Devour the Dark (Devourer #2)

26. Roc

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ROC

He stumbles through the halls of Maddred Manor, searching for his brother.

Instead, he finds his sister.

“Lainey.” Her name is a prayer. His teeth clamp together, trying to stave off the burning in his eyes. How long has it been since he saw her last? Months? Years? Centuries? He can’t remember. It seems like a long time. Long enough to forget about the freckles peppering her nose. The way her eyes glinted in the light.

She laughs, then turns from him and runs. He follows her through the maze of dark halls. She’s always just out of reach, her hair whipping around the next corner.

Then he’s back at his bedroom.

Lainey is nowhere in sight.

His heart thumps in his ears.

Everyone you’ve ever loved has left you , the witch says.

No , he thinks. Wendy is here. The Captain.

They’ve run off with one another just like before.

And when you catch them again, will you take the captain’s other hand?

No , he thinks again, a growl, a plea.

He pushes open the door and finds his room…

Empty .

The panic sets in.

The room spins.

No.

Did they leave him? Did they decide he was too much? Too much of everything. Trouble. Danger. Violence. Baggage.

They decided they were better off without him and his monstrous ways.

They wanted to know if he could care, if he could love, and he couldn’t get the words to escape the claw of his teeth.

Monsters can’t love.

Monsters have no hearts.

They’ve left you.

He turns from the room, stumbles.

The witch is in front of him and then behind.

She’s everywhere at once, closing in.

Go here , she says.

Go there , she says.

He finds himself in the back of the house, bursting into the conservatory.

It’s been years and years since anything grew there, but the air still smells faintly of citrus fruit.

He blinks into the dim moonlight pouring through the glass walls.

There are silhouettes there, several of them, many of them. Ghosts of his past.

“The guest of honor has finally arrived,” a voice calls from the shadows.

A figure steps around him, a blade flashing in the moonlight.

That’s his blade.

There’s no time to wonder when and where he lost it. Only that he did.

And the blade comes forward, sinking into his gut.