Dark Side of the Moon (The Lost Royals Saga Book 2)

by Rachel Jonas

  I landed a kiss on her chin this time before standing to grab a few things from her room. “You got it.”

  As I stepped away, she held on to my hand until she had to let go.

  “Wait,” she breathed.

  “Something wrong?”

  Her long, dark hair fell over her shoulder when she shook her head. “No, but … can you send Elise back in before you go?”

  Working the soft flesh of her bottom lip between her teeth, she peered up at me, blinking. As one who sometimes wore her emotions on the outside, it wasn’t lost on me that she was softening toward Elise. Asking her to sit with her was a show of vulnerability—a huge step. Like any girl who’d just had a bad night, she wanted her mom. That was a good sign.

  “Sure thing.”

  This time, I reached the door before she stopped me with another softly spoken, “Wait.”

  I turned, smiling. “Yeah?”

  Her lips parted with a grin. “No special requests this time. Just didn’t want you to leave without saying…” She hesitated and I noted how her cheeks reddened as she breathed the rest of her statement. “I love you.”

  One clumsy syllable followed by another, the words finally tumbled out. She was new to this, owning her feelings, and it showed. I was pretty sure she’d never spoken that phrase to anyone who wasn’t family. Until lately.

  Until she said them to me.

  Being transparent like this made her shy, but she didn’t have to be. Not when I was insanely crazy for her. Not when I’d never heard anything sweeter.

  Without hesitation, I said it back.

  I loved her.

  Since the beginning, lightyears beyond forever.

  I loved her.

  —Chapter Twenty-Seven—

  Liam

  The moron actually asked for me.

  As bad as I wanted him dead … he thought it’d be smart to request a one-on-one, just the two of us. The call came through to the walkie from Dallas right after retrieving Evangeline’s clothes and delivering them to Elise’s quarters. I volunteered to make myself scarce for the night to give Evangeline space. She needed time with her mother after the day she had. No, Elise and I weren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye at the moment, but that was between us, completely separate from her relationship with her daughter.

  It didn’t hurt that it made slipping out easier, without there being a need to explain where I was headed.

  I smiled the whole way down to the cells and it grew when Dallas met me at the door, discretely handing over a key. He was the only one on guard and, with a vague nod, I knew he planned to give Nick and I all the privacy we needed. In other words, he’d go far enough away where he wouldn’t hear the screams. Far enough away that he’d have full deniability if Elise should find out. It crossed my mind that, maybe, Dallas’ thinking aligned with mine.

  That maybe he, too, believed Nick ought to be dealt with now, while we were still able to do something about the threat he posed.

  But then I remembered Elise’s admission. If Dallas had known her life depended on Nick taking his next breath, he would’ve thought better of handing me this key. I’d behave myself for all parties involved. For now, until we figured something out, I’d have to leave him in one piece.

  My steps echoed against cinderblock walls and cemented floors as I walked the narrow passage lined with empty cells. To my knowledge, no one else had been stupid enough to get themselves locked in one of these things.

  No one but good ol’ Nick.

  I stopped when I got to him, staring at the blood-stained shirt he hadn’t been allowed to change out of. Our eyes locked from his seat on the edge of a small bed.

  I couldn’t help but to laugh. A bed that small would never fit someone his size. The Council must’ve purchased them as a joke, or maybe that was part of the punishment for being dumb enough to get locked in one of these cages.

  He stared, but said nothing.

  My eyes flickered toward the large clock on the wall. “Something you wanted to say to me? A reason you brought me down here?”

  The bed groaned when he relieved it of his weight. He stood there, glaring with a sinister grin. Reaching the bars, he finally spoke. However, I didn’t expect these particular words to leave his mouth.

  “Does the name Carmine LiCausi mean anything to you?”

  White-hot blood surged through my veins just hearing it. My fists and teeth clenched at the same time. Of all the people I’d cut down over the centuries, many with impressive titles and armies at their disposal, and yet … their names washed away from memory within the day.

  But Carmine LiCausi, his was one I’d never forget.

  I guessed the pup was trying to rattle me, so I decided not to let him.

  “I see you’ve done a little research on your predecessor.” I stepped closer. “Or are you studying his hunting techniques because … well, let’s face it; if you can’t beat em’, you may as well join em’, right?”

  When I laughed, a growl rumbled from the other side of the bars.

  “Not exactly,” he sneered.

  If the only reason he’d asked for me was to try getting inside my head, I wouldn’t give him the chance.

  “We’re done here.”

  I turned to leave, remembering I could’ve done anything I wanted to him right then. However, when I changed my mind and decided to leave well enough alone, it was because of Elise, and a certain wide-eyed girl with my heart in her hands. She would’ve wanted me to walk away.

  Like I was doing now.

  “You slaughtered him,” Nick called out, speaking the words to my back. “In an alley. In cold blood,” he added.

  I faced him again, wondering where he’d gotten all this detailed information.

  “And before you took his life, you took the life of the woman he loved. Her name was Opal, and she was innocent,” he scoffed. “But you didn’t care. Your only concern was to make him hurt like he made you hurt.”

  I said nothing. I couldn’t. It took everything in me to focus my thoughts on something other than wanting to feel his heart beat its last beat in the palm of my hand.

  “He spent most of his life on the run because of you,” Nick explained. “Chasing phantoms, chasing some stupid … rings,” he added. “Which I’m sure didn’t even exist. And it was all because he hoped to change your mind. All because he hoped time had changed you like it had changed him.”

  When I rushed to the bars, my hands burned as my dragon threatened to burst free.

  “Time didn’t change him,” I corrected. “He stopped killing because he’d already done what he came to do. He’d already taken her life,” I seethed. “He’d already ripped her limb from limb, leaving me to find … pieces … of her scattered on the ground like she was an animal!” It was graphic and difficult to say, but he needed to fully understand.

  Smoke rolled off my body as I fought to keep my dragon in submission.

  “He tore her apart like she was some empty, unloved … thing,” I spat, “but she was everything to me!”

  Particles from the cinderblocks rolled to the ground in small plumes of dust when my voice shook them free.

  “Well, I guess you’ve never been big on redemption,” Nick went on. “Which explains why you’ve been ready to take my head off since you first laid eyes on me and realized what I was.”

  I said nothing because the more I spoke, the angrier I became, listening to him justify that creature’s actions. Maybe he wasn’t getting it. Maybe seeing Evangeline alive and well present day made it hard for him to fathom her being dead and gone for centuries; made it hard to fathom what it was like for me to miss out on all those years we should’ve had together. But even considering these things, it was unfathomable to me that he’d talk this way, considering how he felt about Evangeline once. Even if what existed between them was a thing of the past now. Still, it sounded like, tonight, he sympathized with the first Liberator above all others.

  He stared a moment before smirking. “You
know … It’s kind of ironic that you’re the key to me overcoming this curse.”

  The off-beat threat made my brow tense, but that was when I noticed it, the small object he gripped in his hand—a smooth, dark stone, pulsating red like a beacon.

  At the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, I didn’t move, noting the stench of witches almost right away. Not all carried the scent, but those who dealt in dark magic eventually took on the aroma of death.

  And I smelled it loud and clear.

  “Please tell me you weren’t that stupid,” I breathed.

  Nick’s shoulders squared. “I’m doing what I have to do.”

  Doing what he has to do…

  Without turning, I knew he’d summoned the Seaton Falls witches. To do what, I wasn’t sure yet, but one thing was for sure, if they were here, things were about to go from bad to worse.

  “What’s your plan?”

  At my question, Nick shrugged and I read his posture. He was relaxed, or maybe satisfied was a better word.

  “I’m just trying to fix this,” was his answer. “Trying to fix me.”

  It became abundantly clear that this—getting me down here—was a setup. One that would, inevitably, end badly for me.

  “You know she’ll never forgive you, right?” I said, trying to reason with him, knowing his soft spot for Evangeline, assuming some small trace of it remained.

  It was true, if he carried out whatever his plan was, she’d never let it go. Even if her physical self didn’t fully feel our connection, her dragon did and would stop at nothing to avenge me. There was a good chance her true nature would send her down a path similar to that which I’d traveled myself. If that happened, with her not having the support of family, I couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t be a thousand times worse.

  To my surprise, my rationale seemed to fall on deaf ears. Like he’d already made peace with the repercussions this plan would have.

  “This is about the bigger picture,” he explained. “If I don’t turn things around now, you and I both know it won’t end well for Evie anyway.”

  My eyes narrowed as I stared at him, practically smelling the naivety oozing from his pores.

  “Is that what this is about? They convinced you they can change what you are?” I nearly laughed in his face. “And what? All they asked in return was that you deliver me to them?”

  Kid hadn’t lived long enough to learn to be careful which witches he trusted. They’re self-serving by nature. Giving them the upper hand without actual leverage was never a good look. Once I was dead, then what?

  “Ignore the dragon, Nicholas. He’ll say anything to spare his life,” came a small voice.

  I turned, not surprised to be staring into the face of Scarlet. An eye patch marked the punishment the Elder had rained down on her for her insubordination months ago. I could only imagine tonight was yet another example of her disloyalty to the clan that ensured her immortality. And seeing as how I was sure she wouldn’t risk this secret visit becoming known to the Elders, I was also sure they didn’t intend for me or Nick to walk away from this ordeal alive.

  Only, he was too stupid to see that.

  Keeping my eyes trained on the three who’d just joined the party, I addressed Nick in his cell behind me. “Tell me, dickhead. Who convinced you calling on the devil’s handmaids was the answer?”

  When he didn’t respond right away, I glanced over my shoulder, taking note of his somber expression. “Remember that name I mentioned earlier?” he asked.

  I faced him now, but said nothing.

  “Well, as luck would have it, this curse isn’t exactly random.” I listened harder as he explained. “Apparently, it’s in our blood. Mine … my grandfather’s.”

  The room seemed to tilt on its axis when he finished speaking. “Carmine LiCausi was your grandfather?”

  Nick’s nostrils flared as he breathed deep. “Was. Excellent choice of words, seeing as how you made sure he’d only ever be spoken of in past tense.”

  The smoke surrounding me thickened as the beast within fought for freedom, fought to be let loose to reap carnage on every soul in this room.

  “You have no idea what you’ve done,” were the last words I spoke before the feel of my head being squeezed in a vice brought me to my knees.

  “Finally,” Scarlet sighed, stepping past me. “I didn’t think he’d ever shut up.”

  She went to Nick with that same sick, wicked smile that was always set on her mouth.

  Through the pain, I managed to grunt a warning I wasn’t sure he’d heed, one I was almost positive the witches wouldn’t.

  “Call this off, Nick. They’re acting against the Elders. When they find out what’s happened, when they find out what you’ve done … you’ll be cut down right with them. No questions asked.”

  Being ‘special’ in their eyes, being the Liberator, wouldn’t save him from the wrath of the Elders. Defying them would result in a show of power that warned others never to go against them, the Council.

  I didn’t care what happened to Nick, but I did care how his death would affect those that I loved. If I didn’t, I would’ve taken him out within seconds of Dallas leaving us alone.

  “Give it a rest already.” Scarlet lifted her eyes to the ceiling while clenching her hand into a tight fist. And when she did, I felt that fist inside my gut, squeezing, twisting.

  I yelled out again as blood seeped from my mouth and nose.

  With the others flanking her right and left, she stepped closer, leaning in to speak. “You know, you’re not so scary,” she smiled. “When I was inside your head the day Baz brought us along to unearth all your secrets, I saw nothing but blood and death surrounding you—fear, dread.” Her head tilted as she stared. “You caused your fair share of suffering.”

  My misdeeds were never far from thought. I couldn’t take back the things I’d done, nor did I believe I deserved a clean slate. So, if her goal was to make me feel remorse for the lives I’d taken, she’d have to get in line.

  “But … you know what I found most interesting about your memories?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer, couldn’t as blood began to drip from my ears.

  “A face,” Scarlet sang with a grin. “The face of one victim in particular,” she clarified.

  I was too woozy to respond, in too much pain to even form words.

  Scarlet stood straight again, clasping her hands behind her back as she circled me, continuing to keep me bound and helpless with her magic.

  “The woman you killed in the alley the night you exacted revenge on Carmine? The one whose death you used as nothing more than a means of making his final moment that much more excruciating … Do you even remember her name?”

  I panted when she let up for just a moment. The question was rhetorical, but I wouldn’t have known the answer even if it wasn’t.

  She leaned in again after coming into view, whispering words that made this all make sense, her reason for targeting me after having seen my past.

  “She was our sister.”

  I turned away from her voice, feeling her breath against my face and neck.

  “All she ever wanted was to help Carmine,” Scarlet added. “She was trying to undo what’d been done to him and … you killed her because of it. Now, today … you’ll have the pleasure of joining the rest of your family,” she laughed. “…In hell.”

  I’d never known physical pain like this. It was the kind that made you pray for death. I was reduced to a heap on the ground when she touched my skull, finishing what she’d come here to do.

  It was impossible to hold on to any one thought when every fiber of my being screamed out in agony. But that didn’t stop me from finding a morsel of a memory to grasp—a beautiful, angelic face bathed in sunlight beneath her favorite acacia tree. Keeping my mind’s eye focused there, my breathing slowed the tiniest bit. Like always, Evangeline brought me peace. Even now, as the room began to dim, as the sound and pain started to fade.

 
I told her I loved her before I last walked away. There was comfort in that, knowing she’d have that to cling to when I was gone.

  Scarlet was right. Everything she said—the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death. At that time, I had no regard for anyone’s life, including my own. But there was no sense in apologizing. It wouldn’t bring her sister back. Had I been thinking clearer, someone still would’ve died that day, but it would have only been Carmine.

  His life was one no one could ever convince me deserved to be spared.

  I wasn’t perfect. Never claimed to be. When I was angered, I was impossible to stop and had done dark things because of it. Evangeline’s death was no excuse, but it was true; losing her broke me, took me down a bloody path. Most of the lives I’d taken were the result of the many wars I fought, righting the wrongs of those who thought their riches and might entitled them. But I admit, they weren’t always. Sometimes, I lost myself and did unthinkable things. It was those secret acts, the ones I was ashamed of, that made this moment align with my motto concerning justice.

  A life for a life.

  The things I’d done were the reason I was here.

  A sound echoed off the brick walls. It came from the direction of the massive, metal door I’d come through not too long ago. Right away, a pang of guilt hit me, realizing Dallas had returned at about the worst time possible. The witches wouldn’t hesitate to cut him down, too, just for interrupting.

  If I’d been able, I would’ve yelled for him to turn back while there was still time, but I was too weak. I struggled, doing all I could to gather enough strength, but it was useless. Scarlet made sure I couldn’t give her any trouble. Made sure she’d get revenge for what I’d done to her sister all those years ago.

  But then I saw light.

  …Blue light.

  My heart sank, realizing I’d been wrong. The one who walked into the middle of this ambush wasn’t Dallas.

  It was Evangeline.

  This was my fault, her showing up here. I knew it right away. Our tether had, no doubt, brought her. There was no off switch and the incredible pain Scarlet inflicted most likely sent a distress signal straight to her.