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“Just close your eyes, Mon cher, we have so much to discuss.Youare going to bring me back my Melody with yourinheritedmagic.”
Everything turned black, and the stink of meat floated through my nose, permeating my vision with images of dead animals littered at my feet.
3
DOMENICO
She had fainted, which didn’t give me much confidence in her magical abilities. Freyja’s wards had been strong enough to keep my men from her cabin, and the ones who did manage to sneak through had told stories of sexual dreams feeling as if they were real. Bite marks trailed their necks when they returned, and each time I ran my fingers over the cuts, Lilith’s scent of honey and fire permeated the air until they left me, bewildered and dazed.
I stared down at the deep purple stone I held inside my lined palm. The night air was cool enough to sting my lungs as I walked the gardens, but the fresh promise of fall lifted my listless mood.
This was the last remnant I had of my Lilith, but she would be returned to me, soon enough. If Freyja obeyed.
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Freyja; if she would respect my orders or simply turn this all into a game for her freedom.
What powers did she hold? Was she a danger to me and to Charles?
I had trusted my youngest and most faithful brother, Dante, with the task of keeping watch over Lilith’s lineage. And while he reported to me often, his men seemed to have plans of their own.
Was it a mistake for me to ask him to take watch over the woman I loved? The woman that I knew he coveted but hated himself for it?
I had too many churches to over-see, thousands of flocks to pass the word of the Lord onto. If I wanted our true identities kept hidden, this secret must stay nestled deep inside the cover of religion.
“It is done, she has been casted into this stone with a binding spell. Her lineage will never know of the power they hold. We will not have to fear her wrath any longer.” I took the stone, turning it over in my hand, feeling a prick of sadness ebb at the corners of my eyes. My one true love, the only woman who saw the monster I was and loved me for it regardless. We were both monsters, and the euphoria we shared would stay etched in my mind forever.
“But what of Melody? She sleeps forever with no way of undoing it. She is my blood-bound child…I must bring her back.”
Dante shifted on his feet, looking back over his shoulder toward his apothecary room filled with potions and dark magic. He never allowed anyone passage into that room, not even me.
“I will find a way—without her.”
Only, he hadn’t done it yet, and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I didn’t want to wait any longer, and if Lilith was the key to waking my sweet girl, then so be it. Deep down, for my own selfish reasons, I wanted—no,cravedfor her return. Would we reunite in love? Would she hate me, blaming me for everything that had happened? I knew bringing her back was reckless. I didn’t care, I would pay the price with my own life if I must.
My body felt old, maybe even weaker. I needed something to put back a spark into this endless life—what she did for me that day in the courtyard. I wanted it back, no matter the consequences.
I squeezed the amulet in my palm until it burned, and I hissed her name into the night, into the endless black sky that stretched beyond the forest border, and beyond this dreadful linear timeline calledthe present.
If only I could transport back to that fateful day, the day we met in 1544. Would I have changed it? I knew the answer already. I wouldn’t change it, because now, I just wanted to relive it.
4
CHARLES
After Charity excused herself from the dinner table, I made a move to follow her, but Domenico quickly stopped me, grabbing my arm.
“So, we have some catching up to do, do we not?” He smiled, a knowing smile, the small secret between us living inside my head rose to the surface, and I pushed it down.
“I really didn’t want you to know the truth about what I was, because, well, I didn’t want tofrightenyou. Though, I do think a lot will make more sense to you now…about your…uniqueupbringing. It was not a traditional one, I know we can agree on that.” Standing, he walked to my side of the table and leaned on it, his hand very close to my arm.
He was handsome and fit. He smelled of pepper and musk, creating a perfectly heady cocktail of confidence and sex.
If I had to admit it, I was most definitely attracted to him in every way I wasn’t supposed to be. But he was right, our relationship was not one that was traditional in any way.
I’m sure it hurt a little at my announcement, but he wanted what was best for me after all, and he would want me to have the most traditional relationship for a boy raised by a priest.
“I’m not frightened.” I wasn’t certain why my brain picked that one part of the sentence to focus on, but it struck me somewhere deep, and I needed to make that clear to Domenico.
I was not afraid.
