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Every time I blinked, I could see their bodies falling from great heights, splattering across the grassland and staining it red.
Of course, Tom and his parents would never have risen as vampires. They had not been bitten; anyone with sense knew that the disease spread from teeth devouring skin. I almost vomited at the thought.
“Arlo,” Faenir muttered moments before the carriage slowed to a stop. “We have arrived.”He sounded less than pleased, but I didn’t care.
Urgency and desperation at finding Myrinn blinded me as I reached for the door. Faenir stopped me.He threw out his hand and pressed it upon mine. The sudden touch anchored me back into the moment. “I need you to understand something very important before we do this.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat, unable to deny the urgency that lit his golden eyes from within. “Are you worried what your parents will think when they see who you have chosen?” My question hung between us.
Faenir’s expression of concern deepened into one that frightened me. It was the first time since seeing him in Tom’s room that I truly felt the need to put distance between us.
“Unfortunately, my mother and father will not be joining us this evening.”
“Why is that?” I pressed, my bravado faltering with each drawn-out moment.
Whatever he was going to tell me was replaced with something darker. In hindsight I should have kept my smart mouth shut, for I would never have been prepared for what he was going to say.
“Because I killed them.” He removed his fingers, leaving the cold press of his touch across the back of my hand. “That is why.”
13
We arrived beneath the shadow of the Great Tree Faenir had named Nyssa. With its monstrous heights, it was not impossible to imagine how the elves believed it to be planted by a Goddess. In a world of vampires and magic, Goddesses were not an impossible fable to believe.
Faenir’s words repeated within my head long after we disembarked from the carriage. It was as though he called out into an empty cavern, his deep voice singing back on a loop.
He had not offered me a hand as I clambered out, nor did I believe I would have taken it after he had revealed what he had done to his parents.Although he had not elaborated on the cause of their death, I imagined it was related to his touch more than poison or a dagger.
“Cousin,” a shadow spoke as it peeled away from the darkened landscape we had entered. Both of my feet had yet to touch the ground before the speaker was revealed.
Faenir looked into the darkness, positioning his body before mine with a single step and spoke. “Haldor, has Myrinn already come to regret our invite that she sends you to turn us away?”
Haldor. The red-haired elf that had been the first to choose his mate in Tithe. Samantha, I remembered the human girl he had picked and wondered if she lingered within the shadows he had slipped from.That thought was soon banished by an explosion of light. I winced as flames conjured from nothing erupted across the wall of the strange building we had been brought to. Fire danced to life, encouraged by the twisting star of flame that hovered above Haldor’s hand.The display of frightening power was so sudden even Faenir rocked back a step but soon stiffened in retaliation.
Besides the light, I was not prepared for the warmth that kissed my cheeks. His flame reached me even from a distance. Bright and all-revealing as it banished the dark and revealed what the tree’s shadow had hidden.
“I have no doubt Myrinn would have preferred to have welcomed you this evening; however, she is currently having her precious ear chewed off by our Queen.”
Faenir’s shoulders lifted at the mention of Claria. It was so clear that even Haldor seemed to notice and shared a smile at his discomfort. “Claria was unaware of our invitation?”
Haldor pouted. The fire within his hand died with a closed fist; only the fire that had sprung along the line of torches across the towering wall remained. Even as the two men’s interaction distracted me, I could not help but notice how the wall had the same texture of a tree, rough ripples of oaken flesh that seemed to shiver beneath the flames.
“If Claria had known of your visit, she would have cancelled the ball entirely. And that would have been a mighty killjoy for us all.”
Haldor was tall, but still fell inches beneath Faenir’s height, made more obvious as Faenir drew closer to him. Now the unease shifted to Haldor for the first time since he stepped from the shadows.
He was handsome, which I could not deny, but even his beauty could not hide his discomfort at Faenir’s closeness. Haldor’s jaw was cleanly shaven, his ivory skin dusted with freckles. Red curls fell perfectly across his forehead as though twisted by a finger.
“Such a daring choice of mate,” Haldor said, narrowing his ember-red eyes on me. For the first time since being taken from Tithe I felt a familiar warmth spread across my groin, a burning encouraged as Haldor’s attention devoured me. “I remember this one from the line-up. How could I forget someone with eyes like tha—”
“You would do well to turn your attention,” Faenir replied, voice dripping with warning. “He is mine.”
I wished to shout at them both and refuse Faenir’s comment, but my confidence had seemed to run away from me.
Haldor flashed a wolfish grin towards me which conjured a growl from the man who stood between us. He held it in contest, and I was certain Faenir was going to lash out.
“Shewishes to speak with you,” Haldor said to Faenir whose growl only deepened.
“That was not included on the invite.”
