Chapter 39
Soumission
CLAIRE
From my perch in the trees, I held very still. Wind stirred loose straw near the fence posts. A pair of wolves shoved at each other over a scrap of meat. Shayla glanced once around the training yard, eyes skimming the wolves circling the perimeter, then she turned back to Mama.
I blew out a long breath of relief. The shell lay unnoticed in the soft mud. One of the younger wolves who was sniffing around for scraps got closer and closer.
No. No. Keep moving.
He sniffed it, then scrambled back. “Dark magick!” he shouted. “Right there!”
My heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven. His voice hadn’t even dropped. But his fear of that little shell was evident.
Mama and Shayla exchanged a loaded glance, and I knew, I knew, what was coming in the way prey always sensed the hawk before it struck. The wolves parted without being told as Mama approached. She crouched down and plucked it from the dirt with two fingers, sneering like it was something vile.
I leaned forward, unable to look away. That shell was supposed to go to Shreesa and her family, to replace the ones Mama had already destroyed.
“Dark magick isn’t just out there, in Chastity’s disgusting underground lair. Where she devours children and tortures innocents for fun. It is everywhere,” she said. “Damien and his demons threaten us at every turn. Even here, on Diana’s sacred ground.”
A few of the weres began to draw back, hackles raised, nostrils flaring.
“And if vampires have their way, they’d have you doing the same.”
From the branches above, I could see the shell in Mama’s hand. I needed to get it back. Without it, Shreesa’s family wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.
My mind raced through possibilities, each more desperate than the last. But I knew I needed to act fast. Mama wasn’t going to keep the shell around. She would smash it under her boot, just like she smashed everything else.
“How do I know this?” she asked, head bowed.
“My own daughter was seduced by it.” The wolves howled.
And I realized, she was talking about me.
“That’s right. I led a party of valiant warriors, just like yourselves.
Fighters for Diana’s love and light. And I watched as she sided with a demon.
Helping him spread disease among your brothers and sisters. ”
More yelping. More howling. Shayla thrust her fist into the air and added a rallying cry.
Mama continued. “I told her to repent. To make amends. To come back into the light. But she didn’t want to listen.”
I dug my fingernails into the wood, feeling angrier by the second. This was just another one of her stories, and she was leaving out the part where she was the villain.
“She allowed darkness into her heart, and now we must guide her back to Diana.”
I had come here to break the curse at my throat. To take her blood and end this. Instead, I was watching her build an army on my back.
The thunder of paws came from outside the fort, and I carefully glanced over my shoulder to find the black-furred wolf and two pack mates weaving between the trees. My stomach dropped. In seconds, Mama was going to know the truth. That I’d escaped.
My pulse hammered so loudly I was certain they could hear it. The branch beneath my boots felt narrower than it had a moment ago. The wind tugged at my skirts. I could leave. But I wouldn’t be safe. I’d never be safe so long as I had this choker around my neck.
At any time, she could activate the spell and take my life. Or I could do something to activate it myself. No. Leaving was not an option. I had to get a drop of her blood. But staying—staying meant near-certain death.
Unless… unless…
I swallowed hard, not wanting to choose this path but knowing I had no other choice.
I was going to have to fall on my knees and ask for forgiveness.
Bile rose in my throat at the thought of it.
At the humiliation of kneeling in front of Shayla and these wolves and my mother.
But if I was close enough to kneel, then I was close enough to grab the shell and slit her hand open.
Daring to let go of the branch, I set one hand on my stomach and made a silent vow. “I protect you. I protect us.”
Then I looked at the crowd, at Mama whipping them into a frenzy. If they wanted a spectacle, I would give them a show they’d never forget.
Head bowed, I stood at the entrance to the fort. Hands shaking. Thick copper-red hair, loose and blowing around my head like flames. The stench of refuse and decaying carcasses filled the air.
“I’m so sorry, Mama,” I said, sucking in a gulping breath. “For everything.”
When I lifted my chin and met my mother’s colorless eyes, I could see she was more than surprised. She wanted to know where the coach was. She wanted to know how I escaped the ropes. She wanted to grab me by the root of my hair and drag me through the mud. I could feel it.
But right now, she wasn’t able to show her true evil. She’d told all these wolves that I was the problem. That I was bad. Yet here I was, ready to come back home.
I took one step, then another, drawing closer to where she stood beside Shayla at the center of the fort. Bastien’s dagger tucked into the leather belt tied around her waist. She still had protection runes drawn on her face to guard against demonic influence.
But I was no demon. No. I was consequence.
“I just wanted to make you proud. But I was deceived.” I wiped away a tear and then the snot from my nose.
The weres didn’t seem to know how to react. Here I was, the daughter of their leader, a Dark Witch, who was seeking forgiveness. When I reached the center of the fort, I fell to my knees. “I know I wasn’t the daughter you prayed for. And I’m sorry for that.”
Mama was rarely at a loss for words, but when I glanced up at her through wet lashes, I knew I had her right where I wanted her.
She set her hand on my head. The same hand that had struck me time and time again and called it my fault.
The same one that had secured the choker around my throat.
I held my breath, every muscle clenched tight.
It was hard not to grab her wrist, reach for my husband’s blade, and end this now.
But I knew I had to wait for just the right time.
“I forgive you, child. For bringing darkness into your heart.”
The assembled weres grunted and scratched at the ground. The putrid scent of death hung all around me. I kept my head bowed. Let the tears sting. Let them believe I was breaking.
I hoped that when this was all over, we could find a way to cure them of the disease Shayla had inflicted upon them.
“But,” Mama continued. “Your fate will be decided by Diana. The moon goddess will choose if you should live or die.”
I swore the cold mud had just swallowed me whole. Dread churned in my gut. But I forced myself to breathe. Closing my eyes, I let my magick creep out of me and into her. Hate was as good as rot inside the body, and now, I encouraged that rot to spread. To multiply.
Voices rang out. They wanted my blood. They wanted to see me pay. I waited. A moment longer. Another moment longer. I let the heat inside me build, spreading the sickness to Shayla next. The hate inside her was just as thick and familiar as Mama’s.
Mama lifted her hands into the air and called to her goddess. “What say you, Great Mother? Should she live, or pay for her crimes with her life?”
The next thing I knew, the barbs of the choker were back.
Pain lanced through me, and warmth began trickling down my neck.
I had anticipated this. I knew I was nothing more than a prop in her story.
But I’d experienced this pain. I’d known what it was like to smell my own blood and feel it drain from my body.
It didn’t cause the blinding panic that it had that night on the balcony.
The blisters broke out across her brow first. Angry pustules that popped and leaked black blood. Mama reached to touch one, and a sneer formed on her face.
She grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet, determined to make a show of my death. I faced the crowd of weres with tears in my eyes. “The goddess has spoken! This is what happens to those who disobey!”
But it wasn’t just me they were watching. No. They saw the way the rot was eating their leaders from the inside out.
Dizziness from the blood loss set in, but I battled through it, reaching for every drop of dark magick inside my body to push back against the barbs. It came in a rush of heat and power that made me feel alive.
Mama’s grip on my arm slackened, and when it did, I reached behind me and snatched my husband’s dagger from her belt and slashed it upward in a vicious line, hoping to slice through her arm. My cut met resistance, and Mama screamed. Her grip on me slackened.
Justice.
There was only one thing left to do. I lifted the blade to my lips, but Shayla grabbed my wrist before I could collect what I needed.
Her golden eyes flashed with light, and she bared her teeth at me.
A trail of liquid black rot dribbled between her lips and down her chin. “Stop this, and I’ll let you live.”
I narrowed my eyes. The pain in my throat made it difficult to speak, but somehow I found the words. “The God of the Underworld has spoken. And he says you will pay for your crimes with your life.”