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She nodded to herself, determined, and started toward the woman.
“I haven’t seen anyone other than me in this cove before,” Sophia commented, coming to a stop in front of the stranger. “Yet here you are.”
“You sound as if you’re upset that someone other than yourself is here.”
“No, I’m upset about that. I’m upset that you’re watching us, and I need to know why you are.” As much as Sophia wanted this cove to be hers and hers alone, she knew it wasn’t. She held no ownership over it, anyone could come and go as they pleased.
Only, theydidn’t.
But, for some reason, this woman did. Not only was she here, but she seemed to have a keen interest in Sophia and Antonio, which led Sophia to believe she wasn’t here for the view, but forthem.
The woman withdrew her hood, revealing raven hair as fine as silk framing a face as pale as death. She flaunted plump ruby lips so vivid they brought life to an otherwise ill looking face effortlessly.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Drusilla. I hail from a small coven quite a ways from here.” So she was a witch. Sophia’s eyes glossed over her cloak one last time, observing the unrecognizable golden writing that covered purple fabric. Sophia recognized the writing as some old language. Unfortunately, she didn’t know anything about the language beyond that.
Witches were one of the oldest species in the unnatural world, so it wasn’t uncommon to see them in attire adorned with long dead languages.
Sophia couldn’t remember hearing anything negative about witches before. They were known to be a loving species that cherished family, hospitality, and the care of the earth.
Yet the terrible feeling in Sophia’s gut remained.
Drusilla outstretched a friendly hand.
Though Sophia sensed something wasn’t entirely right with this woman, she decided to feign ignorance, accepting her hand with a smile. “I’m Sophia.”
“Oh, I know. You’re one of the last, if notthelast, surviving fey. Am I correct?”
Drusilla couldn’t be any more wrong. Any fey who survived the massacres may have been taken by the Voivod and transformed into vampires against their will, but that didn’t mean they were dead. They were no less fey than Sophia.
“No, you aren’t. I’mnotone of the last surviving fey. They’re still out there. Vampire or not, they’re still fey. Enslaved? Yes. But I’ll fix that soon enough.”
Drusilla seemed both amused and curious by what Sophia said. “Fix that? Indulge me. How do you plan on fixing that?”
“The Heart of Aphrodite,” Sophia said without hesitation. It was no secret to anyone on this island that she was competing for it, along with everyone else competing in The Elaron Games.
The witch let out a laugh so derisive Sophia may have been insulted if she hadn’t already known something wasn’t right with this situation. Placing a dramatic hand on her chest, Drusilla asked, “You haven’t heard?”
Sophia’s face tightened as she tried to discern what the witch was asking. “Haven’t heard what, exactly?”
“It’s because you’re a strong woman. It must be. Of course no one told you.” Drusilla began shaking her head, making no attempt to hide her disappointment. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Who would feel any need to tell a warrior they had been kicked out against their will? Especially if that warrior was awoman. A woman whose odds of winning were incredibly high. Honestly, I was betting on you.”
What in the hell was this woman talking about? “And you’re not anymore?” Sophia rubbed her fingers against her temples, trying to take in everything this woman was telling her and make sense of it. “Are you saying someone was kicked out of the tournament? I thought that wasn’t possible.” A foreboding feeling crept up from deep within the pits of Sophia’s stomach, clawing at Sophia’s heart and mind. It was as if she knew what Drusilla was trying to tell her, but her mind - and heart - didn’t want to accept it.
Apprehension building, Sophia risked a look back to Antonio, who continued sleeping, his chest rising and lowering with his steady breaths. While she watched him, that foreboding claw of dread scratch at her heart, twisting something inside her, something that felt a lot like heartbreak, and she didn’t understand why.
Sophia needed to return to Antonio and wake him. Something in her mind warned that if she remained with this woman a second longer, she’d never return to Antonio again.
“If you had any clue what he did for you -toyou - yesterday, you would think twice about running back to him. In fact, you’d be running the other way. Seeing that you’re not proves to me that you have no idea what happened yesterday.”
Sophia sighed. “Dammit,”she cursed to herself, returning her attention to Drusilla. She was just too damn curious to walk away. “OK, I’m biting. What happened yesterday?”
“That powerful woman I was just speaking of? The one withdrawn from the tournament against her will? I was referring to you.You’rethe one who was withdrawn from the tournament. And you know made sure you were?” Drusilla’s gaze drifted beyond Sophia and to the sleeping wolf behind her.
“No,” Sophia breathlessly whispered, shaking her head. “No, no.” She couldn’t stop shaking her head, as if that would somehow take back the words this witch just uttered. “I don’t know you. I have no reason to believe you.”
Yet that feeling in the stomach, those claws reaching for her heart and mind, told Sophia she hadeveryreason to believe this witch.
“I can see it in your eyes. You know it’s true. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you go find out for yourself? He made a public show of it when he pulled you from this tournament. It was incredibly dramatic. I’m sure everyone on this island knows about it by now. How could theynotknow about The Heart of Aphrodite being destroyed? Well, I suppose everyone knows except you.”
