Chapter 36 #2
“I can only assume they are confirming family lines, and if all of us are clean…”
“You think they plan to centre this trial around depravity and the carnal desires of flesh.” Worth followed my thoughts to a T. His quick assumptions were in line with what I thought on for hours since Aleks left my house last week.
“Yes. I think they plan to see how far each of us or some of us will go…” I trailed off as I looked at Lex, knowing this one would be hard for him.
The man prided himself on the way he could charm pussy, and this trial was no doubt going to make him face a few hard truths about why he was the way he was.
“Just remember, Audrey…blood can hold answers to other secrets you do not want aired.” I glared at Lilah, knowing she was digging for information.
Curiosity struck me as to why she pointed her comment at me.
My mind sorted through information, dates, and anything else that could help me figure out what our little hacker believed she knew.
“Someone’s been watching me. Tailing me as I leave the Kenton offices downtown…” Both of us paused as we turned to stare at Lex, mouths gaping.
“And this wasn’t something you thought we should…you know…know?”
Lex shook his head at my comment, only to be halted at what Worth admitted to next.
“I have been tailed as well…a few times over the past week. It is always the same man. Pale hair, dark ink. The eeriest eyes that appear almost pale grey under the shade of his hat…”
Goddammit.
Goddamn you.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I realised who had been stalking the brothers. His odd behaviour over the past weeks suddenly appeared in striking clarity in my mind. Every time he suddenly left or returned at odd hours of the night.
Why must he be so stupid now? That man would truly be the death of me one day. Or, more than likely, Aleks would succumb to some idiotic plan devised by him.
“Leave it to me. Obviously, you two cannot be trusted with your own safety.” I looked at Lilah, making her realise that her interference would not be taken lightly if she chose to go over me again.
“He hasn’t done anything, just watches. Waits,” Worth mumbled, his cheeks pining faintly under his tanned skin. “He’s probably just some creep trying to get in with a founder’s family line.”
Shaking my head, I sighed. “Just…leave it to me. Let me know if he ever approaches either of you from now on.”
“Aye, aye, Little Queen,” they echoed in sync. They stood together, dusting off their shorts as they made their way to leave. “Guess we should go donate some blood now, then. No use in waiting.”
I eyed them closely as they left, followed soon after by Lilah, leaving me to lie in silence. My only company was my chaotic thoughts as plans and memories faded in and out of sight, knowing this trial would likely demand more of me than I was willing to give. Blood.
A keeper of secrets, ones you couldn’t deny or hide from once they were known.
I looked down at the brand scarred into my palm. A reminder of the price I paid for the sins of my mother. A reminder that fate always comes to collect.
My hands drifted to my stomach, lying atop one another.
Blood.
Honour.
Duty.
I watched the clouds as serenity took hold of me, finding peace with the silence of nature. My fingers tapped rhythms on my abdomen, a code long forgotten to others, but one my twin and I learned fluidly. You, solnyshka. Be her light. She will need you.
The irony of my mum’s words was not lost on me that I failed to light the way for my twin, but instead found it within a man whose darkness balances mine, a man who protected a boy whose innocence had not been lost yet to this world. Blood.
I sucked in a harsh breath as all the pieces clicked together. The look Aleks had given me after the last game. The pointed word from Lilah. The mercurial way Alistair told me to trust him no matter what came my way. No.
Not. Again.
Denial was heavy in my soul as I stood, looking down at the waves crashing against the break. Blood. The one test of honour and loyalty that The Guilda Sanguis Venenati would be sure to hand me.
No.
I would do what I must.
For Aleks. For him.
For me.
I backed up from the edge, turning and leaving the wildness of the sea behind. Hesitating for a moment, I dialled a number for a favour that would hide the truth of what my blood would say.
He picked up on the first ring. His lilting timber was so familiar—like coming home.
“Hello, brother. I need a favour, one that needs discretion. And haste…”
ALEKSANDR
Volkovitch War Room
19 July 2021
This never got less creepy, listening to conversations on the cliffs via the satellite camera Cam and Kellan set up and checked periodically. However, this time, Lilah’s words filled me with fury since she couldn’t seem to keep her nose out of shit that didn’t concern her.
The vonBermeres were always too nosey and curious for their own good. Case in point, Kellan roamed the sanctum as anger lined his face, furious over what his cousin was insinuating and fearful for what it could mean for his sister.
“They seem hung up on the demand for blood.” Rowan’s accented voice broke the tension in the room. “How…curious.” His dark-golden eyes looked over at me. A knowing glint in them infuriated me even more since I could not speak out to him here, as his title as Hellhound demanded respect.
“Remember our oaths. We must protect the Queen. Her life must be saved above all others. Her line must continue…” Kellan’s voice rumbled through the room.
I noted how Rowan’s back stiffened as memories haunted the chamber of a time much simpler, when she was not the lone Ellsworth in line for the throne.
“The Little Vipera Queen has always had my protection,” Rowan barked. “Even if you cannot understand the pain she must endure…my hands are tied for reasons that I can’t explain right now, until she has stepped into her seat at The Guilda.”
“The boy…” I glared at Cameron, warning him to silence his thoughts.
Rowan swivelled his attention to the hulking man in the shadows.
“I will protect the boy, even if you end up hating me for what must be done. A deal has been struck in blood, and a Sanguinis Promissum2 has been signed…should the call of death fall upon the Queen, the Prince will be granted sanctum among the five houses to live in peace and under the safety the Wriedt name provides.”
I stormed to him, my patience gone. My hands locked onto his throat as I dragged him from his seat and threw him on the floor.
“If you surrender Lenochka to the call of Death…you will learn why my name is whispered in fear among The Shadows haunting this world.”
“Aleksandr…that girl is going to demand heaven and hellfire when she realises the choice she will be forced to make during the final game. I have no doubt that even death would be fearful of her.”
“I am warning you, Rowan, brother or not. If she or the boy falls to harm…” Kellan’s whisper broke our stare-down. “Even The Guilda could not protect you from him.”
He walked into the light, flicking the damn lighter through his fingers, oblivious to the threat a fire in here would cause. “From me.” He grinned, baring his teeth, so alike the expression his jackal mask portrayed that chills skated down my spine.
Kellan truly adopted all the worst traits from his blended family line.
The man could disappear if he willed it.
He could also become the reaper the Ellsworths trained him to be.
Silent. Unseen. Never heard from him unless he made it so.
The perfect match to the wraith that little Elena Ellsworth was being moulded into… until their fates met tragedy.
“Me as well.” Cameron joined Kellan. Standing at his shoulder, they drew an invisible line in the sand, the fracturing of our brotherhood. All fate demands a price…blood.
Honour.
Duty.
Your number has been called…
Memories of the ice-cold voice belonging to the stranger that permanently branded me at six years old floated through my mind.
My eyes locked onto Rowan’s as his dark lashes closed over those haunting golden eyes.
Eyes of Lucifer. The rumours surrounding the man before me painted him as a Prince of Hell, one cursed to walk Earth until he shall be called home once more.
Cerberus. The name Lenochka used to call him back before The Guilda hid him away.
His chin dipped, a barely there nod that he would honour his oath.
“Just…make sure she is gone before the Vesper Princess returns. I fear The Cove is no longer big enough for the three of us…”
With that, Rowan stood from the ground, feeling his throat as if my grip had done more damage than I thought. He looked once more at me, hints of sadness hidden beneath the air of superiority.
“I fear for us all if the Vesper line chooses to dig into the past of all of our families…” Rowan made his way out, waving goodbye as he left. “I am sorry, King.” He turned a final time, a sheen of tears covering his eyes as he whispered his final words for the years that bonded him to us.
“For what my oath of protection will demand of our Viper Queen. I truly never wanted to be seen as her enemy, you know. That girl deserves the world once The Guilda and her family are done with her…”
“…You must hide the truth that her blood will show. She is not ready for the scrutiny that it will place on her.” His steps faded away as a ringing began. The shrill sounds bounced around the stone walls as Kellan tried to decline the call.
His face paled when he read the name on his caller ID.
“Sister, what a pleasant surprise…” His voice was haunted as his British accent slipped through. His knuckles blanched as they squeezed tightly on the phone.
“Done. Be safe, zmeyushka. All is not as it seems.”
The call ended, and he looked up, his face filled with fear. His words left me in shreds as he hurried to meet Lenochka, to protect her from a choice neither of us accounted for. Again.
His dark violet eyes held barely restrained fury as he passed me, no doubt wishing he could hide me from his last living sibling.
“You’d better pray that this doesn’t result in The Guilda calling for her head, King. You better pray to whatever fate, deity, or divine being who will answer…that you have not damned my sister to the hangman’s noose once again.”
Cameron sombrely followed him out, eyes lined with tears as the truths of what may occur hit him in the chest. He had hated the choice Lenochka would have to make at the end of this trial since day one, and this added fear for the girl who accepted him with no questions had him reverting to the scared boy I first met all those years ago.
Oppressive silence filled the room as I was left alone, similar to the way my brothers left me to stew in fear nearly three years ago.
Consequences. Choices. The way they questioned my love for Lenochka rankled me.
The assumption that I planned this left an ill feeling in my gut.
Her words from the summer she left with me at eighteen echoed in my ears.
The summer we chose to protect a boy whose innocence would have been damned if his name had been learned by the world.
Promise me, Aleks.
Her eyes flickered in fear and adoration at the boy whose small fingers gripped hers.
Promise me…
A soft cry left him as his hands searched for her, bright eyes glaring up at me as he noticed I was hiding her from him.
Promise me…
Wails filled the room as I carried the small boy out. Dark hair covered his head as his little fists gripped my shirt.
Promise me…
“Don’t take him from me! Please…please…my boy…” Screams echoed in the empty hospital. The nurses I employed hid in the shadows, attempting to escape my wrath as a hoarse, pain-filled scream was heard through the halls.
“My son! No! My boy…”
I shook myself out of the nightmare that still haunted me.
The truth of the boy I had hidden away. The way I stole him away from his mother, so young yet already so fierce.
Those final words left a haunting echo in my ears.
Almost like someone decided to fuck with my love for her, damning our fates once again.
Memories reminded me of the terror I lived in three summers ago, forcing me to acknowledge that this time, we weren’t likely to hide the truth from those who would love to strike her down, now that she formally accepted at least one of her crowns.
Promise me, King, you will always protect him…even if in the end it must be from me.
1 Veritas. Mendacium. Proditio. Fures. Mortem (Latin): Truth. Lies. Treason. Thieves. Death.
2 Sanguinis Promissum (Latin): Blood Promise