“I will end you,” I hiss. “Even if it costs me everything. Even if I have to destroy myself to achieve it.”
To my dismay, the corners of my father’s mouth pull upwards into an uncharacteristic smile. It crinkles the edges of his mouth, his black eyes. “I still have that much power over you?” My stomach plummets. He still has that much power over me. “I will make you an offer, Aurelia,” he says. “Reject the bond between you and my General Ghoul, and I will spare your other mates. You are not above hurting him, so I’ve seen.”
I suppress the grimace that comes from the echoing crack I hear in my head. Although I knew he wasn’t dead, hearing confirmation that he is well and alive is still cool water through my veins.But he wants to cut a deal.Ghoul’s words reverberate in my mind. He had never asked for a bond severance. He had asked me if I would execute him. He would prefer that over a rejection.
I want to see his face again, I realise. I yearn to see his shadows curling around him, giving his emotions away, reaching for me like hungry fingers. I allow my father to see them. The shadows that call to me. My fangs elongate from my gums, growing past my teeth, and my power collects behind my eyes, a sinister UV glow gathering in my pupils.
For the first time that I’ve known him, my father’s jaw goes slack. His lips part as he sees it. No doubt he’d heard of our fight at the warehouse complex, but seeing his daughter as a basilisk would hit differently up close. To him, I’ve never been a serpent…alwaysother.
It seems I have an effect onhimtoo.
True to form, Mace Naga recovers within seconds, pulling himself up to full height, somehow dwarfing the room. “You lured him in as you lured the others in. You used the skillsyou had to gather the most powerful males. That part,thatgreatness, you no doubt got from me.”
“You claim a part of me now?” I say with raised brows.
“You are my progeny. I’ve neverdenied that.” No, he just discarded me. Hid me. “You know most of what is coming,” he continues. “You know what Ghoul is capable of. You know you cannot win this. You cannot fight it. You will come out of this dead, do you understand me?” There’s a gleam in his eyes that tells me he believes what he’s saying.
“You wish annihilation upon us,” I say.
That grey face grows serious. “That is in your future if you don’t do what I ask. Work with me, and I will spare your mates from what is to come.” He pulls up his sleeve to reveal unmarked light brown skin. He’s asking for a blood oath.
“Very well,” I say, rolling up my own left sleeve and pricking my forefinger against my still-drawn fang. I smear the mixture of blood and venom across my fingers and hold out my other hand for the ceremonial dagger I know he carries. “I will make the blood contract.”
My father hands me the knife by its handle, never taking his eyes off me. And I never take my eyes off him as I make the mark on my arm. “I made a vow on my mother’s funeral pyre.” The dagger cuts viciously into my skin, and I smile at him as I press my venom into it. “And I make it again now, before you. That you will die in my mother’s name, Athena Boneweaver. And I will make you suffer as she did.”
I throw the knife at his feet, showing him the ancient mark of a promise of death on my skin, shiny and crimson. “I condemn you to hell, Mace Naga.”
I let the shadows consume me before I turn into nothing.
Chapter 93
Xander
Aurelia returns to Animus Academy dressed like a crime lord and smelling of blood and darkness. She snarls at the sky as she shifts from shadow back into human form, on the roof of the animus dorms, dropping a small empty backpack at her feet. I give her a moment from my position in the sky where I was on patrol before she makes eye contact with me, those dark sapphires demanding my attention through the night. Descending, I shift before I hit the stone, landing on human feet.
“Where did you go?” I ask, trying not to sound worried, nervous, or excited by the answer.
Her serpent fangs slowly disappear into her mouth as she sighs. “I’m not sure you want to know.”
I look out across the scrubland beyond the academy, the quiet dark. How many times had I myself made a flight to Drakos Estate, my heart bleeding, rage spreading through me like poison? “I know what I would do,” I say quietly. “I’ve confronted my father many a time.”
Aurelia looks at me sharply before her shoulders sag and a high heel scrapes along the stone. “Scythe always said we’re more alike than I ever thought.”
I laugh through my nose. “He said as much to me. The bastard is always right.”
She moistens her lips, dry from the night air. “Xander, I need you to go to zookeeper Rick and ask for a venom collection vessel. I need you to help me do something.”
Chapter 94
Ghoul
The night is blessed as I see the ball of shadow that is my regina travel through the sky, leaving an enraged, powerful energy behind her like a meteor’s tail. The military vehicle rumbles pleasantly under me as I park it before the entrance of the state parliament house. There is nothing left of the injury she gave me, except for the sweet memory of pain and the image of her worried face hovering over me before I gave way to the dark.
Mace strides out of the main doors, his black duster billowing behind him on a wind that is only dark magic. His nostrils are flared in suppressed irritation, his stride not rushing but quick enough to tell me she has rattled him. One of the grunts opens the back door for him and I try not to show my pride.
“Your Majesty,” I greet mildly. “I trust all went well.”
“General,” he says, not having a bar of me today. “You are fully recovered, I take it?”
