AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“As you wish. ” The witch spoke the words with the same tone I’d used to invite Noriko to her own funeral. He snapped his fingers, and in a flash of sapphire light and a puff of smoke, he was gone.
“He can teleport?” Brigit asked.
Only I seemed to notice the tiny wasp that emerged from the cloud. It buzzed once around my head before it disappeared into the trees. Sneaky witch.
Once the shock of the magical display had shaken off, Daria became aware the spell had been broken. Her instinctive reaction was to continue her attack against me, which Nolan recognized because he took a step backwards. But Sig had placed a warning hand on Daria’s shoulder. All he needed to do was squeeze and she stopped.
“This fight is over, old friend,” he said, his voice heavy with a sadness that surprised me.
She looked up at him, her face almost instantly restoring to its former sweetness and beauty.
“Sig, whatever she has claimed, it’s a lie. She will protect her beloved warden at any cost. She is disloyal. ” Her voice was so earnest, her face so committed to the lie, I almost believed it myself. “I would never betray the Tribunal. I have been loyal to you for centuries. ”
I almost choked on her ingratiating words, but I didn’t defend myself.
Sig’s hand tightened on her shoulder, and she winced. Juan Carlos had come to stand beside Sig, and I could see him clearly now. The twisted grimace that marred his once-handsome face was now set in a tight frown, and for once it wasn’t focused on me.
If anyone here would be willing to believe her lies, it would be him. But his rage was all for her, and she could see that.
“We heard everything you said, Daria. The witch delivered your confession to us. ”
“He is her puppet,” she sputtered. “He did it for her. ”
“No,” Juan Carlos said, grasping Daria by the face and drawing her in close so they were nose to nose and all she could see was his cold eyes. “You have betrayed us. ”
Her bottom lip quivered. I’d never seen a vampire approach tears. “I didn’t betray you. ”
“To betray the Tribunal is to betray me. ”
“Don’t you understand? He has too much power. I did this to restore balance,” she pleaded.
“You did it to seize power,” Sig interjected. “You didn’t want to divide my power, you wanted it for yourself. ”
Daria kept her eyes on Juan Carlos, and he pushed her face away in disgust.
“Death is too kind for her,” he said to Sig.
Sig had released Daria and was standing with his back to her, looking down at me. Gently, he placed a finger under my chin and raised my face to get a better look at me. Just one touch, and the coiled springs inside me that had been prepared for another fight fell loose. My whole body felt like a sack of broken, disjointed pieces I didn’t know how to put back together. I sagged, and he caught me.
“She hasn’t got long,” he told Juan Carlos. “We need to get her to the Oracle. ”
Brigit skirted the group and took me from Sig, propping me up effortlessly. The Tribunal leader turned back to Daria.
“You sought to hurt me by attacking that which I hold dearest?” He hauled back as if he might hit her, and she flinched. “It wasn’t enough you planned to kill me?”
“Her death would weaken you,” she said meekly.
“And your death will weaken us all,” Sig replied.
“Show mercy. ”
“Why? You have shown none. ”
“I meant to spare her. ”
“Only when she could not be killed!” Sig bellowed. It was the first time I’d ever heard him raise his voice, and it chilled me to the marrow. I leaned my face into Brigit to shut it out. “You only thought to keep her alive because you realized she might prove some further use to you. ” He grabbed Daria by the throat and lifted her off the ground.
Even though she didn’t need to breathe, she strained against him, kicking futilely at the air and clawing at his hands while his grip began to crush her windpipe. His skin was a patchwork of bloody ribbons when he threw her to the grass.
