Chapter 37
SERAFINA
“ Charise? How are you here? What happened? Are the other council members okay?” I fire off question after question as I regard V’s younger sister.
I may not like Charise that much—okay, I’ll be honest, I hate her guts—but I don’t wish to see her dead . Maybe stabbed or maimed, but not dead. And even though V would never admit it, I know he’ll be happy to see her walking about.
A twisted smile warps Charise’s pretty face, and my stomach tumbles, twisting with unease.
Every alarm bell in my head begins to ring simultaneously.
I grip both of my mates’ hands and whisper, “Run.”
But before we can take more than a step, Charise lifts a hand, and both of my mates fly in opposite directions. Kian ricochets off the wall and lands in a heap on his side. Foster slides across the floor, hitting the door on the opposite side of the room headfirst. Blood pools around him.
“No!” I scream, fear for my mates threatening to eclipse common sense and rationality. But that fear quickly morphs into anger. No one—not even a goddamn princess—is allowed to hurt my mates. The only thing keeping me from completely losing my shit is the steady rise and fall of their chests. They’re alive.
But Charise won’t be.
Fortunately, I changed back into my own clothing before I left the cottage earlier. Small miracles. I grab my bracelet off my wrist, and it instantly extends into a throwing knife.
Without preamble, I toss it at the evil she-bitch, watching it flip through the air. I don’t know if she just isn’t expecting the attack or if she can’t move away fast enough. Either way, it embeds itself into her shoulder.
She scowls. “You bitch!”
I bend down and grab a second knife I keep in a sheath around my ankle. This one is longer and thicker, the handle bedazzled with pink and purple gems. It was a gift from Maddox for my birthday a year ago.
“Why are you doing this, Charise?”
But even as I ask the question, I think I know.
Obviously not all of it—a shit ton doesn’t make sense—but I’m not an idiot.
Charise must’ve been the person responsible for what happened to V. It makes sense. With him out of the way, she’ll be next in line to be queen.
Does this mean she’s in charge of all the other murders?
Why?
That’s the part I don’t understand.
She must’ve discovered information on the Obsidian Queen and sought to replicate her ancestor’s murders. I always knew she was a bitch, but an evil murderer? Maybe I should’ve seen that coming.
She lifts her hand, and I fly through the air and bang against the wall. I jump to my feet instantly and rush her before she can lift her hand again. I slice at her with my knife and smirk when blood oozes on her cheek.
“God, I fucking hate you.” Charise sneers at me.
“Back at you, bitch.” I slash at her again, but she moves with a speed that shouldn’t be possible, stopping when she’s behind me.
One of her arms bands around my neck.
I kick at her legs at the same time I throw my body backwards. She screeches and releases me.
I whirl around to face her, holding the knife at the ready. “Are you going to give me your evil monologue? Tell me why you’re doing this?” I offer her a shit-stirring smirk. “You are the one behind all of this, aren’t you?”
I just want her to keep her attention on me and off of my mates. And if she happens to tell me her evil scheme in the process? Then I’ll call that a win.
But Charise doesn’t monologue the way they do in movies. Oh no. The bitch is too intent on killing me to focus on anything else.
Rage makes her sloppy, though, and when she rushes at me a second time, I’m easily able to step out of the way. I lift my blade and prepare to strike it through her back…
When all of my limbs freeze.
“Enough playing!” Charise spits out blood as she spins to face me.
I try to move, try to resist the magic locking my joints in place, but it’s like moving through quicksand.
A malicious grin appears on her face, looking particularly menacing with the blood staining her skin. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You think you know everything there is to know?”
I don’t think that whatsoever, but I can’t open my mouth to speak.
“But you’re just a little girl who’s in way over her head.” Charise wipes at the blood on her with the back of her hand. But instead of removing it, all she serves to do is smear it across her lips and cheeks in a macabre display. “If only he had known you were the skinwalker.” Her upper lip curls. “We knew the skinwalker was in town, of course, but we never expected it to be you . Weak. Pathetic. Nothing.”
Righteous indignation races through me—both at her implication that I’m weak and the fact that she obviously knew and worked with the murderer who killed countless innocent girls.
“I didn’t mean to get rid of him, but I just got so damn angry.” Charise shakes her head, and a stray strand of brown hair falls in front of her eyes. She brushes it away impatiently. “I suppose it works out in the end. His method was so…slow.” A cunning grin tugs up her lips. “Nothing compared to what I discovered I could do with the virus.”
Her words aren’t making sense anymore, but it could be because a white-hot, blistering rage consumes my mind.
“You want to know a secret, little skinwalker?” Charise leans in closer, and, to my horror, her face begins to change and contort, until I’m looking at someone else entirely. “Charise never existed to begin with.”
Marianna smirks at me, looking regal and ethereal with her dark hair and fair skin.
The queen straightens and scrubs a hand down the front of her blouse—now slightly too small for her, given that her body has changed.
“You look confused, child.” Her long fingers caress my cheek, and I try to flinch away, though the spell Charise put on me keeps me immobile. “But everything will make sense in time. For now, you need to come with me.” She steps even closer and whispers, “Long live the Obsidian Queen.”