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Church was right not to trust Amara, and I brushed his worries off. But now, as she walks out of the limo dragging Katherine behind her, I know I am nothing but a fucking fool.
I never left guards with her because I assumed she was more powerful than any of the newborns; another fucking mistake on my part.
Katherine’s eyes flicker at me, and she gives me a pained smile. Her teeth are stained red with blood for some reason I do not want to think about. Dried crimson tears on her cheeks tell me that they’ve had her for a while… probably the second I left the hotel.
Now I understand the baobab smell… It was to mask Katherine’s scent.
Amara doesn’t meet my eye. Instead, she keeps her head downcast before shoving Katherine toward Kazimir.
Now I see where the blood is coming from and instead of fury taking over my body, pure fucking misery punches me out cold and I nearly drop to my knees.
“What the fuck have you done?!” I exclaim, taking a step towards them, but I feel arms on my shoulders, holding me back. I look back into Gustav’s eyes, and he shakes his head.
“Remember,” he whispers, and I could kill him right there and then.
“Are you fucking insane?! Do you not see what he’s done to her?!”
Three stakes embedded in her abdomen, three stakes sure to have caused the death of my first-born. I understand now why Amara was dragging her; she couldn’t fucking walk. I can hear my heart shattering, knowing my lies caused this, I fucking caused this.
“Get this over with so we can go, Kazimir. The stench of this city is permeating my dress,” Nisha Devereaux mutters.
“Agreed, get this done,” Ezra Aviet nods, looking amazingly bored.
Kazimir chuckles. “Well, now do we have an agreement?” His voice is laced thick with a joyful tone as if he knows he’s won.
The rest of the council are wearing grins similar to his, and it makes me want to rip their hearts out and feed it to them.
My eyes remain on Katherine, knowing she’s in constant pain, but if I make a move now, then she’s as good as dead.
“I did my part, now please tell me where he is!” Amara says with a shaky voice and takes a step toward Kazimir. “Please, you said he wouldn’t be harmed!”
My head snaps to Amara, and I attempt to shrug Gustav off, to no avail. “Do you have Valentine?”
Kazimir rolls his eyes and does a dismissive gesture with his hand. “He’s lying somewhere poisoned with baobab stakes and bullets. Oh, I know! If you hand them over, I’ll even throw in the Beast of Bra?ov!”
Beast of Bra?ov - the name Valentine was known as when he was still human.
“No deal,” Gustav says. “You’ll meet your death soon, Kazimir, and we won’t even have to do a thing.”
Kazimir laughs as he holds Katherine’s neck and I see blood dripping down her throat. I make a move to step forward, growling in frustration as Gustav holds me back.
“Is that so? Do you not know that I own your life? Are you not aware that once I kill this woman, you’re all to follow her?” Kazimir smirks at my reaction.
“As Gabriel asked earlier, who died and made you God, brother?” Axel’s voice causes Kazimir’s smirk to drop completely, and he takes a visible step backward.
I can hear his undead heart thudding maniacally against his chest and he lets out a huff filled with disbelief. “No… no, it can’t be! You’re dead!”
“And yet here I am,” Axel says when he steps out of the shadows with his hands in the pocket of his jeans. “Do us all a favor and hand Gabriel’s Fated over.”
Kazimir chuckles nervously, shaking his head. “I will do no such thing,” he says, adamantly. “The traitors will all be punished as I see fit!”
It only strikes me now how much of a toddler Kazimir sounds when faced with his brother. I look back at Gustav and nod to show that I will not interfere; and when he lets me go, I run over to Amara and grab her before shoving her to Church.
“Let her lead you back to where they met with the council. Valentine can’t be far off,” I say. He nods, then disappears with Amara in a blink.
I know I could have tried that with Katherine, but there’s no guarantee that it will work as quickly and I am not about to risk her life again. I’ve already fucked up beyond repair.
“As you see fit? Ha, you clearly do see yourself as a God lording over every vampire and that’s exactly why you need to die, little brother,” Axel says, shaking his head and grinning. This seems to spur Kazimir’s tantrum on; I spot sweat littering his brow and his eyes flick around wildly.
