Page 5 of Heart of the Villain

Laws had changed since then. Executions weren’t common anymore, only taking place for the most heinous crimes.

No one spoke, all waiting for Olenor to continue.

“The night before her execution, Mira’s actions were neurotic, and knowing now what happened, it should have been worrisome. She had begun talking to herself, clawed one of her eyes out, and ripped most of her hair out at the root. Everyone chalked it up to her impending death.”

Olenor’s eyes scanned around the fire again when the wind rolled through the trees with a cold gust. “When they put her on the pedestal where she would die, she dropped to her hands and knees and began chanting in the old tongue. The people who knew it scattered, and those who didn’t stayed to see what was happening. My dad and the other dragons had yet to shift, and by the time they did, it was too late. She was trying to summon Mars, the dead god of Fortis-born’s bloodline, but the gods don’t want to give to you… They want to take.”

Olenor stomped her foot, making everyone but Marlena jump. She was too entranced by the story.

“A power like none of us had ever seen shifted the ground, and in the blink of an eye, Mira was gone, sucked into oblivion like she’d been slurped through a straw.” She mimicked the sound with a pop. “One might have thought she never existed in the first place if it weren’t for her still-beating heart left behind.”

Arlet gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth.

Olenor leaned in further, the fire casting a shadow over her face. “They say if you’re locked away long enough inside the Atrox prison, you can still hear her screaming.”

In the distance, a warbled cry shattered through the night sky with a flash of dim light.

This time they all panicked. Vega nearly jumped into Marlena’s arms, Khort took off towards the house, and Arlet dropped to the ground, throwing her hands over her head.

Olenor laughed, bending at the waist, and slapped at her knee as a laugh from down deep tore through her.

From the cover of the trees, the Caelums appeared with Khort’s dad and Arlet’s parents in tow.

Everyone but the children joined in on their laughter.

Arlet peeked from underneath her arm, and Khort peered from the front porch of the large cabin home. Vega climbed off Marlena, still shaking a little.

Marlena stared.

It had been a joke. The wind was her father’s. The scream and flash of light had come from Arlet’s mother.

Arlet’s dad scooped her up, kissing his daughter’s forehead. “Arlie, I am so sorry.” He laughed a little when Arlet buried her face in his chest. “I told them not to.” He looked up at the group with a playful look. “She’s going to be sleeping in our bed for a month now. Thanks, everyone.”

Marlena’s father stepped behind her, gripping her shoulders with a firm squeeze. “We told you kids to go to bed. When we realized you hadn’t listened, we decided to have some fun of our own.”

Marlena could smell the wine on his breath.

Khort made his way back to the fire, chest puffed. “I wasn’t even that scared.”

That earned him an eye roll from Marlena.

Arlet’s parents waved to everyone as they took a shaking Arlet in for bed.

“So, was the story true?” Marlena asked, still invested in the failed summoning.

Khort’s father stomped out the fire with his boot. Carwel was a phoenix shifter, making their entire family basically fireproof.

Ryanna reached for Vega, who took her mother’s hand. “One may never know, Marlena, because summoning any of the dead gods is an immediate death sentence.”

Her father dug his fingers into her shoulders harder, making Marlena snap her mouth shut and forget the next question she was about to ask. “Now, whose idea was it to come out here?”

All eyes landed on Marlena, who wiggled out of her father’s vice grip.

“It was mine,” Vega lied, tearing the attention off her guilty sister. “I wanted to watch the fire go out.”

It was Marlena who had wanted to watch the flames flicker to nothing and dragged everyone out here.

Ryanna’s eyebrows smooshed together. “Hmm, now who does that sound like?” She glanced at Marlena.