Chapter 14
DARCIE
This can’t be happening.
My thoughts race at a thousand miles an hour, ricocheting through my skull, but they all center around one loaded fact. A fact I deny with every fiber of my being.
That cannot be my mom.
It can’t.
Alex said he hadn’t been able to find her…
He’s been searching for her for weeks to help train me. How can she be part of the Nightsbane Clan?
I drag my gaze off the woman who gave me life, only to abandon me years later, and focus on Alex. His shocked stare as he takes in my mother loosens the knot of betrayal in my stomach.
I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head.
When my eyelids part, I focus on the woman once more.
I can’t begin to count the hours I spent staring at the picture of Mom that Dad keeps in his nightstand drawer as a child. There’s no denying that she is her.
Of all the things that could have happened during this meeting, seeing the woman who abandoned me was not on my list of possibilities.
I should have known when they said her name…
Shock makes me weak, and my legs finally give out.
In a blur of motion, Gregory’s arms catch me before I meet the floor. My head flops forward. My hands slip off his arms as I try to help hold myself up.
Without a word, he scoops me up and rushes me to the corridor leading away from the balcony.
Protest gathers in my throat. I want to stay and hear what my mother has to say—to learn about her role in healing me—how she knew I needed help.
But I can’t form the words.
My neck muscles give out. My head lolls to the side, resting against Gregory’s shoulder.
This is pathetic.
The short corridor opens into a wide parlor. Gregory sets me gently on a deep Queen Anne chair against the far wall.
Eshe closes the doors separating the room from the balcony, muting any sound that might travel back to the ballroom.
“What happened?” Gregory asks, his cool composure cracked by worry. “Is the pain returning?”
“No.” I breathe through the haze creeping along the edge of my vision and grip the chair’s armrests.
“Then what is it?” Eshe crosses the room and sits in the chair nearest to me, dark eyes searching mine. “Tell me before I run down there and drag one of those witches up here to look at you.”
“No!” I cry out.
Her eyes narrow. “Why not?”
I meet her gaze and feel the words scrape my throat on the way out. “Because that’s my mom.”
Silence hovers.
Then—
“What?” Eshe’s voice strains. “The one Alexander has been searching for?”
“Yes.”
A low growl vibrates from Gregory’s chest. “She’s been hiding with the clan this whole time?”
I glance at him, thrown by the anger edged into his voice. “I–I guess so.”
“Don’t move.” He vanishes before the words finish leaving his mouth.
Eshe and I stare at the space he occupied.
“Where’s he going?”
Eshe exhales. “Probably to get Alexander.”
I scowl. “Why would he—”
A gust of air precedes the mentioned vampires’ arrival.
I shove hair from my face and meet Alex’s piercing blue stare. He takes one look at my weakened state and blurs across the room, kneeling in front of me.
“Why are you out of bed?” he demands.
“Nice to see you, too,” I mumble back.
His frown remains, but the tightness at the corners of his eyes eases.
“You underwent a major mental transition as well as a physical one,” he says. “You need time to recover.”
“I’m fine.” I lie. “I just wanted to watch the meeting.”
“Then why,” Alex says, turning his head a fraction toward Gregory, “did he tell me you nearly fainted?”
My eyes flick toward the vampire by the door.
Tattle-tale.
“I’m fine,” I repeat, more defiant this time. “I wanted to see the witches who helped me.”
Alex leans back. “Recognize anyone?”
I grit my teeth.
“Oh, you mean the mother who abandoned me? Yeah. Now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure I saw her stand up as one of the seven most powerful witches in that clan.” The words race out hot and breathless. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know,” he says. “Last I spoke with Jennifer, she had left Nightsbane.”
“Yeah? And when was that exactly?”
He rises and folds his arms over his chest. “When you were a child.”
The memory hits with cruel clarity: a tall man with ink-black hair kneeling, long fingers cool against my temples.
I lean back. “So that was you.”
“I’m surprised you remember,” he admits. “I placed a strong mental block on you that day.”
My gut clenches.
“Well,” I say, my voice brittle, “my brain’s been training for the Mind Olympics lately, breaking blocks left and right. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
He doesn’t smile.
I inhale through my nostrils. “How did the clan know I was in trouble?”
“I reached out to them.”
“Why?”
“Because what is happening to you also happened to your mother when she gained her powers. The Nightsbane clan had to put her in a rejuvenating coma until the worst passed.”
I scramble to understand. “Is that what you did to me?”
He nods. “Your mind wouldn’t have been able to cope with the pain your powers inflicted on your body. You needed to be disconnected.”
What the hell sort of power is coursing through me?
And how does my alleged transformation to immortality affect it?
“I get it...” My shoulders slump, and I rub my tired eyes. “Can I go back to the balcony now?”
“Absolutely not.”
My head snaps up, and I glare at Alex. “Excuse me?”
“You need to be resting.” His stare is unwavering. “Gregory, take Darcie back to her room.”
Gregory steps forward.
“No!” I lean back into the chair. “Stop. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, you are.” Alex’s jaw ticks.
“No. I. Am. Not.”
“Darcie,” Eshe says, words uncharacteristically soft.
My eyes cut to her. “What?”
She doesn’t flinch. “You almost fainted.”
“I was in shock,” I insist. “I haven’t seen my mom in years. Forgive me for being overwhelmed.”
Eshe purses her lips. “Okay. But your body is still trying to recover from five days of sleep. You can’t walk. Why not just go back and rest for a while? Give yourself one more day.”
“I want to know what they’re talking about,” I say, frustration unraveling my sentences. “I–I want to hear her explain. I…I want to talk to Des.”
My soul titters at the admission, satisfied.
“I’ll go get Des right now,” Alex says. “Allow Gregory to return you to your room, and I will bring him to you immediately. He will answer your questions about the meeting.”
I search his face. Sincerity stares back, steady and unblinking.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Air puffs past my lips. “Fine.”
Gregory takes the cue, dipping to lift me. This time, I let him, arms looping instinctively around his neck.
Eshe moves with us, her dark braid swinging as she guides our path through the mansion.
Gregory carries me with smooth steps and a gentle touch, like I’m something fragile. My head settles against his chest.
“Glad to see Alex didn’t kill you for watching a movie,” I mumble, cheek pressed to his shirt.
He doesn’t laugh. “I’m fortunate my punishment was a tongue-lashing. I deserved worse.”
I frown. “You were keeping me company. If Alex has a problem with that, he can take it up with me.”
My newest friend does not deserve to be reprimanded on my account.
A small huff of amusement escapes him. “Careful. Someone listening might think you are not at all intimidated by Alexander. Or vampires, in general.”
“I’m not intimidated by you,” I say, letting my eyes slide closed.
His fingers flex against my arm, the grip tightening for a heartbeat before releasing.
“That, Darcie,” he says quietly, “is what makes you a valuable friend, and the reason I…”
Whatever else he says fades, softening into inaudible murmurs as my battered mind and body finally succumb to the lingering trauma pulling me down, and I fall asleep.