Chapter Forty-Three
Remy’s claws disappeared. His fangs receded, too, as did his beard, until only the smooth skin on his jaw remained.
The wild dark hair tangling over his shoulders shortened until it was its usual cropped length.
His body lost that monstrous size and settled into his normal, well-muscled physique.
Finally, the golden glow in his eyes changed back to aquamarine blue.
And I saw it all while held in a grip that was now whisper gentle. I was so relieved I started to laugh even though it made my lungs hurt even more. “I’m so glad to see you, Remy.”
His lips pressed against my forehead in a fervent kiss. Then a curse left him as he laid me on the ground.
“Don’t talk. You’re too badly injured.”
Another laugh wheezed out. Did he think I hadn’t noticed?
“I’ll never forgive myself,” he muttered as he grabbed a nearby rock shard and raked it across his hand.
“Wasn’t you,” I gasped out, ignoring his “Don’t talk” directive. If these injuries killed me, I didn’t want him thinking that he’d caused them. “Daegal did most of it.”
Remy scooped up some of the dragon’s green blood with his free hand while letting more of his own blood well up from his bleeding palm. Then he spoke in an unknown language before cupping his hands together.
“Drink,” he said when he was finished, holding the mixed blood to my mouth.
I did. It tasted as gross as it looked, but it hit my system like a shot of morphine. My pain dissolved, and after a few moments, I could breathe without feeling like I was being repeatedly stabbed. I was so relieved, I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, I was no longer lying in a pool of dragon blood. I was in Remy’s arms, and he was walking through the smashed, ruined remains of the island.
“How long was I out?” I murmured.
He looked down in surprise. “You shouldn’t be awake yet.”
I cracked a smile. “Probably shouldn’t be alive, either. Thanks for whatever you gave me. It really did the trick.”
I didn’t need to see myself to know his bloody elixir had healed me. I could feel it through every non-aching part of me.
“I passed by Daegal’s detached head a way back,” Remy said. “And the bisected body of the other Beast. I assume I did that?”
He didn’t remember. I could relate. Today was the first time I’d remembered anything from my Beast taking over. “Yes. You were”—horrifying, unstoppable, deranged—“thorough.”
His jaw clenched. “Berserkers used to dress in animal skins and wear the heads of bears or wolves when they went into battle. That way, their fellow warriors knew to stay away.”
A good strategy. I’d never forget seeing Remy tear that other Beast literally in two. Wait a minute … “You killed the other Beast’s host. Are you going to be its new host?”
“No. As you once said, I already have a supernatural Occupied sign on me.”
Right. Only one magical stowaway per person. Even if that wasn’t the rule, if the other Beast had tried to move into Remy’s body, his berserker probably would have eaten it.
But now whoever had drawn the other host’s blood before me or Remy would be that Beast’s new host, and we had no idea who that person was. I might not have seen the last of this monster.
That brought up another question. “You lied when you said you tricked that other Beast you killed into detonating those explosives, didn’t you? You had no need to make it drop a building on itself. You already knew you couldn’t be its next host. Your berserker killed it, right?”
Remy sighed. “Yes. The area was abandoned. That’s why I could let the berserker out without it hurting anyone else.”
And he’d lied to me about that right after fucking me for the first time. It shouldn’t sting so much to realize that, but it did.
“You could have told me the truth,” I said softly. “You knew I understood all about having a deadly creature inside me.”
Remy stopped walking. “If word of what I am leaked, I’d have to step down as Warden.
Wardens are required to remain supernaturally neutral, remember?
Being inhabited by a creature comprised of the world’s most violent magic negates that neutrality.
But before Juli died, she told me I’d need what she was giving me to protect our lands.
I thought she was raving. The dying can say …
odd things. But Juli had never been more clear-minded, as I realized when I discovered what she’d turned me into.
That’s why I also believed her prophecy about you. ”
And he’d fulfilled it by “keeping the cage.” He’d fulfilled it so much that now I willingly stayed by his side.
Except Remy still kept huge secrets from me, as he proved by not telling me about his berserker until it had almost killed me. He also knew how much I cared for him, to the point where he’d bet that my Beast wouldn’t kill him because I, its host, loved him.
Maybe I was starting to love him, despite it being way too soon. But maybe I should also reconsider. We’d both faced death today, yet Remy hadn’t said anything about having feelings for me, too. He’d only warned me to hide or to let my Beast out.
Still … his berserker hadn’t killed me. Did it also protect the people its host had strong feelings for? Or was that wishful thinking on my part?
I wasn’t about to ask. The question would expose too much, and Remy already had me at a big emotional disadvantage.
“Daegal said a resurrection thing was on your lands,” I said instead. “He tried to bargain for its location in exchange for his life, but…” I made a chopping gesture.
A sound hissed through Remy that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. “A Resurrection Stone?”
“Yes, that’s it. He said it’s why he wanted your lands. Does it actually bring people back from the dead?”
“Yes. It does.”
I barely processed Remy’s flat tone. All I could think was, I could see Mom and Gran again! Magic had killed them through the Beast, but this time, magic could bring them back.
“We have to find it,” I said, my voice rising. “And when we do, I call dibs on using it!”
Oh God, if I could have them back, I’d hug both of them until my arms went numb from lack of circulation. I’d scorned spending time with them when I was a teen. So much that I’d had to be forced into going on that doomed camping trip. Now I’d give anything to have them here with me again—
“No one can use it.”
“What?” My head snapped up. “Why?”
Remy’s face was harder than the stones that made up Blood Island. “Magic that great has a terrible price. Plagues, wars, or famines break out when the Resurrection Stone is used.”
My brief hope exploded like a popped ballon, leaving my family’s loss to smash into me again.
For a second, it hurt so much I didn’t care about the cost. My family had been stolen from me!
Why couldn’t I steal them back? All those terrible things happened anyway in this fucked-up world.
Why couldn’t they happen with my family alive versus them being dead?
Just as quickly, I was horrified. How could I even think something like that? What was the matter with me?
Remy stopped walking to stare down at me.
“You see why the Resurrection Stone is so dangerous?” His gaze seemed to cut through to my soul.
“Even good people are tempted to do terrible things to bring their loved ones back. Now imagine what powerful creatures would do to bring their former gods back so they could rule over this world once more.”
The thought was so chilling, I shivered even though I wasn’t cold. Yeah, the Resurrection Stone could never see the light of day. I wouldn’t trust myself around it, let alone someone with no morals or qualms like Daegal.…
A harsh laugh escaped me. “This is what Brendan made himself forget, isn’t it? He wiped his mind with that spell because he knew the Resurrection Stone’s location, and that’s what Daegal wanted to know when he captured him decades ago.”
Remy started walking again. “It must be. Brendan also must have revealed that it was somewhere on my lands, even if he didn’t specifically say where. Otherwise, Daegal wouldn’t have tried so hard to acquire my entire territory. If Daegal knew exactly where it was, he would have stolen it already.”
True, though I hadn’t thought of that when Daegal made his desperate offer. Being horrified plus trying to keep myself alive had taken front and center.
“What are you going to do about it now?”
“If Daegal knew it was somewhere on my territory, others must know, too. I need to find it before anyone else does, and then hide it so well, no one knows what continent it’s on.”
And he’d have to do all this without anyone knowing what he was looking for, all while trying not to get killed by the other people who were after it. I fought a shudder. That might be more dangerous than the battle we’d just survived.
“Could Brendan help you with this?” I wondered. “He knew where it was before, even if he made himself forget. He might know how to find it now, too.”
“I’m sure he would, but I can never tell Brendan what Daegal was really after. You can’t, either.”
His emphatic tone surprised me. “Why not?”
For a second, gold specks flashed in Remy’s blue gaze. “Because Brendan would try to use the Resurrection Stone to bring Juli back, and I don’t want to kill my own grandfather to stop that from happening.”
Ice splashed my veins. He loved Brendan, so he couldn’t mean his deadly statement. Could he?
I drench myself in violence … because I am the dam that holds back much, much worse.…
“Who else might know where it is?” I said instead. “Another Records Keeper aside from Brendan? Or maybe another Warden?”
Remy was silent.
“Are you thinking it over? Or is this another secret you don’t trust me with?” I asked with more sharpness than I intended.
“This is new for me, Raine,” he said after another pause. “I’m not used to sharing my most closely guarded secrets.”
“I know,” a feminine voice said. “We were together for years, and you shared none of them with me.”