Chapter 28 Cedar
Cedar
“Aurelia! Vesper!’”
I screamed as I tried to reach for them, but it was lost in the magic that transported us from the Castle palace to the cathedral where our White Lotus meetings were held.
I was thrown to the ground, the high priest’s laughter echoing throughout the room.
Flashbacks of every single time I had been in the same room hit me all at once, disorienting me.
Don't get distracted. If you do, you'll die.
A burst of magic was suddenly thrown at me, and I rolled, just narrowly escaping it.
“You thought you could get away. Leave the White Lotus. After everything I have done for you?”
I forced myself to my feet. He was facing me, his magic spilling out. But it wasn't only his magic. He was standing on top of a rune that gave him the power. The same rune that stole our magic from us as he whipped us.
The statues of the gods were behind him, all of them looking down at us. Watching, but not intervening. Just like always.
Helma, please.
I was at my wits’ end, begging internally to a goddess while the enemy was right in front of me.
I had always waited for the gods to answer me. I was dedicated in my prayers. I prayed to them my entire life. I believed they were the ones pulling the strings. That they could help me.
It was why I stayed for so long, thinking they would show me the way. It wasn't until I met Vesper and Aurelia that I started to think differently.
I stopped praying to them and started focusing on my lovers and what we could accomplish together.
Still, the gods remained silent. Was it because they had abandoned us for the atrocities we committed? Or because they abandoned me?
“You killed my parents,” I hissed at him. His magic was crawling inside me. After years of him pumping it inside me, it was starting to wake up just for this moment.
It felt disgusting. Like my body was being invaded.
“You took me and initiated me into the White Lotus. I was too young. You abused me in the name of toughening me up for my role. You didn't do anything for me.”
Pain lashed through me as my magic tried to fight his. He held up his hands, his magic exploding around us. White dots covered my vision.
“I gave you a home,” he said, a magic whip now extending from his hand. “I accepted you into my coven, even though your parents fucked everything up. I didn't hold their sins against you.”
“The only sin they committed was believing you in the first place.”
He let out a laugh. Only then did I realize how similar he and Aurelia’s brother were, both overtaken by the madness of power.
“Why did you even align with him?” I had to quickly roll out of the way as he tried to whip me. My entire body screamed at me to stop. I tried to call for my magic, but it was backfiring. “Wasn’t this whole thing about the prophecy?”
“You still know nothing!”
He tried to hit me again, but only got my foot as I dodged. White-hot pain shot up my body. His magic was attacking mine, and I wasn't strong enough to fight it.
I tried to call forth anything, but the light that came from my hands quickly disappeared, leaving me all alone. Powerless.
If I don’t come up with something quickly, he may take over my entire body, steal my magic, and leave me to rot.
“You sent us to watch Vesper. To make sure she saw the prophecy through. Why did we get so involved when you were just going to ally yourself with him and throw away everything we worked—”
“Because I wanted it for myself!” he screeched and sent out a blast of magic that knocked me off my feet. “Because for years and years, I helped them take other vampires’ life force. I watched as they grew powerful only to be stuck with the shitty magic all of you fed me. It wasn't enough.”
The air was knocked out of me.
We were more intricately connected than I ever imagined. This didn't just span my lifetime—this had been going on for decades.
This was why the runes had looked familiar at the castle and the council. He was the one behind the scenes, helping them with everything, telling us we were there to enact the prophecy when he was using us to take back the power he thought he was owed.
“But the family didn't trust witches,” I said and pushed myself up, shockwaves still running up my body.
“Let me guess—after you did the work, you were ousted.” I let out a laugh.
“You thought you were going to have the first coven to make good with the vampires because you taught them this disgusting magic.
You didn't care that they were using witches or their own people.”
“Because they were going to give it all to me!” he bellowed. “That was our deal. I would do the work, they would act as my guinea pigs, and then I would take it all. But they went back on their word, and they kept that stupid woman locked up.”
It all comes back to this. The one bloodline everyone has always thirsted after.
Ice-cold realization froze me to the ground.
“You want them to die so you can take their place. Why didn't you just take Aurelia when she was here?”
He gave me a smirk.
“I had a plan. Keep her here, eventually gain her trust. To them, it would look like I was still on their side, but when it was time, I would have both her and her mother to feed me.”
The euphoric expression on his face only made me more nauseous, especially after having seen what really went down in the dungeon. Even imagining Aurelia bleeding out for him…
I will never let that happen. I will burn everything to the ground first.
“You'll never stop, will you?”
“Why would I? I deserve what is rightfully mine. And I will take it. I don't care who stands in my way. Including you.”
That was all I needed to know. My mind went back to Morgan.
She knew nothing would be enough until I got revenge. Because the witch in front of me was crazy with the need for power. There would be no changing him. And if he was left in this world, we would always be on the run. Always trying to save ourselves from anyone wanting to use Aurelia’s blood.
I held out my hand, focusing on it. Calling the orb to me.
I could feel it around me, the water rushing down my skin, soothing me.
And then it blinked into focus. There was a split second when I thought he realized what was going to happen, but it was too late. I called forth the last bit of my magic, pushing it into the orb before giving him one last smirk.
“You won’t be taking anything. From me or anyone else. Ever again.”
I slammed the orb into the ground as he lunged for it. It shattered as soon as it hit, the magic exploding outward in a fiery blast.
The fire magic caught onto anything and everything. I dragged myself across the floor before I could push myself up to run away from it. The flames licked at me, desperately trying to eat me alive.
But I didn’t check where I was going and found myself trapped under the statues of the gods as the entire cathedral started to go up in flames. My coven leader was screaming in pain as they came at him with a vengeance.
They seemed drawn to him.
This was our revenge.
Mine. Morgan’s. Morgan’s sister. And the revenge of every single person he had ever wronged.
The smoke started to choke me.
I'm not going to make it out of here alive.
This was what the seer warned us about. The coven was always going to burn. It had been set in motion long ago, and I played right into fate’s hand.
My chest hurt as I focused on the bond.
I wish I could see them one last time.
And then I felt it behind me. The low rumbling of ancient magic. Something I had only felt in passing.
I looked behind me to see that the gods had shifted. Their glowing eyes were on me. I almost dropped to my knees right then and there.
A shackled little boy appeared from the fire. It was like it made way for him, not burning even a hair on his head. He looked up at me with a melancholy face.
“You finally made it,” he said.
“I did. Am I going to die here?”
He smirked at me.
“The gods have other plans for you.” He took both my hands, turning me just slightly so I was facing the entrance of the cathedral. The fire was waning. It was set to attack the coven leader, and him only. Now that he was lying in the fire, charred to bits, it had done his job.
“Thank you for coming back.”
I turned to look at him again, but he too had disappeared, and with him the rest of the fire. The only thing left was the ashy remains of the high priest.
I fell to my knees then, my mind trying to make sense of it all, but I only allowed myself a moment.
Vesper and Aurelia need my help.
My magic was trying to recover, and for the first time, I was able to access it without the lingering bits of his.
It was pure and all mine.
My body hurt, begging me not to move. But I didn't have that luxury.
Just as I stood up, the door opened.
Gabriel stuck his head in, his eyes going wide when he saw me.
“Thank god! I thought the kid was trying to trick me.”
Of course the seer sent him. And I was grateful for it.
“You're my ride, aren't you?”
Gabriel sent me a stiff smile. “I am. The hunters have changed their mind. They're sending me, but I need your help.”
I nodded and pushed myself to move. I stopped at the entrance to look back at the gods, but they had gone back to their original positions as if nothing had happened.
But I felt it. The gods hadn’t abandoned me. I understood it now. They would come when they were needed.
I'd been using them as a crutch, pushing all my thoughts and wishes onto them and blaming them when nothing came true.
I had to take the first step, and they would be there to catch me if I fell.
They were here for me now. I sent them a silent thank you before turning around and leaving with Gabriel.
Wait for me.