Chapter 26
Chapter twenty-six
Bridget gasped for air as she broke away from the memory.
The pain in her side from Cassia’s fingers was nothing compared to the fire still searing her chest. There was no longer a knife or a gaping hole in her chest. She was fine.
She was alive. But the onslaught of memories still racing through her brain disoriented her.
She knew exactly who she was.
And who Vega was.
Her sister.
The realization hit like a punch. Bile surged up her throat as guilt clawed at her insides. Everything had been her fault.
Above her, Cassia’s face contorted in agony as she fought to release the spell.
Her golden hair clung to her damp skin, wild and tangled, teeth clenched as she tried to tear herself free.
When she let out a guttural moan, Castor grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her backwards.
Cassia screamed as her fingers finally tore free, and with a sharp, audible pop, the hum of magic vanished.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Cassia collapsed into Castor’s arms, slick with sweat and barely conscious.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Castor hissed, holding up Cassia under her arms so she wouldn’t fall. “She’s barely beginning to understand her magic. You asked her to do too much.”
As Delphine’s hands pressed against the hole in her side, Bridget searched for an apology she knew she should offer, but it wouldn’t come.
Regret wouldn’t stop Vega. The past was the only weapon they had against her now, and Vega was something else entirely: a brutal combination of magic and vengeance. A force Bridget barely understood.
Cade leaned over her protectively. “Back off,” he growled. “Cass was in Bridget’s head for barely a minute. Besides, she wasn’t the one at risk of bleeding to death.”
A minute? An entire lifetime had passed.
“I needed to know,” Bridget muttered, the world around her spinning like a ride at Coney Island. Vega. Her sister. The ghost that had been haunting her dreams. Or slowly infiltrating her mind from Iegorus. The second option seemed more likely. She’d been taunting her the entire time.
Drained of color, Cassia whispered, “I could’ve killed you.”
“I’m fine.” Pressing her hand over Cade’s, Bridget struggled to sit up. At the end of the table, Finn and Stellan stood by her feet. Finn gave her a puzzled look, no doubt from the onslaught of guilt he was receiving from her.
But Stellan… There was an odd mix of anticipation and dread. What exactly did he not want her to know?
Cade pushed back her damp, sticky hair from her face, sending a rush of goosebumps over her skin. “Don’t push yourself too hard. You’re still bleeding.”
His touch sent another thousand memories flying through her head.
Ones that overpowered the stench of blood that still lingered in her nose.
Slowly, Bridget grazed her fingers over his cheek.
He was so different, yet exactly the same.
“Cade,” she cried, throwing her arms around him.
Bridget buried her head in his neck, desperate to feel his skin against hers.
There’s nothing she wanted more than to bury the last memory she had of him, standing broken on a hill, ready to watch her die.
He was alive. It had worked. They were both here. Now all they had to do was find the rest of the artifacts before Vega could from Iegorus.
“I was supposed to find the memory, not you,” Cassia argued, finding enough strength to point her finger at Bridget. “Instead, you took everything.”
Cade’s hand on her lower back froze. He pulled back to look at her. “Everything?”
Bridget’s chest twisted. There was so much hope in eyes that it almost made her sick. It was clear he wanted to know their shared past too… to see what their life had been like. But there was so much he couldn’t know. Not yet.
“You remember everything?”
Forcing her gaze away from Cade, Bridget turned to Stellan. Trepidation had taken over his features. At least she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
Bridget swallowed hard. “I took my entire life back.”
As if on cue, a sharp pain sliced through her temple. How many lives had she reclaimed now? It seemed to be a never-ending cycle. Who exactly was she now? Cade’s wife? An illegitimate princess with a complicated sister? An orphan from New York?
What in the world was she going to tell Nylah? That she had an evil older sister?
The sudden thought of Vega and Nylah in the same vicinity made her stomach twist.
No.
Only over her dead body would she ever let Vega near her.
Bridget barely had time to catch her breath before Cade’s voice cut through the haze.
“Do me next.”
Her head snapped toward him.
He was looking at Cassia with an unreadable expression. Bridget felt the shift like a thunderclap in her chest. Her stomach twisted. No. He couldn’t. Not yet.
Cassia blinked, visibly reeling from the aftershocks of the spell. Her skin looked ashen in the firelight, and her hands still trembled faintly at her sides. Before she could respond, Castor stepped forward, voice sharp and unyielding.
“She’s too weak for that right now.”
Cade’s eyes narrowed. Bridget recognized the stubborn tilt of his chin. He was about to push back, to insist like he always did when something mattered too much to let go.
Delphine moved first, cutting him off with a gentle touch on his arm. “He’s right,” she said softly, her gaze flicking to Cassia. “She needs to rest. For real.”
A swell of relief rushed through her when he didn’t push again. He simply nodded, voice clipped but final. “Tomorrow then.”
“Bridget’s memories should be enough,” Castor replied. He turned to her. “What does Vega want? Do you know where the crown is? Why did she kill you?”
This time, a faint glow began to hum under Cade’s skin. “I said back off. She’s going to need a minute to sort everything out.”
Cassia moved, as if to step between them, but the door creaked open. They all slammed their mouths shut as they simultaneously whipped their heads to the left.
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” Archer said, holding up his hands. “But there’s a girl who is very concerned about some screaming we just heard.”
Of course Nylah had heard. Bridget didn’t doubt she’d been sitting in the hallway close by the entire time.
“I’ll go check on her and explain what happened,” Finn said, giving Cade a supportive pat on the back before exiting the room. Archer saluted him. Glancing at the Bloodstone strewn on the floor, he asked, “Should I keep an eye on that for now? Or do we really just want it laying there?”
Bridget glanced at Cade, then Cassia and Castor. It was clear none of them wanted to pick it up after what had just happened.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said before leaving the room in a quick flourish.
“I apologize, Bridget,” Castor said through a locked jaw. “I know you must be very overwhelmed right now, but you need to explain what exactly you discovered.”
Bridget took a deep breath.
“Vega is my sister.”
Silence penetrated the room, thick and suffocating.
Bridget didn’t even think anyone was breathing.
Even Cade, who usually took everything in stride, was speechless.
His mouth fell open, then closed, then opened again as he stared at her.
Bridget glanced at Stellan, curious if he’d been withholding that information, but he was clearly stunned. So that wasn’t the source of his dread.
“How?” Stellan asked. “She’s a Druid.”
“And technically, the rightful heir to what was the human throne in Astraeus,” Bridget added, causing another sharp intake of breath from everyone.
“Her mother was a very powerful Druid from Suza, happily married to our father in hopes of bringing prosperity to both Kingdoms. At the time, the land in Suza was slowly dying and no one knew why. Eventually, we figured out it was the Sanguis drawing too much power without thinking of the consequences. But I can tell on your faces that part doesn’t really matter right now…
Okay, long story short, our father had an affair with my mother.
Both of them were entirely human. I didn’t meet Vega until we were six, when both our mothers died in an accident. After that, I lived here but…”
But she’d lived like an outsider. A sister and daughter, but excluded from being a true member of the family.
For the most part. Bridget gazed around at the room.
The part of the palace they were in hadn’t been built when she’d last considered Astraeus her home.
She had a sudden urge to visit her old room.
“That’s how Quinn knew how to get past the protection spell through the tunnels. It was built by our father. Vega must have told her,” Bridget said, pinching the bridge of her nose. They had been at a complete disadvantage. Vega knew the palace like the back of her hand.
Silence enveloped the room as everyone processed their shock.
“You’re a princess?”
With her nose wrinkled in dismay, Bridget wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Cassia look so revolted.
“No, not really…”
“But your father was the king?” Castor asked. His gaze cut to Stellan’s. “Does that mean she’s that missing princess from Andarre? That would be her bloodline, correct?”
What. The. Fuck.
On top of everything else, the present-day complications with her family wasn’t something she could deal with at the moment.
Archer let out a low whistle. “Alexia’s going to love that news…”
Bridget sent him a droll look.
“She can’t be your sister,” Cade said, beginning to pace. “Every story I’ve been told about Vega says she killed the human girl—you…” He ran a distressed hand through his wild hair, like he couldn’t believe what he was saying, “because I wouldn’t marry her.”