Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
“The book in Boston. It was about Druids. That’s why you asked me why I had it,” Bridget said, looking stunned.
But she wasn’t the only one. The entire world seemed to tilt on its axis as Cassia processed his words.
A Druid. Just like she was supposed to be.
Apparently. If Castor was right. Blood drained from her face as she stared at her hands.
Vega had committed so many atrocities… and now she was the same as her?
Finn’s brows furrowed. “But the Sanguis are Blood Witches. That’s a pretty big key word.”
“And Druids don’t exist anymore,” Cade added.
Castor’s stare burned a hole in the side of Cassia’s face. She didn’t dare look at him. Her lungs already felt like they were collapsing in her chest. If there was any sort of pity or fear, she would die.
Stellan’s gaze flickered to hers.
He knew.
Cassia dug her nails into her sides and used all her strength to keep her face as neutral as possible.
“Why do you think that is?” Stellan asked Cade, finally taking his eyes off of her.
“I was knocked out for over four decades after I cast that curse in Cavamyne. When I woke up, walls were already being built around every city. Humans were essentially exiled to Andarre. After that, it was years before people were able to travel freely between each region. The Regina Torneamentum started because they wanted a controlled way of allowing interaction.”
“All of this division started because they wanted to keep Witches and Tuathans apart?” Castor asked.
Cassia tried not to flinch at the sound of his voice.
“That’s essentially what a Druid is, correct?
We didn’t try to completely erase them from history in Tafari, but they weren’t exactly a hot topic. ”
A frustrated hum emitted from Stellan’s chest. “Believe me, if I had been awake, I wouldn’t have let them decide to keep the next generations in the dark.
Look, the Sanguis were given their name to set them apart from the Druids that didn’t turn to blood magic for more power.
Not all of them are evil… And the Sanguis aren’t the sole proprietors of blood magic.
It can be performed by any of the species, but it’s extremely intoxicating and deadly to everyone but a Druid.
Magic may be fickle, but it loves balance. For everything it gives…”
“It takes,” Bridget finished. “Quinn said the Wraiths are what happens when there’s nothing left to give.”
Stellan nodded. “When you’re no longer willing to pay the price, it will take your soul.
” The statement seemed to suck the air out of the room.
He continued, “Druids are different, though. They’re unique in the sense that they’re a combination of all the species, even humans.
Because of that, they don’t have their own magic.
That bit of human blood, mixed with everything else, somehow nulls their natural abilities and creates this perfect storm of hunger.
If they want to wield magic, they have to take it. ”
Cassia couldn’t breathe.
“From blood?” Cade asked.
“Not necessarily. Everything alive has a bit of magic in it. Before the Sanguis, Druids lived in balance with their land in Suza.” Stellan pulled out a map from a pile on the table.
He unrolled it and pointed to an unmarked land in the southwest corner of the continent.
The one she’d been told her entire life was completely dead.
“It was the perfect give and take… Until they wanted too much. That’s when some started turning to blood magic.
While it physically doesn’t affect them like it does Tuathans or Witches, their price is that it destroys everything around them. ”
The patch of land screamed at her. Cassia wanted to melt into the floor and disappear from existence.
She didn’t want to be a Druid. She couldn’t.
It wasn’t her fault that her twin happened to be full of Tuathan blood and that somewhere in time one of their ancestors decided to breed with a Nymph, completely screwing her over.
Plus, her ancestors had basically separated all the species to guarantee she didn’t exist. Yet, here she was.
Screwing up things again even when she didn’t try.
Too lost in her spiraling thoughts, Cassia barely heard Stellan’s next statement.
“Vega’s quest for more power destroyed Suza. It destroyed Cavamyne. It only makes sense that she wanted an endless source.”
Cade sighed in resignation. “The artifacts.”
“The Wraiths want the endless source, too. They’re addicted, but they probably think it will save them,” Bridget said. “Is that what’s happening to Marin? Is she turning into one?”
Stellan’s entire countenance shifted. Simmering rage began to brew on his features.
“It’s different with Marin. She’s half-human.
The price is already greater for her. In fact, it will most likely kill her, but she took it to protect Cade.
” He glared at her brother. “You should have known better to mess with blood magic.”
Color drained from Cade’s face. “You’re the one who had a whole journal of blood magic spells hidden under your bed,” he growled. “If you had told me about any of this earlier, things would be different.”
Bridget hopped off the table and tried to stand between them, but neither one batted an eye at her presence.
“I was entrusted with that book to—”
“Cass?”
Finn’s gasping question silenced the room. Wincing, he rubbed his chest as he stared at her.
Cassia inhaled sharply. Her emotions were suffocating him.
She’d been so lost in her thoughts, so preoccupied with her own shame spiral of what it meant to be a Druid, she hadn’t realized anyone in the room might be paying attention to her.
Even though Stellan had just told them not all Druids were evil, a bubble of fear rose in her stomach.
“It’s nothing,” she stammered. Her cheek muscles quivered as she tried to keep a straight face.
It didn’t work. Before she could stop him, Cade’s presence invaded her mind. He took no qualms in filtering through her thoughts to find what he was looking for, despite the mental hurdles she tried to throw at him. Just as needles began to prick her scalp, she felt his rush of surprise.
“You’re a Druid.”
To her, he said, I guess that explains what happened at the wall. Which one of our ancestors do you think was a Nymph?
Cassia curled her lips into a grimace. Everyone was now staring at her wide-eyed, except for Castor and Stellan.
The two shared a look, one she wished she could interpret, but the rush of relief pounding through her veins was almost too strong to control.
There wasn’t any fear emanating from the echoes of Cade’s mind. Only pure shock and curiosity.
“How is that possible?” Bridget asked.
Since they were still connected, Cassia became lumped into Cade’s infiltration of the others. She watched him share the memory of what she’d done at the wall and how she had channeled him, along with the private conversation she’d had with Castor in the training room.
Without thinking, she pulled on his power and severed his connection with the others. Would you stop?
It was the best way to explain.
Cassia scowled at him. She doubted that.
After a moment, the needles pressed harder into her skull.
While she enjoyed her little talks with her brother, she sometimes hated it when he left their connection open for too long because eventually, his thoughts and feelings began to follow.
Right now, the sheer amount of calculating and planning going on in the background of his mind was giving her a headache.
And the underlying guilt of Marin’s condition worsened it.
Cassia could barely hear the others over it.
“Well, I’m for one glad we have someone like Vega on our side,” Archer said. “Fight fire with fire, as they say.”
Finn frowned. “They do?”
The words made Cassia flinch. Castor’s hand grazed her lower back.
If she was going to learn to control her supposed hunger for magic, he really needed to stop touching her.
Something about his had been more intoxicating to her than when she’d taken Cade’s.
Sometimes, it felt like she was craving it.
Cade winced. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one drowning in the other’s problems. It doesn’t seem like you’re handling this well.
Would you be if you were just told you were destined to destroy everything around you?
We won’t let that happen.
Finally, with a searing pop, Cade was gone. His optimism wasn’t contagious. In fact, she wanted to throttle him over it. When had anything in their life gone her way?
Cassia jumped when Castor touched her again.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
Wordlessly, she stepped away from him. After being in Cade’s head, her blood was already roaring with the need to recharge.
Cade rolled out another map. “I think it’s pretty obvious that we need to find those artifacts before Vega does. Bridget and I will go to Andarre. When we’re there, we’ll get the sword. Castor—”
“No one is going anywhere,” Stellan declared, reigniting the tension in the small room.
“Your father just shut down the port in Aphira. Even if there was a ship ready to go, it would take us days to get there. Marin is sick. Quinn is still out there. The best course of action is to stay in Astraeus until we can get the Bloodstone back from her. That guarantees—”
“Nylah has to go to Andarre. Whatever you brewed for her is just a band-aid. What if you forget to whip a batch one day?” Cade asked, his voice low and lethal. “And last time I checked, no one had put you in charge.”
Bridget’s shoulders tensed. “Cade…”