Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“Start from the beginning again.” Boots clipped the floor in a steady beat, and my scrutiny centered on the deep scuff mark and dried blood on Ash’s boot as he paced from wall to wall, which wasn’t very far in the small cube-shaped room.
Big enough for two cots, but the rest of the room was bare.
Nothing else had been placed in here yet.
I folded my arms tighter against my ribs, using the corner to keep myself propped up, exhaustion nipping at my legs like a pack of hounds.
Licking my lip, I exhaled. “The nectar . . . it’s me.”
Warwick dropped his head, pinching his nose, leaning against the wall parallel to mine.
Lukas and Kek sat on the opposite bed from me, looking utterly confused.
It was my decision to bring them into this conversation.
They were part of it now, and I wanted them to understand the real stakes.
The danger they were putting themselves in being associated with me.
I had already rushed over a condensed version of everything so far, like the link between me, Warwick, and Scorpion. Given their expressions, they were struggling even with the minimal information I gave them.
“What do you mean you?” Ash ran his hands through his grimy hair, continuing to pace.
“The nectar is my afterbirth.” I tugged on my lip. “My mother was on the field giving birth to me the moment the wall fell. All that magic . . .”
“Absorbed into it like a sponge.” Ash stopped, eyes wide with disbelief. “Absorbed into you.” He dropped his head back. “Holy shit.”
“I’m so confused. Why was your mother there?” Kek absently stroked her braid. “And how did necromancers turn into living, breathing witches before my eyes?”
“Me.” I dipped my head, pulling my neck tighter.
“I was holding the nectar, and it was showing me what had happened on that field. I even saw the moment the Seelie Queen was killed. That is when the wall completely dropped and magic flooded Earth. But then I was suddenly linked with Scorpion, and I saw my uncle’s bunker get blown up.
Saw the devastation and death . . .” I swallowed over the lump in my throat, the images flashing back through my mind like a movie.
“I couldn’t lose him,” I croaked.
“So you brought him back.” Ash shut his lids briefly. “And with all the power, you brought them back as well.”
“Wait. Wait.” Kek held up her hand. “You were able to bring seven necromancers back to life, while miles away you were also in the bunker, and because of some bizarre ghost link to Scorpion, you were bringing your uncle back to life?”
I flinched, realizing how utterly absurd and insane it sounded. “Yes.”
Kek’s jaw dropped, her navy eyes wide. “What the fuck are you?”
The lump in my throat expanded, almost choking off my air. “I don’t know.” My voice came out so quiet it barely carried to them.
“There is no name, no race, no one else who came before you. It is you who decides what you are.”
The room was quiet, all eyes on me, while I stared at the bloodstain on my pants.
The dirt and tears proving the night was not a dream.
This was all happening. Only last spring, I was happily ignorant of what lay ahead, the domino effect about to totally flip my entire world and beliefs.
Sitting on the roof of HDF with Caden, drinking Pálinka, the scent of the Danube in the air, the wind blowing in my hair.
My one problem was wishing Caden would kiss me, and I was oblivious to the thorny web snarling around me.
The lies, deceit, and truths were weaving my story way before I was even born.
“Hey.” Ash strolled up, rubbing my arm. “I told you, you are not alone. We’re going to figure this out, okay?
” His head dipped, trying to connect with my eyes.
“I mean, you literally aren’t alone.” He motioned back to Warwick, who hadn’t moved from his position on the wall.
“Though I’m not sure that asshole is in the plus column. ”
My chin lifted, Warwick’s emotionless eyes on mine. He shifted against the wall, turning away.
Distant.
Cold.
“What?” Ash’s look ping-ponged between us, his forehead wrinkling, his demeanor shifting as if he could feel the icy tension prickling between us. “What am I missing?”
“It’s gone,” I whispered, finally saying it out loud.
“What is?” Ash whipped back to me.
“The link.” I swallowed. “It’s gone.”
Ash blinked several times, confusion twitching his cheek. “What do you mean gone?”
My attention fluttered over to Warwick again. Gaze on the ground, his arms were crossed, shoulders up high. Defensive. Guarded.
It happened once before when I used up all of his energy in the fight at the train station. This felt very different.
Absolute.
“I think something happened when I brought everyone back.” I dug my shoulders further into the cement wall.
“The magic running through me . . .” My vocals gave out.
Why was I getting so emotional over this?
“Saving my uncle. I don’t know. It was like it fried me from the inside out.
I didn’t realize it for a while. I mean, so much was going on. But it’s gone.”
Warwick shifted again, his attention still not meeting mine.
“The nectar as well,” Ash replied, his mouth bunching together. “That’s why it was dull after.” He bobbed his head, putting pieces together. “You burned through it, bringing them all back.”
My emotions only skimmed the surface now. “I think so.” I tucked loose strands of hair behind my ear. “Do you think it’s gone for good?”
Ash huffed, scouring his hand through his hair again, looking suddenly tired. “Possibly. Magic, like nature, is a balance. It’s a give and take. Like any natural resource, there is an end to it. If you used it all up, it might be extinguished forever.”
Crunching my molars together, I nodded in understanding. Did I destroy the object so many had spent their lives trying to locate? Did I kill a little piece of me along with my connections to Warwick and Scorpion?
I had no clue how I was supposed to feel about any of it. Especially since the treasure that people would kill for was me.
“I’m sorry, I’m still stuck on her being able to save General Takacs though she was miles away.
” Lukas leaned over his legs on the cot.
“I may just be a half-breed and raised mainly by a human, but I know that’s not possible.
The only connections I’ve ever heard of even close are through mated pairs or the same species, usually by noble fairies.
And neither of those sounds like what you are talking about.
So how the hell was she able to be with us at the castle, but back in Savage Lands saving her uncle at the same time? ”
“How was she being born and saving his ass too?” Kek snorted, thumbing to Warwick.
“Pokol,” Ash muttered. “Of course.”
“What?” I straightened off the wall.
“Think about it. It was twenty years to the night you brought Warwick back to life, without actually being there.”
My brain stumbled over all the other incidences, I hinted at bringing people back, but each time I was there in person. Only the freak time was Warwick, Scorpion, and now Andris.
“Yeah.”
“Both times you were holding or coated with the magic-infused afterbirth.”
“But I went through the book to save Warwick,” I replied.
“In theory, yes.” Ash tapped on his chin. “But now we know you were actually there. The infant was you, and you were the one who had the magic. The older version of yourself was simply a conduit. The magic you absorbed the night of the fae war is the same magic you used tonight to save Andris.”
In its confusing way, it made sense, and the significance of it sat heavy on me. I was capable of bringing people back to life.
“And the necromancers?” Luk asked. “Or whatever they are now.”
“They are basically like Scorpion.” Ash smiled at me. “Just lucky bystanders in the moment.”
They weren’t my targets but were in the path of magic, becoming recipients of it whether they wanted it or not.
“Damn, little lamb. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Got some kink under that hot human facade. You’re like a really fucked up reverse necromancer.” Kek winked at me.
Her words hit deeper than she expected, carving into my chest.
My mother was a witch. Human, yes, but cursed.
I still knew so little about what led them to be necromancers.
Why they were blighted in the first place, going from Wiccans to cursed necromancers.
It seemed insane. The day before, my mother was feeding off souls from corpses and reanimating skeletons. Now she was alive.
The shock of finding my mother again was like a blast of freezing air.
Shocking. Brutal. It left me numb. I had an entire family I never knew about, just miles from me, and I had no clue how to even wrap my mind around it.
To come to grips with how I felt, especially when so many other things were colliding in, crushing me.
Killian’s piercing eyes and beautiful face entered my mind, right after the softness of Zander, the way he tipped his head when he looked at me.
They were gone. Dead.
Oxygen evaporated from my lungs, my spine curling as I tried to get my breath.
“Brex?” Ash came up, his voice sounding further away than it should have, his hand touching my shoulder. “You all right?” Concern shaded his timbre. Full of compassion and attentiveness.
I was being smothered. Everything was closing in on me, scratching at my skin, making me want to claw my way out. To run and never look back.
“Brex?” Ash rubbed my arm.
“Get out.” I tried to breathe.
“What?”
“Everyone out.” I curled over more, my voice hissing. “Please . . . get out.”
Ash hesitated, the empathy in his expression strangling me further.
“Go!” I needed air. Space. I wanted to be left alone.
Ash nodded, “We’ll be close by if you need us.” He waved for them all to leave the room.
Sucking in gulps of air, I saw Kek and Luk follow him out of the corner of my eye.