Marked By Masks and Secrets (Everlasting Possession #1)

41

EVIE

P rinceton brought me to a small study that was filled floor to ceiling with ancient texts. Magickal materials and trinkets were scattered about, and there was a low hum of power radiating through the space.

“Aren’t you supposed to be finding Allie?” I asked.

Princeton sat in a leather chair as I took the adjacent couch. He lifted a brow. “If I did that, our fun would be over. The unspoken conversation you witnessed began with Kylo telling me not to meet with you while he was gone. He preferred I bring you straight to your babysitters, to which I responded, Don’t tell me what to do . The exchange finished with Kylo promising to cause me harm should I disobey.” He leaned back in the chair and spread out his arms on the armrests. “But I’m a brat and a masochist, so here we are.”

“Oh.” I chewed on my bottom lip. Now that we weren’t moving anymore, my brain was beginning to do that irritating thing it did.

Thinking.

Over and over, in circles and in knots, in catastrophic worries and questions and doubts.

“How concerned should I be?” I asked. “About this battle with the born?”

Princeton cocked his head. “What good would your concern do?” He waved a hand. “We’re just getting started. This is but a skirmish, with lesser born involved in the mortal slave trade. When King Earle and the council get involved… I’d imagine that would be a time to worry. For those who practice such behaviors.”

“ When they get involved?”

Horror churned in my gut. Even my worst fears a week ago paled in comparison to the reality that was now being shoved in my face.

Small-scale violence was one thing. It felt more controllable, like something I could still protect Idris and Mena from.

But war? The turned actually thinking they had a shot of overthrowing born leadership? Not just in Etherdale, but throughout the entire kingdom?

I shook my head as Princeton continued to study me carefully. “Is there some kind of chemical compound down here that’s making you people lose your damn minds? Are you all just irreversibly delusional?”

Princeton laughed. “I was delusional far longer than the existence of the underground. Delusional people are the only ones capable of getting shit done, my faithless friend.”

“Faithless,” I scoffed. I saw a flash of rolling hills, heard chants to Lillian echoing against walls with peeling, crumbling burgundy wallpaper. “Fuck your faith.”

The words left my lips as if on autopilot. I was, on some level, aware that I wasn’t even talking to Princeton at all.

“There she is,” Princeton said, leaning forward in his chair as an unhinged grin spread. “Tell me more, Evie. How can you be all lovey-dovey with someone like him ?”

He was provoking me. I wasn’t stupid, but gods, I was too angry to care. I saw visions of vampire-on-vampire violence in the streets, on campus. I saw Idris, helpless prey in a sea of bloodthirsty wolves. The lights began to strobe.

“Is it perhaps because, underneath your protective facade of sweetness and innocence, you’re more like us than you care to admit? Does the vampire lord of shadows call to your deepest, innermost self?”

“I’m not the one pretending to be something I’m not,” I hissed, my fingernails biting into my palms. “You’re the ones who wear masks and glamours. You’re the ones who think you stand even the slightest chance of surviving a war with a born king who has ruled for what? A thousand years?”

Princeton’s eyes went glassy and, Selena above, I wanted him to stop looking at me—to stop trying to find my power, the poison I’d caged, and the key I’d buried.

“This is a setup.” I shot up from the couch, and with a flick of his wrist, Princeton sent a gust of wind to shove me back down.

My back hit the couch violently, causing it to skid. The most dangerous emotion—that sickly rage—began to blind the edges of my vision, locking its scalding grip around me. Something escaped, shooting up my spine.

The world bent to my will. Bookcases trembled. The floor itself quaked. Objects and texts crashed to the floor.

All the while, Princeton grinned at me. His eyes were rabid, hungry, delighted.

“Did you hurt your brother in a fit of rage?” he drawled. “Is that the block? The reason you’ve bound and glamoured yourself so tightly?”

At the mention of Idris, I had to shut my eyes against the rising tide of fury scraping against my bones. The discomfort grew and grew, and I realized with sudden terror that Princeton was fanning the flames with his own magick, using every method at his disposal to make me explode.

Did he want me to destroy this underground make-believe vampire palace? The whole city?

My eyes flew open. The world was brighter. My sight expanded with the influx of power. I could see the faintest outline of Princeton’s aura—hues of black, purple, green, and red.

“No wonder they hate our kind,” I cried out against the electricity surging through the air, the trembling furniture, the heat traveling up and down my spine. “You want annihilation. Oblivion. Is that why you turn idealistic young humans into monsters? Is that why you’re hoping I’m secretly as evil as you are?”

Princeton laughed, his eyes scanning my body as a book flew at his head. With a casual wave, he deflected it before it crashed into his skull.

My lip curled. “I would never hurt Idris. Never.”

Princeton leaned back in his chair again, his eyes glassy as he gazed too deeply inside me. “Understood.” He casually tapped the armrests as his eyes sharpened. “All right, all right, I’ve seen enough for now.” He sighed, humor draining from his face as he snapped his fingers. “Enough.”

The room filled with darkness. More than darkness—the deep onyx void of a night sky without stars.

Here, I had no stimulus. I couldn’t feel my anger. I had nothing to be angry about. Nothing to fear or hate or love or yearn for.

“Breathe. As deep as you can go.”

The voice was detached, muffled. It embedded deeper than my conscious awareness, coaxing deep breath after breath until my hammering heart began to slow.

Like the calm aftermath of a violent storm, I slowly eased into a more relaxed state.

“That’s it. Keep breathing.”

I knew it wasn’t Kylo speaking, but I pictured his face as I attempted to slow my heart rate. That devastating smirk and the little dimple that formed in its wake.

The darkness receded. The floor no longer quaked. It looked as if a cyclone had swept through the room, but the atmosphere was quiet and still.

I glared at Princeton. “You really thought that provoking me like that was going to earn my trust and make me want to work with you?”

Princeton still held my gaze with calm authority now, only a hint of his smirk remaining. “Would you have revealed any of your true power if I’d merely asked nicely?”

I still wanted to run, to go home and leave this entire world behind. But I saw another vision of Kylo’s silly little dimple, and I sat still.

It was an altogether ridiculous and indefensible reason to stay in this hell.

“You didn’t reveal the truth, and we both know it,” Princeton said. “But I’ve seen enough to know that you aren’t merely a chaos witch. You’re a bloody powerful one. And if all it takes to make you lose control is a random stranger’s weaponized words, then you’re in dire trouble. Especially if you refuse to use that same power to defend yourself from attack.”

I hated that this insane person suddenly made sense. It was easier to justify running when he was being certifiably deranged and chaotic for seemingly no reason.

“There’s no use worrying about what’s out of your control—be it war or the next born atrocity of the week. But you have plenty of reason to worry about your own magick and the danger it is attracting to yourself and everyone around you.” Princeton’s eyes narrowed. “And who knows? Maybe you’ll decide, after I teach you control, that you may want to do more than merely defend your own. Perhaps you may one day decide to use all that righteous anger against your true enemies.”

I heard the shrill shriek of my mother, those soulless gray eyes that now haunted the hills of Isolde. A lump formed in my throat. I wondered if Princeton could see it too.

“I’m done for the day. I don’t care about your opinions of my character. I know you’re trying to manipulate me to serve your own ends, anyway.” I met Princeton’s probing gaze. “But if you prove to me that you can actually help me control the poison inside of me, then I’ll accept your help. I don’t have any interest in hurting anyone.”

Princeton’s irritating smirk was back in full force. “Deal.” He sighed. “There’s your first problem: calling something that’s inherent to your nature and soul a poison. ”

At a loud knock on the door, Princeton’s grin turned even cheekier.

A slim brunette with ornate geometric tattoos burst into the room, nostrils flaring and eyes turning to slits when she spotted Princeton.

Allie sighed in relief as she scanned me up and down.

“Assessing Kylo’s prized possession for damages?” Princeton teased. “She’s fine. Party’s over. Sad.” He winked at me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“No,” Allie corrected. “You’ll see her when Kylo returns.”

Princeton pouted, nodding and feigning resignation that neither Allie nor I believed.

In this moment, I was grateful for Kylo’s slightly unhinged protectiveness. Because at least that meant I could avoid this witch I didn’t trust with a single bone in my body for a short while longer.

“It’s not a poison, Evie,” Princeton called as I escaped with Allie out into the hall. “It’s just you .”

Allie glanced at me curiously. I glared back at the door as it slammed shut with a gust of wind.

I’d never heard anyone say something more horribly cruel.