Page 145 of Revenant

“You’ve been more helpful than I thought you’d be. I’ll make sure your loyalty is rewarded.”

Lacey’s footsteps fall away, and Veil comes back into view. Bastian pounds on the confines she’s created to no avail.

“Don’t worry, Bastian. We’ll have plenty of time together later. We all will.”

“How is this even possible?” I finally ask, everyone else falling silent as her icy blues laser into mine. I don’t focus on those, instead my eyes are drawn to freckles.

And how they don’t make a constellation.

“There was a little fluke during the spell I cast all those years ago. I wasn’t trying to make you all vampires, I was trying to make Eryx and I eternal. We were lovers after all.” She smiles softly at whatever demented memory she’s been holding onto. “Anyways, something went wrong and imagine my surprise when I crawled out of the ground behind the greenhouse like a discarded corpse.”

“You’re lucky we didn’t burn your corpse,” Bastian barks.

“Doesn’t seem like it would’ve been a bad idea right about now,” Koen mumbles under his breath.

Veil releases a sigh, one that makes it seem like she finally feels free. “Needless to say, I always have a contingency plan in place.”

“Drop the entrapment spell and we’ll see how confident you feel about your contingencies.” Bastian rasps his knuckles against the door like a caged animal waiting to be released.

“Later, darling. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up; however, right now I believe there’s a certain witch I need to deal with.”

The guys all yell profanities and threats her way, but she never turns around. I listen to her fading footsteps, and suddenly, the room becomes eerily still.

Reality sets in. We’re trapped in here with no way out. And Alicent is somewhere in the school, with the one monster we can’t protect her from.

“She’ll be fine. Elias is with her; he’ll keep her safe,” Pryce says, pacing the space behind us.

“What do you think she’s going to do?” Bastian asks, real fear in his tone. Koen tries to console him, but there isn’t anything anyone can say or do to make this okay.

I allow myself a moment, a single sliver of a second to wallow in self-pity, let the emotions run rampant before shutting them off. I can’t let them distract me. Because once we get out of here, there will be nothing strong enough to stop me from tearing Veil Calder’s body to shreds and burning each piece until she’s nothing but ash.

All we can do now is pray to whatever bloody god is listening that Alicent breaks the curse, and Elias gets her the hell out of here.

44: Alicent

Elias hasn’t said a word. The only form of communication is the occasional squeeze of his hand against mine. Rage radiates off him in waves, and I’m not sure there’s anything I can say or do to make it better.

I don’t know what possessed me to kiss Eryx. And the worst part? I enjoyed it. I wanted it. Had the others not interrupted, I’m not sure how far we would’ve gone. But that’s a problem for a different day. We have enough on our plates as it is; the last thing I need to be worrying about is my lapse in judgment when it comes to Eryx Deveraux.

I let Elias lead me blindly, only having been down here just a few hours ago, and even then it was Moriah who was leading the charge since she had the blueprints.

“Elias, I—”

“I’m not mad. Not at you anyways.” His words are clipped and my heart constricts, caving in like it’s being sucked through a black hole.

“What happened in there was just as much my choice as it was his. You can’t be mad at him and not me.”

“Watch me.”

I stop walking, our interlocked hands forcing him to as well. “This is ridiculous. I’ve kissed the other guys and you’ve never acted like this.”

“Because it’s him. Are you forgetting what he’s put you through?” Now I realize he’s not just mad. He’s hurt. Not that I kissed someone else, but that in the midst of everything that’s happened between Eryx and me—I allowed him to get close to me like that. Unfortunately, the animosity between us put a wedge between Eryx and the others.

“Of course not,” I murmur, feeling defeated. “I don’t know what happened, it just…it just did.”

He releases a weighted sigh, closing his eyes as if to collect his thoughts. “It’s hard for me to see you be vulnerable with someone who hurt you. I can’t just let that go. Brother or not.”

He pulls me into his arms, resting his chin on top of my head like we have all the time in the world.