing were better than anyone’s, apart from Vampires and demons.

  “No, we’ll have to improvise until we get something more official set up. Johanna can watch him for the next few hours while you handle her.” His eyes flicked downward toward Blair and back up to my face. I glanced over at Johanna.

  “Will you be safe from his ability?”

  She nodded. “I can handle the boy. Get Blair taken care of while Aaron handles the Shifters. We need to have a meeting this evening about what we’re going to do with him,” she jutted her chin toward Lucas. “And we need to discuss this business of Anastasia. I’m not surprised the Vampires killed her, but it is faster than we expected or planned for.”

  I nodded, only lingering for a moment as Ash leaned forward and brushed his lips across my cheek. Chaste, but I wasn’t one for public displays of affection.

  As I turned to leave and the crowd parted to let me pass, Lucas lurched to his feet.

  “You saved me.” He sounded lost, like a small child. Confused. He was trying to sort through what didn’t make sense even though he saw it with his own eyes.

  “I didn’t do it for you.” The walls slammed down over his expression. There was the hate he wanted. That made him feel safe. He knew where we stood when I hated him. It’s when I felt nothing that he panicked.

  I brushed him off and continued walking, feeling the tension of his stare on my back as he played it over and over in his mind, trying to decipher whether or not I was lying.

  I didn’t know the answer to that myself.

  Chapter 3

  A door slammed behind me as wood hit wood with a hollow thud. I was surprised I got the better of a day before the Heir to House Graeme came to me. Fortunately, she wasn’t the only one, and I’d only have to say it once.

  “What’s this I hear about Anastasia being dead?” Scarlett’s uniquely British and German accent mixed in an odd way when she was angry. Beside her, Liam sighed.

  “That’s what we’re here to find out, love.”

  Love? I cast a wary sideways glance, but common sense told me not to ask. What Liam and Scarlett did was not my business, certainly not when the latter wanted to rip me a new one. Yet another reason why the precarious place I’d found myself in wasn’t ideal.

  I waited for them to find a seat before dropping my hand away from the curtain where I was watching the training yard of the residence. Turning my back on the window, I faced the room with my hands clasped behind my back.

  “I’ll cut to the chase. As many of you have already heard, Anastasia is dead—”

  “How do you know this?” Scarlett interrupted. I wanted to roll my eyes, but that wouldn’t help the situation. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t possess the same means of getting information. Just like it wasn’t mine that Valda’s curse prevented me from telling the truth about what happened. About Cirian and who Lily would inevitably become.

  I pushed those thoughts from my mind, focusing on what I could say.

  “I watched my sister execute her.”

  Scarlett’s lips parted in surprise. She blinked, regaining her wits, and her jaw slammed shut.

  “The High Council doesn’t throw away pieces on a chess board without good reason,” Johanna said from her place on the end of the long couch. Her expression was troubled. “If Anastasia is truly dead, then there are much larger things at play here than I’d thought.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Her eyebrows were drawn in concentration as if she were looking at a puzzle but realizing there was a missing piece.

  “Do you know why they killed her?” Oliver asked. He had one arm thrown across the back of the couch behind Jo and one leg crossed over the other. Always the picture of utter perfection, no matter the circumstance. The Council had trained him well at never revealing his true intentions, but I noticed the way his eye strayed toward Blair every few minutes. He kept it in check, knowing she had a signasti and her demon would eviscerate him if he ever acted on it.

  “It should be obvious,” Alexandra answered before I could respond. “Selena pretended to be her and attempted, then failed, to kill Kamarov. We’d set i
t up so that Anastasia would come after her, but I guess the Vampires were more pissed than we thought they’d be . . .” Her voice trailed off as Jo started shaking her head.

  “They wouldn’t kill the Head of the Supernatural Council for that. Even if she had killed Kamarov, there has to be another reason. For them to want to get rid of her, she’d need to be—”

  “Without use,” I supplied. Johanna’s eyes slid sideways. Yes, she’d heard that phrase before.

  “Yes.”

  I looked away. How much do I say? Do I tell them about the darkness I see growing inside Lily? That she goaded Victor toward it, and he’s too blind to see? Would they want to save her if they knew that?

  I bit the inside of my cheek because I had to say something to at least point us in the right direction—even if it wasn’t the full truth. “Lily has noticed this growing fascination that Victor has with her,” I started slowly. “He mentioned that she was gifted to him from Anastasia as a wedding present.” I glanced at the ceiling, fighting the urge I had to vomit at the very idea of her being murdered and then enslaved as a gift. “But that his fiancé lied to him. They were getting married so that Anastasia had the numbers to secure her reign as a Queen instead of just the Head of Council. She wanted more power, and he wanted breeding stock that could give him babies.”

  “Anastasia was infertile,” Alec cut in. Every head turned to face him, all but one. Blair kept her icy demeanor about her. She watched the fire behind me and nothing else. I wondered if that was because staring at anything else might trigger her demon, or if she really just didn’t want to see the looks on their faces after her episode today.