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His frown deepened. “Araki… you are being safe, aren’t you? Nadine’s worried, too.”
“I’m sorry that I worry you both. I know this isn’t what you expected. But you know I sometimes need time to ponder things on my own before revealing them. This is one of those times.”
“And it’s to do with Reilyn?”
“Goodnight,” I said, gesturing toward the door. He already knew the answer. I wasn’t going to argue. I still had work to do. Still, Klaus’s worry made me pause, even after he was gone. I didn’t know what the kiss Reilyn and I shared meant. The kiss was different from the rest. In the graveyard, we had both been grieving. I’d let my guard down, revealed to her more than I thought I should… and yet, it felt right. Knowing I would get no sleep tonight, I moved to my library. I’d salvaged the books from my parents’ library after they were brutally murdered. If Opalinewas behind those night walkers, perhaps the old tomes of magic my mother had collected would hold some clue as to what they were and why such gruesome, ritualistic murders were needed. I tasked myself with reading the books.
The words blurred before my vision, as the candles burnt to stabs when a knock came on my door later that evening. I looked up, rubbing my eyes. Had Klaus decided to return?
“Enter,” I called.
The door swung open to reveal Tobias, the man I put in charge of Reilyn’s security. I had ordered him to keep an even closer eye on her after the warehouse incident. Tobias bowed toward me as I stood.
“Your Majesty,” he greeted. “The prisoner is demanding to see you… she’s causing some… annoyance.”
I held back the instant concern that welled in me. Without a word, I brushed past him and hurried down the hallway to Reilyn’s room. As I got closer, I heard the most obnoxious sound like a crow choking on a screeching cat. When I got to the door, I realized it was Reilyn singing a rather sexual song. I bit back a laugh. I knocked loudly on the door even as I unlocked it. Reilyn fell silent. A minute later, she opened the door. “Good,” she said in a croaking voice. “I wasn’t sure how much more I could sing.”
I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me. “I trust that’s not how you normally sing?”
“Only when I’m being deliberately bad,” She smiled.
I chuckled and looked over her, relieved when I saw no obvious signs of distress. She started to pace, tugging at the ends of her braided hair.
“So why did you need to see me so badly?” I pressed.
“I didn’t notice it at first, but I’m certain I smelled aconite.”
“Monkshood?”
Reilyn nodded once, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time… I was too outraged. But there were also oracle bones and so much blood… he was a fae.”
I frowned at her, not understanding what she was getting at. Reilyn stopped her pacing and faced me. “When I was a child, there was a song that I always loved singing about a spell that contained wolfsbane, dragon bones, and fae blood. Aconite, monkshood, and wolfsbane are all the same plant, just different names. Oracle bones are often referred to as dragon bones. And fae blood… the victim…”
The hair at the back of my neck stood on end. “You think this spell was being cast?”
Reilyn shivered as she nodded.
“It was for a spell to ‘wake the dead.’ After… after my parents died and I was brought into the Nightshade, I asked Master Briggs about it.” Reilyn spoke in a rush, as though she wasn’t certain she wanted to share this information. “he told me it was impossible. That the spell didn’t bring the dead back to life, anyway. It was about creating vampires, creatures that no longer had a soul, bound to the will of their creator.”
A chill coursed through me, despite the warmth from the fire that flickered in the hearth. “What was this song called?”
Her brows furrowed. “I don’t remember. It’s been so many years.”
“Can you sing it for me?” I pressed, coming closer. Perhaps there was a clue in the song, something we could use to find answers.
Reilyn closed her eyes and began to sing.
“Pick me heads of wolfsbane,
Toss me bones of dragons,
Fae blood, fae blood,
The dead sleep now.
Crush the heads of wolfsbane,
Read the bones of dragons,
