Chapter 72
The Secret
Ethan went to move closer, but Janice crossed a sword in front of his body. “I would advise you to stay where you stand, Ethan.”
Ethan tensed. No one moved; they knew if they did, Rodney could snap my neck in less than a heartbeat.
“Rodney, you harm her, and you will pay the price,” Karson’s savage growl rumbled through the room.
“There will be no harm come to her from me. She only needs to speak the truth, and you can do with her after that what you will.” Rodney gripped my chin, his fingers ice cold as he pulled my head up.
His threat cracked against my armor. Threatened to tear me down. “What,” I snapped. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No, not willing to share? Shall I, then?” he asked, like he was ordering dinner. He turned his attention to Karson. “Have you ever come to wonder how you, the head of vampires, a man who despises witches, could fall in love with one?”
I stopped breathing, panic burning red hot in my chest. He fell in love because he knew me, knew my heart, saw something he wanted, he cherished.
Rodney shifted his hand to the back of my neck, sending icicles down my spine. “Now is your chance to own up, witch.”
I gritted my teeth, kept my armor raised, and snapped, “I’ve nothing to own up to.”
“No? I have it on good authority that she has been spelled to bewitch vampires. Spelled so that you would fall in love with her, Karson.”
Karson went dead still. It struck deeply the way his mind whirled as if he thought I’d do that.
It was the most ludicrous thing I had ever heard. My laugh was bitter. “If that’s true, then let me go, asshole.” He didn’t let go, his grip only tightened. “Look at that, your story crashes before the first fucking paragraph.”
“Rodney, it’s clearly witches trying to cause problems.” Karson stalked down the stairs. “Release her now.” His clawed hands curled into fists.
“No closer. I’d hate to see something accidentally happen to her,” Rodney said casually, the threat curling through my body.
Karson halted, looking anxiously between Rodney and me.
“I will let her go. You will get her back. My word is my vow. But you need to listen to me. We are old friends—have I ever betrayed you or let you down? Look at you all, clambering around her like she’s some queen. ”
“It’s a lovely story truly,” Monique said, rising from a still sleeping Kenneth. “But if I could have gotten away with it, I would have ripped her throat out, so your theory is off kilter.”
“Ah, but you didn’t, did you. Why is that?” Rodney said.
“Because Karson would have killed me,” she answered. “Let her go, you fool.”
“You didn’t hurt her because something in you told you not to, something in you wouldn’t let you hurt her. Just like every vampire who is sired by Karson.”
Monique blinked. She looked … bewildered. That look struck too.
“You’ve been lied to.” Karson raised his voice. “I’d know if anyone spelled me. I’m far too powerful for anyone to mind-control me to forget anything.”
He said the words, but I could see the storm in his eyes, could see the color change in his face as if he almost believed—
Rodney shrugged. “Perhaps, but there is one way to find out.”
I felt the blood rush from my face. He would place his hands on the sides of my head, and every secret, everything horror story I had ever endured would be pulled to the surface.
I would have to relive every hellish moment as he purged it from my head, every secret his for the taking.
Or I would die withholding it. I couldn’t stand it.
I couldn’t stand the thought of him knowing.
My knees wanted to buckle, my heart beating wildly.
“No,” I breathed. “Please, don’t let him.”
“Rodney, don’t you dare touch her,” Karson grated. He bolstered his shoulders, strong again. Ready to protect me, protect what was his.
I could feel Rodney’s power slithering against my armor like a serpent. My breathing became ragged, and he hadn’t even touched my head yet. I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t fight back. I was a victim again.
“Do not touch her,” Karson repeated, so enraged spittle flew from his mouth.
“You son of a bitch,” Ethan shouted. “I swear to the gods Rodney, if Karson doesn’t kill you after this, I will.”
Michael held up his palms as he edged forward. “Rodney, you need to think carefully. If you delve into her mind and she doesn’t die fighting you and you find nothing, you will not walk out with your life.”
Rodney ran a finger around the back on my neck. I shuddered under his arctic touch.
“Don’t,” I rasped.
“What reason would they have to spell me?” Karson took another step closer, desperation in his eyes. “Of what benefit am I to her?”
“The grimoire has the answers to that.” Rodney’s neck tilted as he studied Karson. “She’s important, is she not?”
Any witch born to protect the waters was important and in danger, if anyone found out what they were.
“Let her go.” Karson’s voice changed to a pleading. “There are other ways to learn the truth.”
“Yes, but nothing quite as accurate as what I can find out for you.”
Karson went to charge, but before he could, before I could even blink, Rodney had his hands on my head.
If he dared try to stop him, Rodney could kill me.
I felt ice-cold tendrils slip against my walls, slithering everywhere, seeking a way in.
Pressure boomed against my brain. The serpents changed and became hot, until they felt like fire.
My walls felt like they were going to explode.
The pain buckled my legs and I crashed to my knees. My shield wobbled.
“Bad girls deserve to be punished,” the voice of a monster echoed in my head. His rough, calloused hand on my ass. His hot, rank breath on my ear. I made a half-sob, half-whine sound and urged my walls back up.
A roar deafened me. The snakes were everywhere.
My head was on fire. The pressure screwed tighter and tighter as he pushed against the shield and I fought to keep him out.
I clamped my jaw so tight my teeth clanked together, and I bit my tongue, blood seeping into my mouth.
The white-hot pain was so awful I couldn’t even swallow it down.
I wanted to scream, but I refused to give him the satisfaction.
“Let me in and all the pain goes away,” he crooned.
“Fuck you,” I rasped.
The pressure raged into a wall of fire. The agony was so bad, my body wanted to collapse, only Rodney’s hands holding me upright. I was vaguely aware of someone shouting, of Georgie screaming to let me go. Of her hands clawing at his arms, but Rodney was far too strong for her.
“Let him in!” Ethan yelled, panic in his voice. “Amy, let him in, let him in!”
Darkness stormed over the edges of my vision. I was going to be cooked alive.
“No!” Karson shouted. “Stop! I compelled her to Church Heights. I compelled her boyfriend to cheat on her. I forced her to me, not the other way around!”
Shock shattered the beat of my heart. The world screamed in my ears, the pressure easing in my head before my brain registered what was happening. He was lying. He’d say anything to save me. My gaze locked on his.
Karson’s face was wild with panic, blurred, stretched out. But in his eyes, the truth burned. I saw the fear, the panic, the desperation to save me, and …
Guilt.
The guilt slammed through my heart like a thousand knives. Suddenly, everything that had never made sense seemed to fall into place. He destroyed my life, stole Tom from me. He was the reason I drove and ended up in a remote town thousands of miles away from the people I loved.
“Of course you did,” Rodney said, his voice cold and calculated. “You couldn’t help but to compel her to be with you because the witches spelled you both.”
His words blurred under the pounding of blood in my skull.
Under the wail of my shattered heart, I barely even registered what he said.
All I could think was that Karson made Tom, the man I was supposed to marry, the man I was meant to spend the rest of my life with, betray me.
The man I loved with all my heart, more than I had ever loved Tom, had hurt me in the worst ways possible.
A whimper fell from my lips as defeat flooded through me. My muscles sagged. I didn’t care whether I lived or died. I didn’t care what the fuck he saw. The betrayal was too painful. My walls collapsed.
I let Rodney in.
A few seconds was all he got. A few seconds was all it took.
My life played out like a manic slideshow.
The abuse I had suffered. The hand between my thighs. The belt lashing my skin. Nausea curdled in my stomach.
Then my mind flipped scenes.
A hand on my mouth, something bitter up my nose.
Floating. Twisting shadows moving all around me, whispering ghostly voices in the night.
The cold cement on my back. Flickering candles in the dark.
I tried to get up, tried to fight, but my muscles wouldn’t move.
I heard chanting. The cry from my lips as a blade sliced my wrist. A soft hand holding my arm.
Blood trickling out. Something black poured on my wound and into my mouth. Blood.
Then it flipped scenes again.
The night whirled past our car. The streets were empty. The car was warm, heat blasting from the vents.
“I’m glad you called me. You can call me anytime you need picking up. As long as you’re safe, that’s all I care about.” My mother glanced across at me, her dark hair framed in a halo by passing streetlights.
I let out a breath, the scent of alcohol climbing up my nostrils. She hadn’t mentioned my drinking yet. Maybe she would save that for tomorrow. Or rather, today, when the sun rose in a few hours.
“I know, thank you.”
And I did know. My parents would do anything to keep me safe. I felt safe with them. That’s not something I thought I’d ever say. I felt safe. I felt loved. That’s not something I thought I’d ever say either.