Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
AUDREY
Deadman’s Cliffs
A week later, we were all on the cliffs that overlooked The Cove.
Our reigning jokester was absent, and the jovialness he brought was dearly missed.
I hadn’t been able to trust Lilah since that day we met without the others present.
A darkness seemed to grow inside her as we progressed in these trials…
one that grew darker as a result of whatever she was forced to endure inside the labyrinth during game one.
“Has anyone thought about what we will do after the initiation, assuming we all make it through?”
Worth’s question halted my darkening thoughts as Lex, Lilah, and I all looked over at him.
We all shook our heads, none of us sharing that concern, since our last names guaranteed admission to whatever graduate program we decided to enrol in.
You know that will not be in the cards for you, my inner voice snarked, my hand tapping a rhythm out on my abdomen as I laid back in the dirt.
Watching the clouds move across the sky, I responded to Worth after a prolonged beat.
“I plan to go enrol at Sir Edmund’s again. I’ll likely have my time cut short though since I’ll have to return to London again now that it’s been announced I’m taking back the Ellsworth mantle again…”
“I will be enrolled, but mainly online. My family obligations will prevent me from attending unless my husband allows me out from under his thumb.” Lilah’s quiet reply halted whatever Lex was about to say.
The impending marriage her family demanded put an obvious weight on her, but not large enough for me to overlook what she forced upon me weeks ago.
“Hockey. Lex and I have been asked to join the Alabastor Cove Commanders hockey team. It will be a good stepping-stone for us before we attempt to go pro.”
I snorted. The whole idea that neither would be picked up was laughable.
Worth and Lex could have gone professional at eighteen—many teams had wanted them, but the Kenton patriarch demanded the boys finish their years at Prep, saying that if fate allowed it, they would find their way onto a team with their university degree under their belt.
“I was not aware there was a question if you would be going pro.” Lilah’s voice held an uncharacteristic snark. “No one would be dumb enough to refuse trying to place either of the Kenton brothers on a team.”
Worth nodded like he wholeheartedly agreed, absently itching his cast as he stared balefully at me.
His injured arm was still the elephant in the room neither acknowledged.
The reasons why he had hidden the truth, that he had been in talks with a professional contract on the table before he broke his wrist. A secret not even his brother knew.
“Are you sure stepping into the Ellsworth name is what you want?”
I opened my mouth to tell Lex that I was also accepting the crown for the Antonov Bratva when I realised that they were unaware that I was the unofficial heir leader now that Katarina was dead.
Snapping my mouth shut, I closed my eyes. “It’s already done, but I have demanded they allow Kellan to stand at my side.” Lex guffawed, coming to lie beside me in the dirt. So similar to how nannies would find us as children, he entwined his pinkie with mine.
“We always knew she would not be here for long; our queen has always had a fate that would demand she step back into her true home across the pond.” His voice held a sombre edge, as he had already begun to let go of the friendship we had for so long.
“And with the Vesper line rumoured to be returning to Saint Sebastian’s Edge…
” Lex mumbled, making us aware of the rumours surrounding one of the original families that owned the town next to Alabastor Cove.
“You shouldn't be here for the apocalypse that girl will rain down upon the wrong The Cove did to her…”
“I almost hope I will be here to witness the terror little Calliope Rose doles out to those who wronged her…and all of her family line.” I smiled, thinking of the striking blond whose eyes always chilled me to the bone.
A girl whose cunning had been evenly matched with mine, one I missed dearly and found myself wishing would announce herself soon.
I always knew she was too strong to truly disappear.
Her family always had a high seat within The Guilda, too.
The Ravens. Harbingers of death and deceit.
Her family was brought out when traitors needed to be found since Ravens were known as birds of omen, believed to be the beasts who could commune with gods or monsters.
Yes, her return would fuck up the tenuous peace the remaining founding families had, I decided. Perfect, her re-entry to this world would allow a distraction for me to do what must be done. For Aleks, Cam, and me.
“On a tide of blood, so emerge the Crows…” Lilah’s lilting voice took on a cold rhyming edge. “…rising from graves to seek the death they’re owed…on a field of carnage, the Furies shall damn the sons for the failed protection of a hidden third.”
I looked at Lex and Worth, remembering the rhyme that had them scrambling five years ago to shelter the girl who grew too close. A girl whose return would now disrupt the fragile bond they had since regained.
“On the wings of Ravens, the sins of the betrayers shall be engraved in their bones…carved into their skin for all who seek the truths of the three.”
A groan echoed over the cliffs, the crash of waves breaking the chill settling across our bones, as Lilah finished the prophecy foretold of the child who would reign darkness upon the five houses The Guilda controlled. Veritas. Mendacium. Proditio. Fures. Mortem.1
“Because the daughter of Ravens is now called home. Demanding justice for the loss of the black wings flying free upon the skies.” It was still as eerie as when I first heard it, the night I stumbled upon the altar within the Yates prison.
A collection of dirty stone cells that once held the betrayers of their line, rumoured to be where the matriarch gave birth to her bastard son. Before she was hidden away.
“Damn, that still freezes my blood. Worth, you ready for the shit about to rain down?”
Leave it to Lex to provide comedic relief in his own way. Worth’s grunt was all that was heard as the brothers got lost in their own memories. Calliope Rose. Heaven help us for the return of the Vesper line…the family who shunned a boy who just wanted to be loved.
Bright golden eyes. Arms lined with scars. A ruby-studded collar lined with silver and onyx.
I silently prayed to the heavens, to fate, to whatever god watched down upon me that the arrival of the Vesper daughter would not hurt my friend.
Alistair deserved to find his peace, and his mother’s birth family returning home was sure to destroy the last thread of sanity he had held onto amid the bleakness his fate demanded of him.
“Do you trust me, my Little Viper Queen?” Golden eyes danced in the dark, lit from within by an unholy light. “Do you dare to dance with me in the safety of the dark, under the sky and the stars…think of it as practice for one day when your King finally comes to claim you.”
A charming smile lined Alistair’s mouth as he swayed me in the peace of the forest surrounding the Ellsworth estate. A boy who had protected me from the horrors my name demanded…his branded hand pushed my hair from my face. This moment in time was one I would always remember.
A moment where Alistair brought me home. To dance among the trees, honouring the twin who was lost to me.
“Always, Cerberus. I always trust you while under the safety of night.” Leaning into his chest, I thought of the navy-eyed boy who refused to bow. The thorn in my side impeding my ability to rule the sheep, filling the halls of Prep.
“He has no idea how good he has it, little Ellsworth. One day you will be a damn fine Queen…”
“You’ll be happy one day, Alistair, when you find her.” I looked into those brilliant gold eyes of his. “Never let her go. No matter how hard she fights…” I squeezed my arms around him. “Force her to see the heart you keep hidden under those thorns and teeth.”
Humming into my hair, his arms encircled me as he hugged me back, each of us hoping that one day we would stand as friends who had found peace in this life we were born into.
“Your family will come to regret not accepting you, my fearless knight of hell. Come, Cerberus, let’s dance until the sun calls us home once again.”
We swayed, dancing under the stars. The moon’s light cast shades of darkness across the grass. Moving to a song only heard by us, in remembrance of the family who was wrongly killed off, leaving only me, my half-brother, and the boy they took in.
“Never let him go, my Little Vipera Queen, never let go of the man who lights up those pretty violet eyes…” Dropping a precious kiss to my head, Alistair stood back as the clouds covered the moon, intertwining his fingers with mine as we began the slow walk home…
“Happy sixteenth birthday. Remember, you can always call upon me,” he whispered into the night, the forest blurring until all I saw was black.
“Promise me you will find your way back home again when you’re ready…some secrets were meant to remain locked away until the day you return home for him.”
I hoped to the heavens that Alistair would not break even more once the last remaining Vesper stepped into The Cove. Chills skated down my spine as I came back to the present, tuning in to the conversation that had now begun about the upcoming trial.
“It’s your turn, brother.” Worth waved to Lex. His eyes had an uncommon haze to them, one that hinted at the struggle he had in accepting the choice he made during Trial Three.
“They are demanding we submit a sample of blood,” I blurted out. Sputters were coughed out around me as Lex choked on his spit. Worth chuckled, seemingly unfazed, and Lilah sighed, no doubt already knowing this kernel of truth.