AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve been trying to work it out, and then I found—” I flex my fingers when the words don’t find me. “—some help. It came in the way of a palm-sized notebook.”
“This is sounding familiar,” Priest muses, a jab at our mother.
I shake my head. “No. It wasn’tTacet a Mortuis, or a family grimoire.”
Priest tilts his head.Oh God.
“This one is different. For one, it’s tiny, and the words written inside are in a different language, not Latin. I’m not even sure Irecognize it.” I stare between them, and just before I’m about to continue, Priest’s eyes flick to War before quickly resting back at me.
That was something. I don’t bother to touch on it. “It’s formatted like a recipe book, I think.”
War’s thigh tenses against mine.
“Where did you find this book?” Vaden asks, not stupid enough to look at anyone else but me. Probably honing in one of his many creepy skills.
I pause. Probably a moment too long for him. “It was a gift sent to me the same day War gave me this.” I flash my Van Cleef bracelet.
War shuffles, leaning against the window. I don’t miss the sudden tension that fills the space the more I talk.Focus.
“I’ve only picked away bits as the years went on, but I can’t find anything on the language online either. At one point, I thought it was similar to Arabic, but has distinguished differences that I can’t put my finger on.”
“And why didn’t you say something before?” War’s tone is cold and distant. Not at all the man who carried me up the steps.
“Because part of what I did manage to translate, if I was even a smidge right, is that Iwasn’t to speak amongst the crown of a King, which I’m guessing, means you guys. I told the girls because when this book would have been written, Swans would never exist. I was hoping the technicality of it wasn’t as sharp for our modern age.”
Vaden’s hand works over his jaw, turning to Priest. The angst that rolls between him and War is palpable.
“Ask me!” I yell, annoyed with their lack of engagement. This isn’t at all what I expected. I thought there’d be more. “Ask me anything and I’ll tell you. I couldn’t tell the moms with the risk of them spilling to the Fathers, and I don’t know about you, butour families have a history of creepy shit. I wasn’t too keen on testing that.”
Not even a fight. No questions. Maybe even a plan to fucking fix it all…
A distraction.
I sigh, releasing the tension that’s knotted in my muscles. “I can give it to you when we get back. Maybe you guys can figure the translations out.”
“What happens inside your head?” Vaden ignores my offer. Probably because it goes without saying. It didn’t matter. They could have at it.
I hold his stare. “I die. Multiple times. From different points of view, in different ways. Idie.”Plucking the material of the hoodie, I look down before bringing my eyes back up to Priest. “Sometimes it’s strangers who kill me, and sometimes, it’s, well…” I pause.
“It’s what?” War snaps from beside me.
“It’s someone I know.”
War pulls at his hair before his hands fall to his thighs. He taps at the screen of his phone, his eyes moving over the words as he reads. He locks it and pushes it into his pocket with a clenched jaw.
We drive through the high gates and stop on the bend of the driveway outside of the Castle. “And since you asked—“Sarcasm drips from my tongue. “—I’ve used cold water immersion to keep them at bay over the years. Recently, the terrors came back because I hadn’t been practicing. The cliff works because of the adrenaline too. It just… helps keep it all away.”
Priest looks between me and War, before resting on Stella.
“No one asked, Halo.” War disregards me with cruel indifference.
“Stay with her at all times!” Priest says to Stella.
“Hold up!” Stella’s hand lands on Priest’s chest. “We know. Have any of you ever noticed that none of us haveeverslept alone?” She blinks at them all as if they’re slow. “We are always together. Always here, or at one of our own houses. We live with each other. And none of you thought that weird? Not that she’s ever did it to that extent, but the terrors—all of that, we’ve known about.”
“Honestly,” Vaden shrugs, “kind of just thought that was normal.”
War’s next words stop me. “You said you didn’t know where she was, Stells. So which is it?” His head swivels toward the both of us and now that his eyes are on mine, I see it. The detachment. The betrayal, maybe? “Did you or didn’t you know that she was there?”
