“Thank you for understanding.” I don’t tell him I used it for experimentation and silently vow I’ll make us both new ones—better ones—as soon as I’m able. “Now, we don’t have much time and I have so much to tell you and so much I need you to tell me. I’ll start from the beginning and go quickly…”
I tell Drew everything—of the Succumbed making it to Hunter’s Hamlet, being taken by Ruvan, and the vampir’s curse. His expression darkens as I mention becoming bloodsworn. His grip tightens on mine as I detail the horrors of the curse realized in the old castle.
As hard as it is, I tell him the parts I don’t want to say. I admit to sharing with the vampir some of our silver processes. I explain the new fake silver steel I’ve created with Callos’s help deciphering records of long-ago vampir smiths.
I fill in every gap between now and the last time we saw each other. The only thing I leave out is the dagger I made with my silver ring—I don’t know how he’d feel about my forging with blood magic—and the details of my relationship with Ruvan. There are some things I’m still not brave enough to push.
When I finally finish, he stares at nothing. I wait patiently, though that patience is tested when he wanders toward the window. He stands, just like I did when I first woke up in Midscape, and looks out over their world. Except, unlike me, he’s been told all the secrets of this place within an hour. I’ve given him the information I’ve had weeks to process in a matter of minutes.
He rests his forearm against the glass, then his forehead. “How is it possible we’ve all been wrong for so long?”
“You believe me, then?” I stand, too eager to sit. But I don’t move from the bed in case disappointment makes me fold like flimsy metal.
“I wouldalwaysbelieve you, Flor.”
“You didn’t at first.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re right. But that was fearing your mind was not your own. Now that I know it is, I’ve no reason not to believe you.”
“Other than it goes against everything we’ve been taught.” I stand next to him, admiring Tempost and its frosted spires. It looks almost like the cookie house the baker would make and display in his window during Yule. The prize confection of the hamlet. Everyone always had a small piece at the end of the celebrations.
“I know you’d never lie to me and, moreover…” He trails off, straightening away from the window. Drew’s eyes are distant and unrecognizable. “I have every reason to believe you now.”
“Why?”
“Because that creature—that monster—was in my mind.” Hatred mars my brother’s features, twisting them in a way I’ve never seen before. It curdles my stomach a little. “The raven is no bird. And it is not a new raven with every master hunter. It is the same one, time and again, controlling the hunters for who knows how long.”
I tap the windowsill, quickly tallying the pros and cons of what I know I need to ask him. Even if he believes everything I’ve said and knows these vampir can be trusted…it’s hard to have your world turned over in an instant. I should know. Still, I must keep pushing him. We don’t have much time before we need to return him to the Natural World.
“Drew, I want to hear what you have to say, but I think the vampir should listen, too.”
He regards the door warily, as though they might come bursting in at any second. “Can’t you just relay what I say?”
I rest my hand on his forearm. “I know how hard this is, must be. I’m sorry for everything I’ve thrust on you, Drew. But if I thought there was another way or a better way I would’ve already pursued it.” His eyes meet mine and I dip my chin in what I hope is a reassuring way. I answer his unspoken question, “I trust them, I do. And they’re going to know a lot more than me. We’ll all benefit from you being able to tell them directly what you know; I don’t want to risk forgetting a single detail.”
He sighs. I know he’s going to agree before he does. I know what resignation sounds like in his voice. “All right, let’s have a chat with the vampi—” He catches himself. “Vampir.”
I offer a small smile of encouragement. “You know, you’re handling all this better than I did,” I say as I start for the door.
“Like I told you, I had that man—monster in my head for weeks.” He rubs his temples, eyes temporarily distant. “I know there’s a lot more going on here. Just like I know that he would’ve had me killed by the next man he chose as a master hunter if you’d left me in the fortress. So thank you for not doing that.”
My instincts were right. I’m both relieved and horrified. Our adversary is deadly and cunning in ways I know I don’t yet understand. But I’m ready to. The more I know, the more clever I can be. I’m not going to lose now when everything I love is in the balance.
“Gather everyone else in the receiving hall,” I declare as I open the door, much to Ruvan, Lavenzia, and Quinn’s startled expressions. “We need to talk.”
“About what?” Lavenzia asks.
“Time is precious; let’s keep the questions to a minimum for now. You’ll find out soon.” I start down the passage.
Lavenzia looks to Ruvan, clearly unsure if I’m allowed to make orders like this. When he says nothing, she sweeps into a dramatic bow. “Very well, if the lady of the vampir lord commands it.”
Ruvan’s gaze turns harsh and cold. Lavenzia merely shoots him a smug grin as she heads back toward our stronghold. Whatever undertones were just exchanged, I don’t linger on them. But…lady of the vampir lord, it doesn’t have a bad ring to it.
Within minutes, we’re all gathered in the receiving hall. Lavenzia has returned with Ventos, Callos, and Winny, and they join us at the table we’ve claimed. Not much has been said. Drew is intensely focused on Ruvan, no doubt because he now knows that the man sitting across from him is the one who nearly killed him, the vampir who was Drew’s mark on the night of the Blood Moon, and the one who now wears mine.
“I’ve filled my brother, Drew, in on everything that has transpired here.” I rise from my seat, resting my fingertips on the table in a pose that I imagine—hope—to be imposing and somewhat intimidating. No one says anything, which must be a good sign. “He knows about the curse and that we’re working to try and break it.”
Ventos radiates disapproval but says nothing. I’m certain that a few weeks ago he would’ve. Do I dare read into his silence as the foundation of real trust?
