Chapter Thirty-Six Wren
Chapter Thirty-Six
Wren
In our history, a mortal has never been known to wield more than one gift at once—and even that cost them something more precious than their lives.
—Aurilian History of Magical Objects, Chapter Four
“Callie.”
My voice sounded broken and sad to my own ears. I swiveled in the chair, watching as my sister closed the door behind her. She wasn’t wearing her customary dour clothing that she claimed helped her fit in at the office.
Callie had donned a fine dress, much like the ones I’d spotted in the closet. It was her favorite color, pink—just like mine—tiny blossoms stitched across the skirt, the corset adorned with flowers.
“I knew you were with the wrong crowd, Wren, but I didn’t think you’d manage to come here,” she said sadly, eyeing the black carpet at her feet.
“You…” I couldn’t get the words out. They were trapped in my throat, which grew tighter by the second.
“You need to calm down,” Callie said, lifting her head.
I silently cursed as she drew her hand to her earrings.
Before I could squeak out a protest, her fingers grazed the metal, and a wave of soothing relief washed over me, stealing some of my anxiety.
I didn’t even have the energy to grind my teeth in frustration.
She knew I didn’t want her using her powers on me, that I hated being controlled.
“I see you found it,” she said coolly, nodding to the locket around my neck.
She drifted closer, and as much as I wished to jump back, to shout and curse at her, I couldn’t. The air weighed a thousand pounds, holding me in place.
“That’s it,” she whispered, close enough to smooth my hair as she loomed over me. “You don’t want to hurt me, do you? You’re all right. Everything is all right.”
The nausea vanished. My headache gone.
Callie smiled, sighing in relief. “I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”
Somewhere through the haze of forced calm, I recognized the wrongness of this. I gripped that shred of cognizance tight, refusing to release it. I had to remember why I’d come here. To remember the souls, and—
Callie took a seat on her bed. “The Fates aren’t divine entities.
Just mortals like us who uncovered the secret to eternal life.
” She shrugged a shoulder. “They feed off souls, and poof”—she snapped her fingers—“years are added and magic at their fingertips. Well, until recently. They’ve grown weaker, which helps me. ”
“Why?” I managed, my tongue feeling too big in my mouth. There were so many ways that single word might be construed.
“Because their time is up,” Callie answered.
“New Fates need to rise, it’s just the natural balance of things.
And why shouldn’t I be able to take one of their spots?
Of course, I’d replace the other two seats with those I trust.” She gave me a knowing look.
“I’ve worked too hard not to reap the benefits of this backward society, and the old crones refuse to let go when the world is trying to pull them from their thrones.
You and I both hate how things are being run, and maybe together, we can actually change things. Help people.”
She was delusional if she believed I’d kill someone for power, even if she professed she did so for the greater good. Did she know me at all?
“My…my necklace,” I ground out, despising that I could hardly speak. My head lolled to the side.
“I had to, Wren,” Callie confessed gently.
“I’ll give it back, I swear, but I needed to collect gifts powerful enough to set all of this in motion.
At first it was to enchant the palace guards so they’d give me the bodies I could use to feed.
Then, after growing my collection”—her eyes fell to the open drawer—“I was able to influence the same men who’d laughed in my face when they learned of my ambitions.
Using stolen or lost gifts, I blackmailed them, yes, but they deserved it.
They’d already been delivering people to the Fates for centuries. ”
Lost gifts. Something dark argued that she’d acquired them through less savory means.
“I’m forcing the lords to split their shipments, just so the Fates don’t catch on quite yet.
I want them weak before I strike.” Her eyes sparkled like this was the happiest of days.
“Even Father listens to me instead of them now, Wren. Can you believe it? He has to put up an act in the office, but he’s fully committed.
” She laughed, the sound ringing painfully in my head.
“With enough gifts at my disposal, he and his precious pen are practically useless. I bet the old man would never have let me shadow him at the office if I hadn’t used magic.
By the time my magic grew, he didn’t even hesitate to bow to the daughter he once deemed worthless. ”
Father had changed his mind last year when he gave Callie a more prominent role.
Before, he indulged her dreams, allowing her close, but never close enough to see real power.
I thought of his conversation with me recently about Callie’s future.
Had that been a diversion, a trick Callie set in motion to keep me off her path?
“I have the powerful leaders under my control,” Callie said, a small smile lifting one corner of her mouth. “And your necklace, Wren, it’s helped so much. Allowed me to uncover the secrets I needed. The darkest ones no one wanted shared. It sped everything up, and for that, I owe you so much.”
She reached for me and I flinched. While influenced, my body still recognized danger.
“Everett?” I asked, shrinking back as best I could.
“He was a means to an end.” Callie peered to the side.
“I promised him a true gift when I take one of the thrones in exchange for his complete loyalty.” She tugged on her earrings, the silver hoops shining.
“Everett’s protected me. And you, little bird.
He’s been in love with you for years, but you’ve never really noticed him until recently. He’s elated.”
He…he had agreed to this? I felt sick, and the second the nausea struck, Callie sent another tranquil wave over me. I loathed it.
“But you don’t need to worry about any of this, sister,” she said lovingly. “When I rise, so will you. I’ll return your gift, and you won’t remember any of this foolishness.”
Won’t remember?
“And that thief…well, I’ll set Everett on him next.
He’s anxious to claim his reward.” She made a face, scrunching up her features like she did whenever she kept a secret from me.
“I did promise him something else, but I think you’ll find it favorable too!
You and he do get along quite well.” Her stare fell to me, and nausea churned again in my stomach at her insinuation.
I actually might be sick. If I were, I hoped it ruined her perfect dress.
“Right now, I sent him to clean up a necessary mess. Some lords don’t like to play fair.
Then again, the Fates don’t play fair, either.
Dusk had her fun with Lord Sinclair, and that resulted in Everett’s criminal half brother, who has a power he has no idea exists.
Which is for the best. Few can beat the power of a fully turned reaper. ”
My lips tried to move, but they were frozen.
Reaper?
Dusk was the Fate who played shepherd to the dead.
The one who enclosed them in darkness and safeguarded them.
That book I’d read, the mysterious blue one I didn’t recognize with its single red poppy, contained stories about her reapers.
How they wouldn’t turn until they knew true loss, eventually morphing into her aides that guided souls to the underworld.
So Dusk’s child…
“I say we get this over with and get you home and into bed!” Callie said, feigning cheerfulness.
She ignored my pleading eyes, her jaw clenched tightly.
It was obvious she’d never wished for me to uncover her secret.
She’d have done it all behind my back. “You’ll feel so much better soon, I promise.
And I can finally take care of you properly.
Mother and Father never were proper parents.
” She rolled her eyes. “Thankfully, Father and all the brutes he works with are all but husks, so I suppose I got our revenge.”
I had never really hated Father…until I discovered what he’d been up to for years. Had Callie coerced him as punishment for years of holding her back? Did she feel any remorse? Not just about Father, but for the people she consumed?
This wasn’t the sister I knew and loved. What had the thirst for power done to her? Had the magic she collected slowly corrupted her over time?
Callie’s cold fingers grazed my cheeks. They were slick, my tears slipping free even with her gift working hard. She softened at the sight.
“I love you, Wren. Please know this. The time for change has come and we both know it’s needed.”
Not like this. Not by killing innocents.
“Just close your eyes and let me take care of you—”
The door banged open, the wood splintering as it struck the wall.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Damien stormed into the room, his eyes dangerously glacial. I’d never seen him so unhinged, his upper lip curling into a vicious snarl, reminding me more of a beast than a man.
“Oh, I suppose Everett hasn’t had time to collect you after all.” Callie dropped her hand from my face and crossed her arms. She was unbothered by Damien, her posture shockingly relaxed, like she’d expected his presence. “Looks like I have to clean up his mess. Again.”
Damien wasn’t paying her any attention. He stared at me, his eyes imploring, begging. Heat traveled through my numbed body, a spark igniting as he whispered my name. The very sight of him broke me.
“I really don’t like you,” Callie snapped.
I sensed the moment she released her power, the magic humming in the air as it beat against Damien’s body.
I wanted to close my eyes. Even if I was angry with Damien, I couldn’t bear to see him hurt.
I supposed that would be my downfall—seeing the good in people who didn’t deserve it.
“I don’t like you, either, so I suppose that makes us even,” Damien replied, standing tall.
“Let her go.” His eyes found mine again, and the warmth I’d felt spread.
I shifted in my seat, my sister’s power over me weakening.
I bit my lip to stifle a groan as I moved, my limbs gradually being freed.
Agonizing heartbeats passed before I stood up behind her.
Callie’s focus lay on Damien, a frustrated scoff escaping her lips as she shot wave after wave of power at him.
It didn’t work. Her gift didn’t affect him.
Impossible, my brain argued…But Callie had called him a reaper. A being belonging to Dusk. His ability to withstand her power could be a testament to his birth mother’s magic. Callie had said he didn’t know what he was.
“I’m so sorry, Wren. You have no idea how sorry I am.” Damien’s stare landed briefly on the locket clasped around my neck. “I can’t say anything to make it better, and even when I tried to help you, it was for my own selfish purposes. I don’t deserve you, I know this, but…I want to.”
The raw admission fractured something in me.
Like a dam, emotions flooded out—hatred, rage, betrayal.
And then there was another emotion I didn’t want to name.
Yet it was that unnamable emotion that allowed me to stumble from the chair and across the room.
Damien grabbed me, catching me at the same time Callie reached for my sleeve.
I slipped through her fingers with a sigh.
I hated what Damien had done, but he hadn’t murdered hundreds of innocents.
He moved me behind him, using his body as a shield while we slowly backed up, his hand grasping mine tightly whenever I wobbled.
The door to freedom was so close, and once we got out, I’d turn my attention to the thief who’d robbed me of more than my gift.
He could apologize for days, but what he’d done, how he deceived me—it was a wound I wasn’t certain could heal.
Callie shut her eyes as if exasperated. Waves of her influence sifted through the air—but it didn’t strike me. It went over my shoulder.
Slowly, I turned.
Everett loomed at the threshold, his white shirt covered in blood, his blue eyes transforming into an almost hazy light blue as he turned them to Damien.
“Hello, brother.”