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We weren’t just a team. We were one and the same, one soul dwelling in two bodies. It was only natural that she come with me.
Zachariah led us down the hall and into a room with a queen-size four-post bed.
“Eliza,” Lachlan said softly.
Jocelyn gasped softly at the young female who’d been carelessly left on top of the bed, her nightgown ripped open to expose her sternum.
“She’s one of the girls from the other side of the courtyard,” Jocelyn whispered. “One from the group that watched me cast.”
“Yes,” I answered, my eyes focused on the glaring, macabre brand that scorched the skin under her collarbone. “And the Sons of Honor killed her.”
“And they wanted us to know,” Lachlan muttered.
“Daniel was one of Alek’s strongest supporters among our kind,” I told Zachariah. “This was a strike at the throne.”
“There’s no blood,” Jocelyn muttered, her eyes sweeping over the frame of the young female. “They’re all simply...dead.”
I leaned forward with Lachlan, noting the absence of any puncture or ligature marks. No bullet wounds. Nothing. It was like she’d simply ceased to live. There was no blood coming from the branding, either.
“They did it after she died,” Jocelyn said quietly, finishing my thoughts.
“It was less than five minutes.” Lachlan cursed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Less than five minutes between the distress call and our first arrival on the scene. How the hell did this happen so fast? Happen at all?”
“They’re going to hunt down the aristocracy one family at a time,” Zachariah said as we left the bedroom. “It’s what happened in our day when the throne was in peril. One by one, the supporters of the sitting king would be struck down until a new king sat on the throne and a whole new group of aristocracy rose. I’ve just never seen it happen by human hand.”
Jocelyn froze behind me—I sensed it before I even turned.
Lachlan brushed by her in the hallway, leaving just us above the stairs as they headed toward the foyer.
Her eyes stared forward, but she wasn’t looking at me, and the lavender glow of magic that surrounded her flared bright for a second before dimming.
“Jocelyn?” I asked, moving forward.
Her gaze focused on mine and she snapped out of wherever her mind had gone. “What the fuck am I doing?”
“Little witch?” I took her hand, but she pulled free of my grasp, stepping backward.
“What am I doing here with you?” She shook her head. “This is a vampire matter, and I’m clearly not a vampire.”
“We can get you back to the residence,” I immediately offered. She was right and I wanted her out of danger, anyway, so—
“No.” She pushed her way past me, her footsteps light on the steps as she fled down to the now-empty foyer.
I wended to the marble entryway, blocking her exit. “What do you mean, no?” Panic blossomed in my chest, its tendrils stabbing into my heart. There was something in her tone that warned me to be wary.
“I mean, I’m not going to stay here and just wait for those monsters to come hunt me down like that!” She pointed upstairs, to the bedroom we’d just found Eliza in. “She’s my age, right?”
I nodded, noting that my brothers had gone silent as they waited for us outside the house.
“What is it about vampires?” She threw her hands out. “No one kidnaps the witch heir, if you haven’t noticed. No one is slaughtering our coven leaders in their beds!”
“Jocelyn, we can keep you safe,” I reached for her.
“You’re the one who’s putting me in danger in the first place! You and your kind!” She sidestepped me, walking through the opposite door into the night air. “I put my entire life into your hands! I’ve practically moved into your place. I’ve changed my entire waking hours. I now visit my lands instead of staying at my house—which I love by the way—and this?” She motioned to the house. “This is the last straw! I’m not going to be slaughtered just because fate tattooed me with your mark! I didn’t choose this! Just like that woman upstairs, I didn’t get a say in how I was branded!”
I stepped back as if she’d slapped me, pain slicing through my chest like a dagger.
“Do you hear me?” Her hair rose off her shoulders and the stars swam in her eyes, but there was something else there besides anger. Something that carried the scent of fear and...sorrow.
“We’ll track down the Sons,” I promised. “Let’s just get you home so we can get this cleaned up.”
“Oh, you’re right on one count. I’m going home.” She backed down the steps that led to the front walk. “I’m done. This is done. Over. I’m not giving up my throne just so I can be hunted down in the middle of the night!” She turned and strode into the woods, her hair rippling behind her as her magic lit the path.
