“The seers had another vision, and Vespera isn't happy.”
Chapter 19
DARIAN
“King Draeven has found a way to walk in sunlight.”
Vespera was furious, though you’d never know it. Not a flicker of emotion cracked her mask. She stood at the front of the room like a shadow, power rolling off her in quiet waves. Her gown was midnight-black velvet, flowing like liquid darkness, threaded with shimmering starlight that caught the light when she moved. Silver embroidery coiled along her sleeves.
Around her throat sat her signature piece, a high-necked collar of woven silver, from which hung a deep red gemstone encased in clawed metal. The stone pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat. It held power, but not a lot.
Atop her head sat a crown from darkened gold, its sharp, elegant points curling like thorns. Deep crimson and obsidian jewels—cut into cruel, jagged shapes—were embedded along the rim, glinting like drops of blood against shadow. It didn’t sparkle. It shimmered with menace, a silent warning that she ruled not with grace but by power.
Everything came down to power with these fuckers.
Her narrowed eyes swept the room, unreadable, but they kept returning to me.
You could feel the tension and anger coming off the High Coven rulers and all of us, knowing the vampire King who had started the Ashen war from hurting and experimenting on witches was making a move again.
He's been in hiding for hundreds of years, but now he's back again, this time not only for the witches but also for other mythical and magical beings. It made my body tremble in rage.
My mind drifted back to Freckles, the nickname I’d given her years ago when she was just a friend. Funny how things never change; even now, she refuses to tell us her real name, just like back then.
It pissed me off. How dare she come back and make the people I love like her.
Kill her.
I dug my fingers into the leather of my gloves, ignoring the whisper, the thought of tearing her apart. I hate that I only ever felt like this with her.
“He is looking for something, and we think that the very thing he’s looking for is in Velmore. They are connected to the woman with great power we keep seeing in our dreams.” Birch said, voice calm but certain.
Without missing a beat, he took a bite of his doughnut, powdered sugar dusting the deep green sleeve of his robes.
“Tonight, I want every home in Velmore torn apart,” Vespera said, tone smooth and commanding. “Begin with the Hollowborn quarter; they’re always the first to rot when secrets fester.”
She stood tall before us, her hand resting atop Nyx, the creepy black shadow panther who was sprawled across the table, his three unblinking eyes sweeping over us like it was judging our reactions or trying to look in the hidden depths of our souls for deception.
“If they don’t let you in,” she continued, stroking along its black fur. “You break the door down. You search every inch—under the floorboards, behind walls, everywhere. Leave nothing untouched.”
She looked over us, her sharp nails silently tapping a slow rhythm against Nyx’s head.
“It will take all of you to sweep Velmore clean. Anyone who refuses? Take them in. Question them until there’s nothing left to ask. And make sure you check every last one of them for the mark. Strip them bare if you have to.”
The mark that shows if you’re a registered witch.
Her gaze stopped at Kieran, who was currently sitting next to me, his knee bouncing up and down, hands in pockets, stabbing himself with a blade over and over to ignore the alcohol cravings.
“Vale will be with you for every interrogation.”
I saw him tense, so did Ronan. They hated her, hated what she made us do. We didn’t mind killing vampires; they were scum, but we wanted to protect this realm. She made us monsters, made everyone afraid of us.
“And if anybody steps out of line, refuses to cooperate during interrogation or makes a fuss when you take people in,” she cruelly smirked. “Kill every single one of them.”
Not a surprise, but by the looks of the others and the shock on their faces, they certainly were.
I could feel my pulse in my neck quickening, grinding my teeth together. She wants us to kill innocents, and that’s not what any of us signed up for, well, most. There are a few pricks who think the sun shines out of Vesperas's ass and will do whatever she asks without a second thought.
“Darian, did you and the others find anything in the woods?” She asked, her attention on me even more than before, so was Nyxs. I avoided its third eye, noticing Ronan tensing up, and I wondered if this had anything to do with her.
