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Slowly, his head tilted back to face me, blank white eyes fixed in my direction. His voice came out low and gravelly, unnaturally deep and slow as he spoke:
“Weapons, four
To rise once more
Rule the night
Forevermore.”
As the last word echoed around us in the snow-filled garden, Rush collapsed into me like a marionette whose strings had been clipped. I grasped him tightly against my chest, lowering us both to the frozen ground.
Kas! Kassian, I need you, I called in my mind, hoping Kas was near enough and not too distracted to hear me.
The mist was swirling around the garden, gathering nearer to me and billowing upward into a shape.
“Nicolas?” I asked, clutching Rush’s limp body closer to me.
“No, child. But you’ve done well enough without me.”
A sob swelled in my throat as the shape of Grand-mère slowly formed in front of me, her face twisted in a wry smile.
“No,” I choked. “This means...” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
“That bitch got me in the end, yes.” Grand-mère cackled, and I felt dizzy. How could she be so cavalier? She was in the mist. She was... “Yes, Kana. I’m dead. Merden may have foiled all of our plans, but she still won’t win. That fae of yours is onto something with his thoughts about love being stronger than fear. Use it, girl.”
I could only blink up at her, my mind refusing to process what I was seeing. “I’m so sorry,” I finally blurted, and she snickered, rolling her eyes.
“I knew the night of the blood rain that my time was near. Merden sent guards to my home. She locked me away out of fear for what the two of us might plan for the sacrifice, and she had good reason to.”
“Oh, Goddess,” I wailed, realizing too late what plans she was talking about. “I promised I’d figure out a way to win this without sacrificing you... but this wasn’t it, Grand-mère,” I begged, pleading with her to forgive me. I should have worked harder to free her. Should have protected her from the beginning.
Grand-mère only scoffed. “I’ve lived enough years. You’ve seen the mist from within. You know it’s nothing for an old woman to fear. Now. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I’m dumb. Listen closely, granddaughter. This is how we win.”
Grand-mère’s face hovered lower, closer to my ear, as she whispered the sort of plan that was so twisted it just might work.
“He’ll never do it,” I whispered to the night air, clutching Rush’s unmoving form to myself like a security blanket.
“Love him enough, and he will,” Grand-mère replied, the chill of her hand against my cheek as she began to fade away, dissolving back into the mist with the rest of my ancestors. I buried my face in Rush’s chest, trying to ground myself in his soft breathing and wild, sweet scent while I waited for him to wake up from the stress of receiving a prophecy.
Goddess-damn it. How was I ever going to pull this off?
I didn’t think I could stand to lose any more people.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CADE
She was gone, and I was happy enough for it.
How could I look into those earnest, icy blue eyes - so different even though she was so much the same - and tell her I remembered everything?
Every fucking thing, for the last decade of my so-called life.
Every goddamn bite that bitch queen had given me, sucking down the blood I’d shared with Kana the night we becameaima.
Every time she’d yanked my poor cock to attention with a jolt of mind magic, only to scream and attack me when it wilted under her gaze. My body refused to give her what she wanted, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying to own me every way she could.
I even remembered all the days, nights, and weeks that she’d locked me away, forgetting all about my existence. I was nothing but a toy to a spoiled child who grew bored waiting for all those years.
