Chapter 15
Aurelia
“Maybe we made a mistake that night, Lia,” Minnie says, her eyes red-rimmed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have killed Tiberius.”
The lockdown is over, and we’re sitting with Raquel in their hospital room again.
Henry and Eugene are perched on the wolf anim’s legs, gazing at their face.
This is not the first time that Minnie has said these words to me.
“It’s normal to doubt yourself after killing someone, Min,” I say gently. “But you did the right thing.”
She’s not sure of herself. But I am. Especially after seeing the state of the medical wing with the number of poisoning patients who are still here, including Stacey.
The place is still in chaos, and short staffing is such a problem that I’ve been charting Raquel’s observations for them while we’re here.
We’d helped shower Stacey this morning and put her safely back into bed to rest so the nurses could attend to the sicker patients.
Tiberius was not only responsible for them, but for the Lily Institute’s destruction and Cassius Clawson’s death, and by the look Sabrina is giving me, she thinks the exact same: The Clawsons needed to be put down.
“You’ll get over it, Min,” Sabrina says darkly.
“Blair and Blade say you get used to killing beasts after a while.” Wisdom from assassins doesn’t help Minnie in her fretting.
“I’ve never been more sure of something,” I say.
My best friend looks at me like she’s not sure I’m well.
“I understand you think I might be biased,” I say evenly.
“But my father’s new political position has only proven me right.
He means…” I don’t want to scare my friends.
I don’t need them more fearful than they are.
But they don’t know Mace Naga behind closed doors.
They don’t know the level of his ambition and the lengths he’ll go to.
The lengths he’s been planning since even before he became the leader of the serpent court.
I take a deep breath. “I’m just going to say that the signs are all pointing things out to me. We need to take action.”
“Like what, Lia?” Minnie breathes.
“I need my mates back,” I say firmly. “That’s first.”
Eugene clucks in agreement, and I hand him a blueberry.
Henry has understood that I’ve needed my space lately.
That Stacey, Raquel and Sabrina have all needed him more than me.
No doubt the violence pounding through my veins at every moment has set his psychic metres on alarm.
But he turns to me now, those huge, liquid black eyes glistening.
I hold out my hand, and he chirps in greeting, levitating himself to settle onto my palm.
I raise him to my face, and he licks me on the nose.
“You’re doing a good job,” I whisper to him.
“You’re such a good nimpin.” He closes his eyes and sways a little, enjoying my voice.
My hand trembles. Hastily, I lower him to the mattress.
Henry tries to find the source of my anger in my eyes.
I’m afraid that if he looks too long, he’ll find it.
“Such a small creature shouldn’t carry such large burdens. Leave that to the big, nasty beasts.”
“Leave that to the big boss bitch,” Sabrina drawls. “The head of Kharkorous Enterprises.” Why does my heart twang every time she says that? Because it means he’s not here to look after things. It means his shark eyes aren’t going to appear around that corner and pierce my soul.
In Henry’s eyes, I see trust. I see the same in Sabrina’s.
Even Minnie, despite her current torment about the Clawsons, trusts me implicitly.
I realise it with all the force of a cricket bat to the head.
I know Raquel would trust me too. That’s why they came for me the night Savage asked them to help contact me at Drakos Estate.
Eventually, me and my thoughts leave my friends for the library.
Eugene alone tails me like a faithful shadow as I head for the section on serpents.
The academy must have hidden books away at some point, only to reveal them later.
Everything we could find, I’ve taken back to our dorms, and we’ve exhausted the school’s supply.
But I hunger for more. So I get out my phone and call someone I’ve been avoiding speaking to.
“Aurelia?” The soft voice is gentle in my ear, but there is a new power that Selena Drakos carries with her now.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner,” I say. “I…didn’t know—”
“I understand,” she says, a door closing in the background. “Are you alright? Have you heard anything? I’ve been scouring the news and social media, but everything is quiet, and with Mother’s treasure haze, we have to keep a low profile. She won’t let me leave.”
I’d since learned that a treasure haze originated from hard-won or hard-spent objects from a time where dragons lived in mounds of their own gold and jewels.
Eventually, it transitioned to parents and children, and then, between mates.
Lady Drakos had nearly died in the fight to kill Flores, and she’d won Drakos Estate.
It will be impossible to approach those lands without incurring her wrath.
“The lady of the castle is okay?” I ask.
“She’s obsessive about feeding the hatchlings and cleaning them. They think it’s funny and pretend to go into treasure hazes over silly things like chocolate and their plushies. We’re all good here; we just have to wait this out.”
Reassured by this, I move onto business. “You heard about Clawson House?”
I give her a quick recap and expect to get berated for it, but she seems to understand my heightened state because all she says is, “I wish I was there to help you.”
“I’m going to get them back, Selena,” I say.
She says the one thing that could give me heart right now. “I know you are.”
“Are you able to access your underground library?” I ask. “I’m researching a few things.” We speak for a while after that, and Selena tells me she’s going to scan some pages and email them to me, since Lady Drakos is only letting food delivery drivers in and out of the house right now.
That night during my patrol, I return to the top of the animus dorm for my three-hourly break to find five missed calls from Rufus, my new advisor.
Swearing under my breath, I return his call.
He picks up on the first ring. “Lady Boneweaver, you need to see this video that’s currently circulating all over social media.
I have done my best to take down any reposts, but it’s gone viral and spreading fast—”
I look down at my screen to see the video he’s sent me and almost drop my phone in the process.
Under the strobe lights of a nightclub, Katerina Crocodylus wears a sexy outfit that is more lingerie than dress, lounging on a red loveseat in a roped-off area.
On her hand is that nefarious silver bangle she wears with the chains.
But connected to them this time are four all too familiar figures.
The other pieces of my soul are chained to her, their heads bowed, their naked skin bare for everyone to see, coloured lights bouncing off them like there’s something to celebrate.
Only Scythe is clothed, his signature black shirt crisp, those silver strands ever perfect.
The Collector laughs over her shoulder, replying to something unintelligible.
“The Boneweaver girl can come and see them if she wants. See if they want her back.” Everyone around her laughs.
All I see is red.
I explode into dragon form and roar into the night. The building shakes beneath me. Somewhere, glass breaks. There are screams from inside. Tearing into the sky, I’m nothing but a terror of muscle and sinew in the dark.