Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
SAMARA
No one sat down when we got to Val’s estate.
I wasn’t sure if that was a collective decision or if we were all just too exhausted to bend in the middle, but we stood in his sitting room like we were expecting someone to throw a punch. Our weapons were still in hand, and everyone was filthy.
Raphael had followed us, and no one stopped him. He stood by the doorway with his arms crossed, and he had the look of a man who’d made a decision and was waiting for an appropriate moment to announce it.
We looked at each other, and something passed between us that wasn’t quite a conversation but was close enough. He was staying. At least for now.
“We need to send for Tony and Miles.” Val was the first to speak. He’d cleaned most of his face but missed a smear along his jaw, and his eyes were still too dark. “The vacants are the immediate problem. The council can wait.”
“Agreed.” Winston leaned against a wall, looking as if his legs were about to fail him.
Val looked at one of his guards who’d followed us in from the gate and said something low. The guard left, and I assumed that meant it would be handled.
Nico stood a few feet to my left. I could feel him there without looking. Since the square, I’d tracked him by proximity because I didn’t entirely trust that he was real.
“There’s something else.” Val’s tone was strained.
I looked at him despite myself, and he was staring at the floor. A vampire who’d ripped his father’s heart out with his bare hands was apparently having trouble figuring out where to look.
I had a bad feeling.
He looked at me specifically, which made the bad feeling worse. “Taylor is alive.”
I heard it. I just did nothing with it for a moment.
The words landed somewhere in my head, but my mind refused to completely take hold of them.
Taylor.
My brother.
The brother I’d metaphorically buried.
The room was silent, waiting for me to become hysterical. To drop to the floor and sob. I could feel their eyes on me.
But I didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t even blink.
Taylor is alive.
The words should have cracked me open, but after centuries of grieving and moving on, I felt… blank.
“He’s b-been making the v-v-vacants.” Kage’s voice came from somewhere near the doorway.
I stared at the painting behind Val’s head. It was some kind of dark landscape with the moon reflecting off a pool of dark red.
Blood.
I didn’t say anything because there wasn’t anything to say that wouldn’t come out wrong. My brother was alive and had been building an army of hollowed-out demons.
How? Why?
It was too much for one day. Too much for one lifetime.
It was Amari who finally broke the silence and got us moving again. “How long will it take Tony and Miles to get here?”
Val answered. Winston said something. There was talk of the forest roads and whether Val’s guards could be trusted. I let it wash over me and tried to remember how to breathe at a normal pace.
I was out of my element, but I also felt like I was right where I needed to be.
The question was, did I want to be here?
Did I want to return to this life where fathers died at their sons’ hands?
Where a council full of men tried to silence a woman who had no physical power over them? Where men I cared about kept secrets?
Where my brother turned innocents into vacants?
But if I turned my back on everything, what would that mean for Inferna?
“We need to rest.” Nico moved closer to me, placing a hand on the small of my back. “Are the guest rooms upstairs?”
Val’s eyes fell to where Nico’s hand disappeared behind my back, lingering there with an unreadable expression before he looked at me.
A muscle twitched in his jaw as he cleared his throat, the sound unnaturally loud in the tension-filled room.
“Upstairs in the left wing. I’ll have my staff leave clean clothes and food outside the door. ”
Nico waited until I started moving before he did. We went up the stairs without talking. There was too much to say, and neither of us was ready yet.
He checked three rooms before settling on one near the end of the hall. He disappeared inside without looking back at me.
Raphael stood behind me in the middle of the hallway, silent as ever. I turned to face him.
“You’re staying?”
“For tonight.” He tapped his fingers on the hilt of his sword. “I’ll need to return to Earth in the morning. Though I don’t even know when morning is here. I left my cellphone at Lucifer’s.”
He’d done more than enough to help me, and I softened a bit toward him. He was choosing to stay in a world that angels weren’t meant to be in.
“I’ll wake you.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure you’ll be awake? You look exhausted, Samara.”
“I don’t sleep much anymore.” The truth came out before I could stop it. “Not well, anyway.”
Raphael studied my face for a moment. Then he nodded once before he moved past me toward one of the other guest rooms, pausing at the threshold.
“Your brother.” He didn’t look at me. “Are you going to be okay?”
I didn’t know how to answer that, so I didn’t try. Raphael seemed to understand and went into the room, closing the door with a quiet click.
I stood in the hallway alone, staring at the dark wood paneling and the sconces that burned with a magical light that didn’t flicker. I’d always loved how beautiful Val’s estate was. It felt as though someone had spent centuries perfecting every detail.
The door at the end of the hall was still open, and Nico was checking the windows when I stepped inside. His jaw was set in that way that meant he was working through something in his head.
I closed the door behind me.
He didn’t turn around. “You can use the bathroom in here. I’ll find another.”
“Nico—”
“I need to check the perimeter.” He was already moving toward the door, not looking at me. “Make sure there aren’t any weak points someone could exploit.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I do.” He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. His shoulders were tight, muscles bunched under his shirt. “You should rest, Peanut. It’s been a long day.”
The nickname made my chest crack wide open. He was trying to be normal, but nothing had been since I’d dragged him into this whole mess.
I wanted to tell him to stay. To talk to me. To stop running.
But I was tired. So tired my bones felt like they were made of lead.
“Okay.”
Nico’s hand tightened on the doorknob. For a second, I thought he might turn around, might say something that would make this easier. Instead, he opened the door and stepped into the hall.
“Lock it behind me.”
Then he was gone.
I listened to his footsteps fade down the hallway and pressed my fingertips against the handle where his hand had been moments before. He’d said to lock it, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn the deadbolt. Leaving it unlocked meant there was a chance he might return and sleep next to me.
I went to the window, and my reflection stared back at me. My hair was a mess, and my face was streaked with dirt and dried blood that wasn’t mine. I looked like someone who’d survived something, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that was.
“Give him t-t-time.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of Kage’s voice. How long had he been in the room?
He seemed to sense my question. “I’m always watching.”
“That’s incredibly creepy.” I brushed at my wet cheeks with the backs of my hands as I turned toward him and couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped.
His lips quirked at the corners like he was about to smile. “It’s our w-way.”
He pulled out the chair at the desk and gestured for me to sit down. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I sat down. He knelt in front of me and untied both of my boots.
“There is a s-story my people used to tell.” He removed one of my boots, setting it to the side. “About a baby born during the biggest storm Inferna has ever seen.”
He spoke confidently and clearly, his stutter gone. I gripped the edge of the chair and didn’t take my eyes off the top of his head as he pulled off my second boot.
“Her mother was visiting her horse in the stables, feeling bad about not being able to ride her so late in the pregnancy. She thought she could make it from the stables to the castle because the storm was far enough away.”
I hadn’t heard this version of the story, but I’d heard that my mother was found passed out inside the back entrance of the castle. She had told everyone that she hadn’t eaten and had fainted. She then went into labor and gave birth to me.
He had now pulled off my socks and stood, offering his hand to help me stand. His brown eyes met mine.
“What happened?” I whispered.
“The storm caught her.” He reached for the hem of my shirt, hesitating before I nodded for him to continue. “My great-grandfather worked in the castle and saw it happen while cleaning a window. It struck her over and over again.”
I was shaking as I lifted my arms for Kage to remove my shirt. My mother had never once mentioned being hit by lightning while pregnant with me.
“It took her light?” My head popped free.
“No, at least I don’t think.” He hesitated. “It gave you light.”
My world was spinning, and Kage placed his hands on my elbows, holding me steady as my brain tried to reconcile the information.
“But… how?” If I had a lot of light, I would have been hunted and drained by magic users like the poor luminous monkeys had been. “Am I a monkey shifter?” Luminous monkeys weren’t shifters, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how they hid themselves now—if any still existed.
Kage snorted and unbuttoned my pants. “No, you hide it well.”
I held onto his shoulders as he knelt again and helped me out of my pants, leaving me only in my underwear and bra. “I don’t understand. Why me?”
“Why not you?” Kage dropped my pants into the pile he’d started and stood, brushing my hair back. His touch was tender, and I leaned into it.
I didn’t trust Kage completely yet, but he’d bound himself to Nico to be close to me. Did he want something, or did he want to help protect me?
I searched his eyes for any malice, and his cheeks turned pink. His fingers danced along my jaw, hesitating at my chin before he moved them up to brush over my lips.
“Your stutter is better,” I whispered, his touch tickling my sensitive skin.
“Only with you.” Resolve flashed in his eyes, and he leaned forward, replacing his fingers with his lips.
Some part of me knew this was coming, but it still shocked me. His lips moved in soft sweeps that made me shut my eyes and sigh.
It only lasted a few seconds before he pulled away, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
I took his hand before he could retreat. “Thank you for telling me that story.”
“You shouldn’t tell anyone about it. It’s too dangerous.” He managed a small, strained smile. “I need to clean.”
I nodded, and he kissed my cheek before disappearing.