Unveiled (Raven Daughter Book 1)

by A. D. Trosper

  “They won’t need it,” Caius said, irritation in his voice.

  “Um…I beg to differ. Blondie there,” I pointed at the one he’d called Lilly, “tried to eat me when we were othersiding.”

  Lilly snorted and crossed her arms. “That can hardly be compared to now.”

  “Did you suddenly gain a bunch of control over your appetite or something? Because it wasn’t that long ago.” It already felt like a lifetime.

  “You weren’t bound to Caius then.” She flashed me a grin that showed off her fangs as pale markings flickered over the tribal tattoos on her skin. “I would never do anything that would harm him. Killing you would. So for now, you’re safe sweetie.”

  I glared at her. “I’m not worried about you trying to hurt me. I think I already proved I don’t need to worry about that when I threw you into a wall.”

  Outrage flashed across her features only to be carefully controlled. The dark-haired man pulled Lilly back, one hand clamped firmly on her arm as if he didn’t fully trust her. “Caius’s word holds. If he stands with you,” his mouth twisted in distaste, “then so do we. Lilly is only eighty-seven years, but she will honor her word.”

  “We will need the numbers before this is over,” Caius said. “Your friends will come to no harm from my siblings.”

  His words pulled my attention away from his family. His gaze held a warning in their depths. Okay, so he knew something I didn’t, something he didn’t want to say in front of everyone. I sighed. “Fine. If you want to let them stay, then let them. Just keep Blondie on a leash.”

  Lilly snarled, but quieted under Caius’s scowl. I wanted to speak at length with Caius to ensure that my friends would actually be safe; instead, I walked over to where Rowen stood. He and Ryan watched as Caius and the other demonborn drifted away to the other side of the yard.

  It was as if the camaraderie that had developed between Caius and me had somehow dissipated. Where before it was like we actually might be becoming friends, there was now a line between us clearly labeled on each side where we belonged. Us and them. I didn’t like the feeling.

  “You really think they will keep their word?” Ryan crossed his arms, his glare still focused on the group of demonborn. “You truly trust Caius?”

  “He’s never lied to me.” I handed Rowen his cloak. “Sometimes I feel like he’s the only one who hasn’t lied to me.”

  Ryan snorted but made no other reply as he stalked off to join the rest of my friends in what appeared to be our designated side of the yard. I turned to Rowen and lowered my voice, “Not that I’m not truly grateful to see my friends, but why aren’t there any other older Children of Morrigan? Couldn’t we use having their numbers? There’s at least sixty or seventy in your group.”

  “Ninety-six, not including myself.” Rowen’s dark gaze fixed on me as he hesitated. “The older Children of Morrigan are…unsure of their place in all of this.”

  “Unsure?” What the heck did that mean? A sinking feeling filled my gut. “Of their place, or unsure of me?”

  “You have to understand, Josephine,” Rowen said, his face grave. “The mixing of bloods… They aren’t sure how to feel about you. And that is why you see no Children above the age of thirty here, other than me.”

  “A bunch of them came to the bridge to fight demonborn with you.”

  He sighed and nodded. “They helped one time, however, they don’t want to be involved any further at this point.”

  I gave a slow nod. “Great. Now even those who are supposed to be on my side aren’t sure if they want to be on my side. I guess it’s a good thing Caius’s family came since I’m sure most of them are a lot older and more experienced than our lot.”

  “Jo—” Rowen started to say.

  I cut him off, “No. Don’t make excuses. I get it. I’m a pariah, an unholy mix of everything. Everyone wants to use me as an excuse to go to war, but none want to stand on my side.”

  He reached toward me then let his hand fall. “Try not to let it get under your skin.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” I gave him a false smile and walked away.

  A part of me wanted to go sit with my friends, to take comfort in their presence. The bigger part just wanted to be alone for a minute. I walked around the back side of the house where a large tree presided over the backyard. Sitting beneath the spreading arms of its branches, I leaned against the wide trunk and stared out at the empty land of waving grass beyond the yard. At least the breeze, even though it was still cold, didn’t bother me anymore now that I was in dry clothes and cloak.

  Bitterness filled my mind at being abandoned by those who should be standing with me. Even within my alternate family of Children, I was an outcast. Was there no place I truly belonged? I didn’t even truly belong with Victoria and she was my sister. At least now our differences made sense.

  James found me still sitting there as the sun slowly sank toward the horizon. He sat quietly next to me. He didn’t say anything, didn’t try to offer any platitudes. It’s one of the things I liked about him. When something was wrong, he didn’t immediately try to change my mood.

  Though I loved Bethany dearly, she would have let me know, with much hand motioning and verbiage, that she was properly offended on my behalf. I knew James was as well, he just possessed a quieter way of expressing it.

  I shifted until my head leaned on him. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” The lie fell automatically from my lips.

  “Sure you are. And I’m into women, the sun sets in the east, and all kinds of other absurdities,” James said with a quiet chuckle.

  “This sucks. Royally sucks, you know that?”

  “It does absolutely. No way around that.” He patted my arm. “Not likely to get any less sucky either. In fact, I imagine the suckage is going to increase exponentially in the future.”

  “Yep.” I drew the word out.

  “In fact, I would have to say I’m glad I’m not you because the universe seems to have it out for you.”

  I laughed and pulled away from him. “Gee thanks.”

  “No problem. It’s always good to put things in perspective and, let’s face it, your problems are huge.” He smiled, laughter in his eyes.

  “What would I ever do without you, James?” I shoved to my feet, my muscles protesting from sitting in one place too long.

  He stood as well, brushing the grass off his pants. “I dunno, probably die or something.”

  “I seem to have a knack for almost dying.” I gave him a wry grin.

  “That you do. Good thing you have someone like Caius keeping track of you.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, it’s always good to have someone whose possible agony is tied to your death, keeps them watching out to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

  James studied me with a raised eyebrow. “So you think that’s all it is?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged. “I thought we were becoming friends, but now that his family is here, I think any warm fuzzies he might be feeling are fading.”

  “Hmmm,” was his only answer.

  “Why?” Frowning, I tried to read James’s expression.

  “Well, and I could be wrong mind you, but usually, when someone looks at another the way he does at you—when he thinks no one is paying attention—it means more than duty or fear of retribution holds them in place.” James gave a flick of his hand as if waving away a fly. “I could be completely wrong. Still, if I was a braver person, didn’t already love Aaron, and Caius swung my way, I could wish he would look at me like that.”

  “I think you are imagining things. You’ve always been a bit of a romantic you know.” James was off his rocker. There was no way Caius felt anything more than a touch of friendship for me, if that.

  He smiled. “I could be reading things into it. Most likely am.”

  “Most likely.” Had Caius ever looked at me like James implied? Not that I could recall. Would I have recognized if he di
d? I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience in that area. I pushed the thought out of my head. “You’re probably just crazy.”

  “Agreed,” he said amicably. “Shall we return to the group?”

  “Might as well. I’m sure there are no plans to stay at this rickety house forever.”

  “None that I’m aware of.” He draped his arm over my shoulders and I wrapped one around his waist as we headed back around the house.

  It occurred to me that I still hadn’t eaten beyond the apple and cheese. I hadn’t even gotten to the crackers. The infusion of Caius’s blood must be holding my strength longer than expected. I still felt a bone-deep weariness throughout, but I wasn’t anywhere near collapsing.

  When we reached the front of the house, both groups were close together again. It looked like Rowen and Caius were conferring over a map. Rowen’s finger traced something across it. James dropped his arm from my shoulders and went to talk to Aaron.

  Bethany hurried over to me looking irritated. “I can’t believe none of the older Children have come. I was sure they would. Or at the very least, my parents.”

  “Rowen’s here,” I pointed out.

  She sighed. “Rowen’s different. He’s your guide. He’s everyone’s guide.” She gestured to our friends and chuckled. “Not like he had a choice anyway since we would have followed Caius from Midtween with or without Rowen’s permission.”

  The steadfast loyalty of my friends warmed a little of my insides made cold by the realization that even those who were supposed to be my people, weren’t my people. “Are your parents going to be upset you came?”

  “I’m sure they will be.” She snorted and waved away my worry. “But once I started reaping, they no longer have a say in anything. From then until twenty-one, I’m Rowen’s charge.”

  I was glad for the strange rules of the reaper world and glad at least Rowen was in my corner.

  Bethany gave me a sideways glance. “I know you aren’t one to be an open book or anything, but if you need someone to vent with or just want someone to go scream in the woods with you, I’m here.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” I motioned toward where Rowen was folding the map. “So what are they doing?”

  It still seemed strange to see Rowen and Caius together, getting along. I would never have dreamed it. I wondered what had forged the friendship, or alliance, or whatever it was between them. Had it started with the war in Midtween, or before that?

  Oblivious to my thoughts, Bethany answered, “They are deciding on the best place to go next. Rowen wanted to move further away in case anyone, or anything, is tracking us. Caius refuses to budge on the idea of going to the nearest town with a restaurant.”

  “He has to be getting pretty hungry too,” I said. “Probably best to keep the demonborn well fed on food rather than letting their minds wander to blood and souls.”

  “True.” Bethany’s laugh held an uneasy edge.

  “Guess I’d better see where we’re going,” I said and headed toward Caius. Yeah, I could ask Rowen, but I wanted to talk to Caius and see if the rift I sensed was merely my imagination. It’s not like I expected to have something big with him, he was a powerful demonborn after all, but I had grown fond of our friendly alliance. I hoped we could hold on to it.

  ***

  “I needed to be more careful.” ~Caius

  Chapter 36

  I kept my gaze steady on Caius’s face as I approached him, alert for any sign he was annoyed by my presence. Not that I would stay away if he was. I would probably hang around just to irritate him. I never claimed my nature was a sweet one.

  He glanced up as I approached, his golden gaze raking over me. “Food first, Rowen.”

  Rowen frowned. “If what you told me is—”

  “Food first.” Caius nodded toward me.

  Rowen turned his attention to me and sighed. “Fine, food first. “

  After Rowen walked away, folding the map as he went, I asked, “What’s up?”

  Caius raised an eyebrow, but didn’t answer. I huffed a sigh. “What did you tell Rowen that has him so ready to run far away?”

  “News.” He glanced over my head and then back to me before walking a short way away from everyone. I followed. “I heard a lot of rumors and news while I was away. Knowledge of your true heritage is everywhere on the other side of the veil now it seems.”

  “Well, it was bound to come out eventually. Especially with all of that.” I motioned toward the two groups.

  “Unfortunately,” his voice lowered and took on a hard edge, “Sentinels have been dispatched to deal with you. They are the only beings, other than cats and ravens, able to cross all veils at any time.

  “Sentinels?” The name sounded familiar and I got the feeling it was something I heard during my lessons right after arriving in Midtween. I’d had so much new information thrown at me so quickly during that time, my brain only kept what was absolutely necessary.

  “Gargoyles that have been assigned as the protectors and enforcers of law on the other side of the veil. And even this side if need be.”

  I snorted. “So I have ugly looking stone statues coming after me?”

  “This is no joke, Josephine.” His expression was troubled, his arms crossed over his chest. “With our combined numbers, we can make them hesitate. Possibly even hold them off, but not without significant loss. Of my group, only Malik matches me in strength. Lilly will once she matures. Even with my strength, I would only be able to barely best a Sentinel one on one. We can hope they don’t send the entire guard.”

  “How many if they send the whole guard?” As if I needed anyone else against me.

  “Their entire number is only twenty. A group of five can take a single Soldier Demon or Soldier Angel.”

  I shivered though I was only cold on the inside. “And how will they deal with me?”

  “From the rumors I heard, it’s been decided your mixed blood is too dangerous. Especially now that my mother was so kind as to announce that you now have enough demon blood in you to tap into my powers, which is how you threw Lilly into a wall.”

  “Is that why I keep getting markings that match yours on my skin?”

  He studied me for a moment. “If you are experiencing that, then the heavy dose bound us closer than I thought. Which is probably why fire is coming so easily to you. Most can’t throw a fireball for quite some time. I’m guessing you attempted to use that against my mother as well. She didn’t keep it secret.” He ground his teeth together, his jaw flexing as his tattoos gleamed in a flash before fading back to ink. “Your arrest has been ordered. They plan to send you to the Waiting until they decide what do with you.”

  “The Waiting? Where people in comas go?” When he said I was to be arrested, I assumed he meant I would be thrown into some sort of cell. I had occasionally collected souls from the Waiting. It wasn’t a bad place to be. Peaceful beyond measure, it was easy to see why souls were content to sit while mortal months, or even years, passed by.

  “There is more than one side to the Waiting, like two sides of a coin,” Caius said. “The side you know is beautiful, peaceful. The other side is where the Sentinels place prisoners until it’s decided what is to be done with them. It lacks everything the other side has. You won’t find cells or bars there. The shackles they place on you disconnect you from your powers. There is no way out without being able to touch those. You are simply more alone than you have ever been in a desolate wasteland, waiting for your fate to be decided.”

  He searched my face, regret filling his eyes. “Giving you my blood brought on this situation, though the other option was to let you die.”

  “There were no good choices. Break the rules or live in torturous pain for a while.” I shrugged. “I’m no masochist so I would have made the same choice as you. Can’t blame you for that.” A desolate wasteland sounded boring. As for being alone, I had been pretty much that most of my life, I could handle it for a while. “How long would I be there?”

&
nbsp; “There’s no way of knowing. In all likelihood, if they are going to this much effort, you won’t leave the Waiting alive once the final decision is made. They were wary enough when they thought you were just a mix of angel and mortal.”

  “So,” I licked my lips, “when they decide my fate it will probably be a…”

  “A death sentence,” he finished.

  The blow his words gave me almost felt physical, like a boulder dropped into my stomach. Almost the same feeling as when my mother told me she only had three months to live. Supremely powerful beings were now hunting me with the intention of arresting me so I could be killed at someone’s whim.

  I wanted to run and hide, or scream my frustration at the world. I didn’t. I did the same as I had with my mom; masked over my inner chaos and just nodded.

  Caius studied my face and I got the distinct feeling that he saw through my mask though he didn’t make any effort to draw me from behind it or offer comforting words. I tried to get the chaos inside to calm down enough so my voice would sound normal. “How do we avoid them?”

  “I don’t know of a way. For now, we keep on the move, keep trying to find the other key, and hope it takes them awhile to catch up.”

  “Great, sounds like a plan. Can’t have ugly stone people catching up with us.” I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my cloak to hide the slight tremble in them.

  “Josephine,” Caius began.

  I held up my hand to stop him. “I’m good. Guess I better go get with my group.”

  As I turned away, I thought I saw a flash of something in Caius’s eyes. Frustration? Worry? It didn’t really matter; I was a dead woman walking anyway.

  Bethany and James both asked about my conversation with Caius when I reached them. I glossed over it and told them it was decided we were headed toward food, though I wasn’t sure I would be able to eat.

  ***

  Once we were all crowded into the small diner in the nearest town, hunger overrode everything else. Two cheeseburgers piled high with bacon, lettuce, and tomato. A massive pile of cheese fries, and two large Dr. Peppers later and the ravenous hunger was finally sated. Thinking back, I realized that other than the apple and cheese, I hadn’t eaten since before we got the first key and that all came up thanks to the silver.