Chapter 3
DRAVEN
Something is off. I’ve felt it ever since the night we left her at the Wishing Tree. I can tell by the way she looks at me… Mia is keeping secrets. But I will break her. I’ll fucking ruin her all over again to get to the truth.
She needs to remember who she belongs to. That every piece of her existence is tied to mine. I’m the one she’s supposed to be her true self with. And I won’t tolerate anything less.
I watch her like a hawk. I observe when she thinks I’m distracted. She’s on guard with me. Aries and Bones cater to her wildest impulses too much. And Nox… my beloved Nox is so tormented by the trauma bond he shares with her that he’d let her get away with anything. But I will not.
I’m the one who dragged her ass out of the poison fields after she threw a temper tantrum and set them on fire—almost killing herself in the process.
She would’ve rather burned her whole fucking house down than give in to me.
That fire is still within her. It festers.
If she doesn’t let me in soon, she’s going to combust.
But she’s not the only one who’s acting strangely. It seems as if the whole town is caught in some sort of cataclysm. I wake up in a cold sweat most nights, reeling from some demonic dream. The darkness reaches for me with frenzied fingers, desperate to latch onto my soul for good.
I roll down the window and light up a cigarette. As I exhale into the wind, a much farther trail of smoke catches my eye. “Stop. Rodrick, stop the car.”
Mia leans across my lap to look out the window.
“What is it, Dray?” Aries asks.
Rodrick pulls to the side of the road, and we all climb out. I squint toward the tree line. “Something’s burning in the Circle.”
“A forest fire? I’ll call the authorities.” Rodrick snaps into protector mode, proving once again that he is more than just a driver.
I shake my head. “Not yet. This could be Nocturnus business.”
Aries smooths his hands down his silk lapels, a picture of elegance and chaos. “It’s probably just kids. Remember how much trouble we got into our senior year? My mother did not appreciate us hosting a séance party in the apothecary.”
Mia bursts out laughing. “Why doesn’t that surprise me about you lot? I wish I knew you back then.”
There’s a knot in the pit of my stomach telling me that this is more than just some teenagers lighting a bonfire in the woods. I can’t explain it, but I can feel it all around me. “I think we should check it out.”
Mia groans. “Seriously? I hate the woods.”
Aries towers over her and bends down until his lips graze her ear. “You didn’t mind them when we had you pinned against that tree. I can still feel your tight little cunt stretching around my fingers.”
The memory of that night makes my cock spring to life. But their lack of seriousness is starting to irritate me more than turn me on. “Are you both fucking high right now?”
Their eyes widen like deer caught in the headlights. Mia stumbles back against the car. “We are joking around, Draven. Maybe you should try it once in a while.”
I loosen my tie, cursing myself for wearing one.
There’s a flicker of heat licking the back of my neck, a fire sparked by adrenaline and instinct.
I glare daggers at both of them. “Get in the car. Rodrick, take us to the Circle. If it’s just a high school party, then I’ll leave them be with some Blackwell gin.
There’s a case of it in the trunk. But either way, I want to know who’s hosting bonfires in my town. ”
The closer we get to the smoke, the thicker the tension between us. Words unspoken hang in the air. Have we really dealt with our feelings about Nox and Mia? Before they came to Ever Graves, it was just me, Aries, and Bones. We had our routine, but it lacked that fire that Mia and Nox give us.
Yet we haven’t discussed any of it. I’m more to blame for that than anyone, but no one else is pushing the subject either. We are trying to act as if nothing has changed when everything has.
As we near the Circle, visions of Bones dancing around his opponents flash in my mind. The ground is stained with his blood, mostly theirs, among other bodily fluids. I crane my neck out the window as we approach.
“I told you,” Aries snickers.
The remnants of a bonfire smolder out. “Where are the kids then?”
Mia follows me out of the car. “They probably high-tailed it into the woods when they heard us coming.”
Aries nods in agreement. “Yep. They heard tires on gravel and didn’t waste any time getting the fuck out of here. We would’ve done the same.”
I throw him a side-glare as I amble toward the dying bonfire. “No, we wouldn’t have. I’m a fucking Blackwell, and you’re a Thorn. Who the fuck is punishing us? We never ran from anyone.”
Aries warms his hands by the fire. “I think you’re the only one who thought that back then, Dray. The rest of us didn’t want to get smacked by our fathers.”
“That did not happen in my house.” I glare into the flames.
“That’s because your father was afraid of you.” Aries snorts.
Chills slink up my back. “Yeah. Now we know why…” Finding out that I’m half-nightmare was more of a surprise to me than it was to my father. He never said it out loud, but the way he treated me and my mother was enough to prove that he did know something was wrong with me.
Mia shivers and folds her arms over her chest. “I wonder what mine was like sometimes.”
“Trust me, you’re better off not knowing.” I feel a twinge of guilt for my lack of empathy, but this pit inside me grows. It festers like rotting fruit.
“You know, legend has it that the Circle was once a ritual site.” Aries kneels down and runs his palm over the dirt. He sprinkles some into the wind. “There are stories of ancient blood sacrifices at the Wishing Tree, but here also.”
Mia steps closer to me, leaning into my side. “I’ve always felt like the energy is off here. Like something isn’t right. I thought it was from all the fights. But that makes more sense.”
I’ve heard the stories too. The whispers of the past that still haunt these woods and streets.
Lately, I’ve had dreams of myself standing here in this very spot.
The flames are burning bright, and I’m holding the raven’s blade.
I’m standing over a cloaked body. And the ground is soaked in blood.
I start to pull the covering back, but I wake up before I can see their face.
I shake my head. “Maybe they’re just stories we’re told as children to fuck with our heads. My grandmother loved to scare the ever-loving shit out of me.”
Aries stands as if he is suddenly remembering he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. He dusts off his fingers with a monogrammed handkerchief. “Yeah, maybe. But this is Ever Graves, Dray. We, more than anyone, know the fucked-up shit that’s happened here.”
Mia stares listlessly into the dying embers. “And Bones always wins,” she murmurs. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”
Aries snorts again. “No, it’s because he’s a lethal psycho killing machine.”
Maybe Mia is onto something. Bones is deadly. He’s strong, fast, and ruthless. But he’s never been beaten by anyone. No one’s even come close. And yet I’ve seen him take more than a few licks to the face in random bar fights at Duff’s.
“Well, we’ve made our seamstress wait long enough. Sorry I made us detour out here.” I’ll have to pay the woman double at this point. She’ll try to refuse it, but my guilt won’t let her. I’m a man of my word if anything. And I hate being late for my own appointments.
Aries claps me on the back as we head to the car. “It’s all good. You did the right thing. Now we know it was just a bunch of kids drinking and fucking around.”
I nod as I hop into the back seat, but something still prickles the back of my neck. The thought of this being sacred ground still turns over and over in my head. What if we had gotten here earlier? Would we have seen kids partying? Or something else?
Because there’s no trace of them. No empty red plastic cups on the ground. No cigarette butts. No footprints in the dirt. All that remains are the remnants of the bonfire. And the faint scent of embalming fluid.
I’m too distracted to pay attention to the elaborate costumes.
I agree to one without taking notice of it.
It’s velvet and dark, and it fits me well.
That’s all I care about. Mia, on the other hand, is breathtaking in a gown worthy of a queen.
The corset is cinched tight enough to give height to her beautiful tits, but not so much that she can’t breathe.
Although, a little breath play while she’s dolled up like this could be fun.
Aries looks as gorgeous as ever too. I swear these kinds of suits were designed for him and him alone. With his blond hair slicked back off his tanned forehead, he resembles a Greek god. The light-gray brings out the blue-green seafoam in his sparkly eyes.
He pretends he’s on a catwalk, strutting back and forth in front of me. “I think you dropped your jaw on the floor, Dray.”
I give him a smirk. “I always do when you walk into a room, Ries.”
Mia beams back at each of us in the mirror. “What a lucky bitch I am. You both look stunning.”
“As do you, my love.” I plant a kiss on the top of her bare shoulder.
Bones, of course, weaseled his way out of the fitting, but I won’t let him off the hook. As hot as he looks in a white tee and gray sweatpants, he also has the body and jawline for luxury attire. And I will get him into something exquisite before the Wild Hunt celebrations begin.
Nox is another story. Even the mere mention of the tradition makes his skin crawl.
He’s said as much, plus I can see the way his tail coils and quakes around his thighs when it’s brought up.
For someone who has lived inside someone else’s nightmare world his entire life, he sure knows more about the Wild Hunt than one would expect.
Once we are back at Blackwell Manor, I leave Mia and Aries downstairs to go check on Gunpowder.
The raven is perched in his cage still, even though I’ve left it unlocked.
I wonder how long it will take for him to fly freely.
Perhaps never. Maybe he leaves in my absence and returns when he hears my footsteps down the hall.
I stare at him for what seems like hours while the raven’s blade whispers to me. It’s torment. I’ve sent Riot Graves several messages over the last few months asking him to come retrieve it. I’ve even offered to have it delivered back to him. But he replies the same every time.
Not yet. I’ll let you know when it wants to be reclaimed.
This fucking blade is a nuisance. It thrums with power, but not the kind I have any interest in.
There is already too much darkness in me.
I have no business wielding an object like that.
But I’m forced to keep it until Riot says otherwise.
If he weren’t the head of Nocturnus, or dating my cousin, I’d tell him to go fuck himself and just mail it back to him.
But there are codes of conduct in our world. Rules that must be followed. If Riot Graves tells you to store the raven’s blade for him, then that’s exactly what you do.
And so I am stuck with his demonic dagger that likes to torture me with whispers in a language I cannot decipher. And yet I innately know what it wants. To be wielded. It beckons me. It wants sacrifice and more oaths. We’ve already given it so much.
I’m shaken out of my stupor by the sound of Mia shrieking and giggling down below. A smile pulls at my lips when I find them both half-naked and Mia bent over the billiard table, pool stick in hand.
“Double or nothing, pretty boy,” she taunts.
I take off my jacket and roll up my sleeves. “My love, you are about to lose every outfit you own if you keep playing with this one.”
Aries shooshes me. “I’m not that good.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Sure, and I’m not that rich. Honey, he is hustling you.”
Mia winks and banks the four into a side pocket without looking. “Is he now?”
Aries hollers out in surprise, “No fucking way.”
I snort-laugh. “Now my jaw is on the floor.”
She shrugs while grinning from ear to ear. “Aries, my love, kindly take your pants off.”