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Forty-Four
Both Lailaand I hang back from Octavia as we make our way towards Vladimir Dracul’s final resting place. Without Cyrus, loneliness creeps into the marrow of my bones. The Cyrus I knew would tell me if Vladimir was alive. He’d never let me walk into a trap.
But I don’t know him. Not really. I only know what he allowed me to know.
Bitterness brims to the surface, threatening to break free with every step I take in that dank, dusty room. He seduced me. He used the power of our blood connection to make me believe we were falling for each other. He made me believe I liked him—no, loved him.
Love.
God, it seems so stupid to even think it after such a short amount of time. But I really thought I might be in love with him.
Octavia stops. She closes her eyes, and I glance at Laila, concerned. If a pissed-off vampire king is about to burst outof a coffin, I’d like to be around a witch with her eyes wide open.
“The seal is not broken,” Octavia says, her voice deep. “And neither is the ward. I can… I can feel his presence inside the crypt.”
Her eyes open, and she pulls in a long breath and staggers back as though she’s been punched in the stomach. Laila and I rush to help her.
Raising a hand to her forehead, Octavia straightens up. “He’s definitely in there.”
“In there… alive?” Laila’s voice trembles with fear.
Octavia shakes her head. “Not alive. And yet not completely dead.” She glances at us both, blinking as though waking up from a dream. “Come on, girls. We need to get you out of here.”
Laila stays close to me on the way out, and I can tell she knows I’m upset by all the revelations we’ve seen tonight. Cyrus is gone. His mother and sister are now alive, and they are gone too. I have no idea where they could be, and Cyrus is ignoring our psychic link.
Then it hits me.
If Cyrus can enter my mind, then maybe I can enter his. There’s nothing to stop me from using our connection to find out where he is right now.
Laila locks the door behind us. Then she checks the door handle three times. I gaze down at the cobwebs on my shoes, still in a state of shock.
“I guess your Care Bear escaped,” Laila says.
She’s filled with anxious energy and begins pacing the small space between our beds. I’m the opposite. Every inch of me is drained.
I flop down on my bed. “I guess so. Along with mummy and big sis.” I run my fingers through my hair.What a complete and utter mindfuck.
“You okay?” Her hands are clamped tightly together, her body tensed. I can tell she isn’t very good at asking others if they are upset.
“I’m okay.” I try to give her a reassuring smile. “But this can’t be good.” I sigh. “Cyrus asked about his family. He wanted to see them, but I’d assumed the wards would stop him from accessing them. If he somehow figured out how to raise them, he didn’t tell me. He definitely didn’t hint he was going to do it. I thought he was still stuck in that room with the ward.” I pause. “But I swear, I saw it keep him in there. I know you might think I’m deluded at this point, but I don’t think he killed Jenny Valetta.”
“I believe you,” Laila says. “Maybe his mother and sister were awoken first, but you just didn’t know.”
I nod. “I guess it’s possible. But… Well, I thought I was the only one with the power to do it. I’m the only Belvedere here, right?”
She nods.
“Then who the hell brought down the ward? Who could have done that?”
“I don’t know,” Laila admits. “So much of our magic is linked to our ancestors. But the thing is, so many different families marry into each other. It’s possible that there is some blood from your Belvedere line running through the veins of… I don’t know, several different students at the academy.”
I stand, adrenaline flooding into me. “Of course! We’re talking generations here, aren’t we? It makes sense!”
“And the same for Octavia Pax. I know she is older than us, but she has family members. Cousins and so on.”
“I did what I did by accident. But I don’t think the other resurrections were accidental at all. I think someone did it on purpose.” I chew on a thumbnail. “Maybe I need to speak to the other necromancers.”
“You think they could have done it?”
