Chapter 41
Tenter
CLAIRE
The words “dead body” tugged at something sealed inside me—a trunk in the attic of my mind.
It shuddered, lid lifting just enough for a single, brittle memory to fall into view.
A shallow river ran as red as wine, choked with dead bodies.
In the distance, a woman screamed while a small child cried.
An icy chill racked my bones. There was so much blood. Everywhere.
As quickly as the memory came, it left. I wasn’t sure if it was mine or the old witch whose power now lived inside me, but I didn’t have time to make sense of it.
My fire was shrinking, and without Cora or Bastien to help me, there was no one to stop the swarm of witches with wands raised and spells on their lips.
They wanted me dead. They wanted to take the only power I’d been deemed worthy to wield.
If I was going to survive, I was on my own.
The wolves growled and scratched at the frozen ground, restless for a fight, and determined to remind me that I would never be alone again while they drew breath.
Hera twisted her fingers in Bastien’s pale blond hair like a lover might, devilishly grinning at his frozen form.
Feral magick flowed through me. I opened my palm and welcomed the heat coursing through my veins.
The magick pounded against my flesh, waiting to be unleashed. My body vibrating with the power.
“Let him go!” I shouted. “Or I’ll burn this graveyard and everything in it to the ground!”
Cackling, Hera said, “Vampires might be hard to kill, but even they aren’t above a good beheading.” She removed a short dagger from her belt. “And with this little thing, I’ll be sawing at his neck for a long time before his pretty head pops off.”
She pressed the blade against his skin, and I sucked in a sharp breath as a bead of red welled up. I wanted to hurt her for hurting him. I wanted to hurt them for turning me into this… thing.
“You’ll surrender yourself to me, or he dies.” A few witches inched closer, and my wolves snarled. Growling and showing their teeth.“You know you don’t deserve the gift you’ve received.”
The tiny hairs along my arms stood on end.
Her voice carried the same cruel edge as my mother’s.
The same dismissive tone. Designed to make me feel small and stay small because I wasn’t like her.
It was a weapon. It had always been a weapon.
And in a single sickening instant I felt every childhood lesson sharpen into a blade aimed at my heart.
I tightened my jaw and let something colder than fear settle into me. This was not the night to be small. This was the night to be terrible and whole. I whispered to my pack, “Kill them all,” without a shred of remorse.
I wasn’t sure what I’d done to bind such powerful beasts to me, but I was glad for them when three attacked, their teeth finding purchase in soft flesh.
Witches raised their wands, but the beasts were already inside their fear.
Screams rent the night; the sight and smell of blood made me dizzy, but I didn’t swoon.
The big gray wolf crouched, and I vaulted onto his back, fingers digging into his mane.
He already knew what we needed to do: get to Bastien.
He cut a path through the chaos, slamming into a witch’s ribs and sending her skidding across the grass.
He bit another’s sleeve clean off from shoulder to elbow.
A witch flung her wand in the air and cast a crimson spear at us. My wolf pivoted. The bolt smashed into his muzzle with a wet crack. He yelped and staggered, but still his jaws found her boot and dragged her down, shaking her like a rag.
A witch slipped past the white wolf at my right, and she shot a spell in my direction.
A jet of angry light hurled toward me. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pain that would surely come, but at the last second, my wolf reared back on his hind legs, knocking me off his back.
I landed on the cold ground with a thud, my lungs unable to pull a breath in, just as the bolt struck him in the chest.
“No!” I screamed, clambering to my feet as the wolf crumpled to the ground. He’d taken the spell to protect me, and now he was dying.
Tears filled my eyes. His brethren howled into the night air, but when they regrouped around me, there were only two left standing.
I hadn’t wanted them to die for me. I hadn’t wanted anyone to die.
I’d come here trying to see things in a different way, to accept and respect, but everything had fallen apart.
The war I’d wanted to believe was a lie was here.
And… Hera still had Bastien.
Angrily, I reached for my fire, my power, but nothing came.
Calling it wasn’t like calling to the beasts.
It was different. Almost like I was trying to pry open that locked trunk where half-recalled memories lived.
I curled my hands into fists, demanding it to answer, feeling the rage, the loss, the need to set things right, but whatever magick I had didn’t come.
“Pity,” Hera said, eying me. “I thought you’d make the right decision and come quietly, but it looks like I get to be the first witch to kill a vampire. Which is why I’m the one who deserved my grandmother’s power.”
The sharp end of her dagger dug into Bastien’s throat, and more blood blossomed.
“No!” I shouted. My throat raw. My head throbbing.
I might’ve wished for Marius to behead Bastien when we first met, but things had changed. He’d saved my life. He’d killed for me. He’d been kind to me when he didn’t have to, and trusted me even though I’d been lying to him the whole time.
I… didn’t want him to die. I wanted him to live. I owed him that much for saving my life. The untamed feelings I had for him felt like the closest thing to love I’d ever felt.
I touched the choker around my neck. I’d been a woman marked for death, ready to die in order to protect my family.
Was I ready to do the same to save Bastien?
Tears rushed to the corners of my eyes because I already knew the answer.
If my death would unleash his vengeance on the Dark Witches, then surely that would protect my sister.
If I could die to save him, and her, then I would.
With my eyes locked on his face, I walked forward.
Hera removed the wet dagger from Bastien’s neck. “That’s it, girl. Do the right thing. You know how this is supposed to end.”
I was incensed. I was devastated. But… she was right. I knew how this was supposed to end. I’d always known how it was supposed to end. With me as a sacrifice. Hera beckoned me forward with a finger, and I struggled to find a steady breath.
The clouds shifted overhead, and a thick shaft of moonlight illuminated the statue and the patch of snowy grass where she held Bastien, and I knew it was Diana’s light shining down on him.
“I know I’m not your favored daughter,” I whispered to the moon, my eyes never leaving Bastien.
“But give me the strength to do what is right.”
After I’m gone, release him from the spell and give him the power to seek vengeance in your name. Keep your daughters safe.
The two remaining wolves joined me, padding quietly at my side. My fingers brushed over their soft fur.
“You dare pray to the Moon Goddess with my mother’s magick in your veins!” Hera shouted.
My attention stayed on Bastien. Tansy’s words rang in my ears. Acceptance and respect. He’d been teaching me this lesson all along. I knew how heavy it was to carry around hate so thick it ruled your life. It wasn’t her magick that made her evil. It was the way she wielded it.
I might have dark magick inside me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do good things.
Blood trickled down Bastien’s neck. His skin was the color of cream, except for the bruises forming under his eyes. His cheeks hollow. It was like the life was draining out of him. I drew in a shuddering breath that did nothing to stop the tears from dampening my lashes.
“If you let him go,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster, “you can have me and no one else needs to die.”