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“I don’t understand. What use did you have for my memories?”

I didn’t even want to look at him, I was so embarrassed by my answer. Because it was the naked truth. The truth and I had never been close. “They were memories from before . . . Before I hurt you, and I could feel how you loved me. It was so pure, absolute, and uncomplicated. Unassailable. I felt the raw emotions that you did, and I kept going back for more. I know how idiotic it was, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I wanted to live in that world for a bit, that world where I had your love like that again, with no reservations at all.”

In spite of the horror and anger he was experiencing at me specifically, his eyes softened. “That’s the world you still live in. Just open your eyes and here we are. Now tell me how many times you indulged in this.”

I told him and his expression did not comfort me then.

“Every time it took your blood it gained power over you and its range to reach you increased,” he explained. “It’s not good. I need to think on this, and we need to get you away from The Grove.”

“Does this give it more power over you?”

“I think that was its intention, but not how it will work now. It’s good you told me. I can use that against it to draw the power into myself. It’s a burden, but one I’m familiar with. It takes a dark thing to guard a dark thing. To contain it. It is a dirty job, for a dirty soul. It is cursed, and so am I. We’re all cursed, those of us that guard The Grove.”

“Is that how you’ve become so powerful? You draw it from The Grove.”

He looked at me like I had it all wrong. “Yes, I draw from its power, but not for personal gain. Don’t you see? It’s the only way to weaken it, to take it into yourself. What do you think an Arch is for? To rule? That’s not the half of it. We’re a vessel. A vessel powerful enough to contain a darkness that cannot be ended.

And no, it’s not the reason for the increase in my power.” He pointed at his wolf’s eye. “This was my mother’s legacy, but there was much more. Once I became Arch, my uncle gave me her journals. She was more than a druid, she was also an enchanter from an ancient line, and as I’ve studied her powers, I’ve become something more, as well, though I still have a long way to go. I also think all the years of you feeding me your blood didn’t hurt.”

“This room is warded against everything. What we share here cannot be overheard, but you must never speak of any of these things again, do you understand? I can’t bear to think what they’d do to us if they knew that I was sharing these secrets with you.

“Who are they?” I asked, but only because I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to interrupt him when he was sharing so much information I’d been so avidly fascinated about for so long.

“The Circle. It is our druid council. Any druid that’s been burdened with this knowledge themselves would see what I was doing as the ultimate betrayal. They’d do more than take my head. They’d make me an example the likes of which the world has never seen.”

If that’s what they would do to their beloved, pure-blood son, he didn’t have to utter what they’d do to an outsider like me.

“I’ll take it to my grave, I swear it,” I said solemnly.

“Don’t talk to me about a grave. Swear on something else. And also… the fact that you’ve shared your blood with it willingly. No one can ever know that. Are we clear?”

“We’re clear. And I have to leave now?”

“The Grove, yes, and as soon as possible. I’ll find us other accommodations, but in the meantime you need to stay in my quarters or with me at all times while you’re in the building.

“Is Conan safe?”

“Yes. He’s warded as strongly as we are, but when we move, we’ll take him with us. It’s going to be complicated to guard him as closely when we’re remote from the property, but I’ll arrange it all. I just need some time, and I ask for your patience.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

REPTILE LIKE YOU

Patience has never been a virtue of mine so that was easier said than done.

I was ready to climb the walls within a day.

I shadowed Dom some, but he had too many super-secret druid meetings that I couldn’t attend, and I visited Conan several times, but he mostly slept since he was still an egg and no matter how hard I stared he showed no signs of hatching anytime soon.

And of course waiting for word from or about Lynn was adding exponentially to my restlessness. Her eyes were burning a hole in my pocket, I wanted them in her hands, or rather her eye sockets, so badly.

The longer it took the more daunting of a task it seemed to find a way to see her again.

In an effort to keep me from going insane while I waited, Dom found a dragon lead for me to check out that wasn’t too far away.

I needed to be close in case Lynn or Drake made contact.

It was in L.A., which was convenient. It was a short flight or a manageable drive away. The task force had two hard rules at this point.