CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Astrid
Rave distracts the guests by taking them into the dining hall and plying them with alcohol. I sneakily ask Kai to join us to see what he reads and picks up from them all, along with Soren to make it less obvious. The three brothers make me nervous, though. I physically feel their power and dominance, and if they pick up on Kai trying to filter through their minds, we might have a problem on our hands.
Three large, six-foot-six problems.
Maybe stay away from those three, I loudly project into his mind. I’m not sure if he can hear me, but his slight nod lets me know he does.
“So Rave, not going to ask how Saylor is?” Salem asks, that cruel smirk appearing as he loudly cracks his knuckles. Okay, so there is some kind of history there. Rave didn’t give anything away when he saw them with King Bax, so I assumed they didn’t know each other. As usual, I’ve assumed wrong.
Rave sits back in his chair, his arm resting behind the back of mine. He’s full of casual arrogance as his hand cups my nape. “And why would I want to do that?”
“Because you two had… history.” Salem smirks, his eyes running over me. “Or doesn’t your mate know about her?”
If he is trying to cause problems, he knows right where to start.
Of course, I want to demand who the hell Saylor is and why he would bring it up, but I keep an emotionless mask on, not giving anything away.
I’m not going to give this asshole the satisfaction.
Rave’s fingers tighten. “If I listed every single female I’ve fucked to my queen, we’d be here all fucking night.”
Raiden laughs at that, a deep sound that has us all turning to look at him. “I think many of us at this table would be guilty of that.”
Soren raises his hand with a devilish grin. “Guilty.”
I roll my eyes, unable to relate since Rave is the only person I’ve ever slept with.
Silver smirks, his striking green eyes pinning me in my spot while he addresses his brother. “I don’t know why you want to bring up our sister at a time like this, Salem, but show her a little more respect.”
Rave fucked their sister?
Just how many of them are there?
“Have you spoken to Queen Pandora?” Rave says, tilting his head to the side. “You two were betrothed, were you not?”
What? Pandora was betrothed to this psychopath?
“Were, being the key word,” Salem replies with a dark scowl. “Don’t try and change the subject from the fact that you have fucked my sister—”
I force my lips to kick up at the corners. “I don’t care who Rave has fucked before me, but thanks for bringing them up amongst strangers, Salem. Perhaps we should discuss your love life instead?”
Laurel is sitting on the other side of me in silence and puts her hand on my leg in warning.
To not push him?
Does she think he will hurt me?
“Now, now… we are here for more important reasons than to catch up on who is fucking who,” King Bax interrupts, sending a scowl in his Salem’s direction. “We need to discuss how the Vampire King’s death will affect us all. I heard you have aligned with the queen. Is this true?”
“Yes, it is,” Rave replies, and while the two of them talk politics, I slide the note I’d written her under the table and into Laurel’s hand. She accepts it and tucks it into her boot.
***
Later that night, she meets me in the spot I had suggested, deep in the gardens hidden by hedges.
“You came,” I whisper, touching her shoulder. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. I know you want me to help train you,” she murmurs, biting her lower lip. “I’ll help you tonight and show you some exercises to do. You will be unstoppable, Astrid. I’ve seen it. You will learn not only to see the future, but the past too.”
The past? I didn’t even know that was possible.
We sit together for the next two hours, and she shows me how to try and control my visions, to expand and explore them, and to see things I want to see. Instead of random visions, I focus on what I’m trying to see. That is how she is known as a battle seer, simply because that is what she chooses to train her mind to focus on.
“What if you left Bax and came and hid here,” I tell her, knowing that after I said those words, there was no going back. “We could protect you.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want people dying for me, Astrid. Bax will never let me go, and it’s okay. I’ve accepted that this is my life. But you will save others.”
“I can save you, too,” I whisper, my eyebrows furrowing.
“You can’t,” she replies sadly, tucking her brown hair behind her ear. “But it means a lot to me that you want to. It means everything, actually.”
She leaves all too soon, and I sit and wonder if I should let this go. I can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. But I can let her know I’m here and the offer always stands.
When I turn around to walk back inside, the last person I ever thought I’d run into here is standing a few yards away, staring right at me. My magic surges, and I show out a shield in protection.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” Rion says, crossing his arms over his chest. His curly brown hair has been cut shorter since the last time I saw him when he was trying to kill me, and his red eyes all but glow in the dark.
“Then why are you here?” I ask, taking a slow step forward.
“You returned my mate to me,” he says, tilting his head to the side and watching me. I notice that his wrists are still bare, so although he knows who his mate is, they haven’t yet bonded, which is interesting, considering he was willing to do anything to get her back. “And now I’m going to do something for you.”
“What?” I ask, frowning.
“I was contacted about kidnapping you again,” he murmurs, running his finger along the scar on his cheek. “There’s an incubus warlord who wants you to bear him children. There’s nothing he wouldn’t give to have you, to have some succubus daughters.”
“Well, too bad for him,” I growl out, pissed off that anyone thinks they are entitled to me. “Who is it?”
“I think the more important question is, who worked with the Vampire King to get you locked up in his dungeons? He didn’t work alone,” he says, red eyes flickering with something that looks like pity. “Who was willing to serve you up on a platter to this incubus?”
I don’t like that.
My stomach twists, and I know that whatever he says next, I’m not going to like.
“Who also told him that you are a fucking seer, which makes him want you ten million fucking times more,” Rion now growls out, looking pissed off.
What?
“Any reason you’re alone with my mate in the dark?” Rave growls as he appears in a whirl of dark smoke. I feel how angry he is through the bond and how badly he wants to murder the male in front of us.
I put my hand out to stop him as he steps closer to Rion. “Someone betrayed me.”
Only a few people know I’m a seer—people I trust. Unless Laurel told someone, but I don’t see what she would get out of me being taken as some brooding mare. That doesn’t sound like the change she was talking about. That is the opposite of freedom.
My mind roams to the night I was kidnapped. Zython had pulled Rave and Soren away, wanting to show them his weaponry.
And then I was taken.
My father has betrayed me.
Are my brothers in on this too?
My hand absently rubs my chest, right above my heart. “My father.”
“What?” Rave growls, pulling me against his chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Zython was working with the Vampire King,” is all Rion has to say for Rave to understand.
“Why are you telling us this?” I ask. I don’t trust Rion as far as I can throw him. From what I’ve seen and heard, he only does things that benefit himself.
His eyes flash with anger before they become gentle. “My mate…”
“She wanted you to tell me the truth?”
He nods once, sharply. “She appreciates you all, as do I, for saving her from the Vampire King. Consider us even now.”
So, it’s the truth.
Tears pool in my eyes, but I will them away. I guess the whole lost father thing was a story too good to be true.
Maybe he knew about me all along and didn’t care.
Or maybe he’s just a snake who was happy to get whatever he could by using me.
“I’m going to kill him,” Rave snarls, looking over to Rion. “This information better be the truth, or you and your mate will not live another day.”
Electricity sparks off Rion’s hands at the threat, but he nods. “It’s the truth. Zython tried to hire me to take her to Declan. He’s an incubus warlord who wants her. Zython owes him a debt, and he called it in when he heard about Astrid. Zython has also asked for Declan’s daughter’s hand in marriage for Axe.”
“Add him to the list,” Rave growls, kissing the top of my head. “I will kill every one of them.”
“One more thing,” Rion calls out. “I overheard something Zython said. Your mother wasn’t just fae, Astrid. She was half angel.”
I cannot fucking process that right now.
An angel? I know they exist, but I’ve never seen one in real life.
I don’t know anyone who has.
Is that why I’m so powerful?
Why my blood tastes different?
Why everyone wants to use me for their own gain.
Rave carries me back to our room and tucks me in bed. “Why are all our enemies confessing their secrets to you? No one can help themselves around you.”
“I’ve been kidnapped enough times to know that’s not true,” I grumble as he pulls me against his warm chest.
“I love you, Princess. No matter what, it’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
Only then do I let my tears fall.