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“What?” Emil and Josephine gasped.
“I want them guarded at all times, and they can be questioned later when we can make time,” Inez continued, focused on Trisha if I had to guess. “I’m not believing this any more than I did Safie’s crazy that the gods destined me to be her daughter.”
“Yes, Princess,” Moon said as he grabbed Emil and restrained him. “Especially since they don’t seem to be overjoyed at finding their family, but upset she has people to protect her. That’s not a huge red flag or anything.”
The two vampires were led off, Emil bitching and yelling that they would regret treating them this way and be out on their asses later when things changed.
I shared a glance with Kristof, both of us clearly thinking what the fuck is going on?
Inez moved in front of me and gripped my arm with her other hand. “Don’t ever leave me alone with those people. No matter what. Promise me.”
“I swear it to you, love,” I whispered, reaching to cup her face.
Instead, I had to catch her when her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out.
Fuck.
Darius moved in like he was checking on her, but his focus was on me. “Get your mother here now.”
“What?” I gasped.
His gaze darted around, but then relief filled him when Kristof joined us and he felt the barrier Kristof put over us. “This is what Aether was preparing me for. This is real. Those people are. Get your mother here now to be some sort of authority and help us. It cannot be Nora again.”
“What have you been seeing and not telling us?” Kristof demanded.
“She made it clear that I couldn’t, that Inez would break if we don’t handle this correctly,” Darius rasped, exhausted and overwhelmed. He glanced between us but then focused on me. “She’s been giving me images to draw for Inez. I have a full sketchbook and have half another one already.”
I swallowed loudly. “You recognize those people.”
Darius slowly nodded. “They’re her family, and everything I’ve been shown is not good. I didn’t know they were her family though. It was just images and—it wasn’t all centered around them. I think—now I think it’s…”
“What?” I pushed. “Even if you’re not sure, tell us what your gut is saying.”
He let out a slow breath as tears filled his eyes. “That I’ve been drawing the keys to unlock Inez’s mind about her past. That it’s so bad—what she went through was so bad that Aether locked it away for Inez to survive and now she has to know the truth, but learning it could break our wife.”
Fuck.
Fuck, just fuck.
I handed Inez over to Kristof. “I’m going to get Mother and Nora. We can’t let these people have access to Inez or pull something. She doesn’t remember them, but when that man spoke—the terror off of her was unreal. Even if she doesn’t remember, her body remembers to be afraid of that man.”
“We won’t let them do anything to her,” Kristof said firmly. “Your mother by herself is fine.” He gave me a look to calm down. “We just kill them if they pull anything. I think that might be the answer no matter what we find out.”
Of course, that was his default answer.
This time, I might agree with him after how scared Inez had been.
13
Darius
“I need to speak with you,” Eddie said after pushing through others.
“Now really isn’t the time to—”
“I know that man, Darius,” he hissed.
“Follow us,” Kristof ordered, having his full attention now. “Show’s over people. Anyone not family to Inez or of her heart, go back to work and do what she needs done to make her coven better. That’s how you can help.”
