Flora gazed down at her son, tears brimming in her eyes. I placed a hand on her shoulder, to reassure her, but I wasn’t sure if she felt it. “I’m so sorry, Flora.”
Emmett covered the wound on Ambrose’s head with his jacket. He smoothed out his brother’s blazer tenderly, pausing when he noticed a lump, then reached into Ambrose’s pocket, withdrawing a small notebook. He scowled, recognizing it as the list of hunters, and handed it back to Raven.
Raven stared down at it for a moment, before meeting my eyes.
Earlier tonight, I had wanted that list above all else. Now I only wanted to erase what had been done to Ambrose, to turn back time to prevent his father from ending his life. I swallowed hard, feeling numb as Flora buried her head in her dead son’s chest and wept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Iwatched as Nancy began to light candelabras around the room to chase back the shadows. “Now what?” I asked Raven.
Raven sighed. “We’ll have to figure that out. Although I insist on using hypnotism on any vampire hunters. Change doesn’t happen overnight.”
I nodded, agreeing with her on that point.
She held the notebook out to me. “I believe you’ve been searching for this.”
I hesitated before accepting it, flipping through the scant pages. “I went through a lot of trouble for this. But I don’t think I’ll be needing it, after all.”
Shadows seemed to fall over the room at my words, all at once, and I gazed around in confusion. A chill worked its way up my spine as several of the candelabras Nancy had managed to light to brighten the chamber were extinguished with a relentless mist that swirled through the room. No doors were open to admit a breeze, no clouds passed before the moon. This was not a natural occurrence.
“Not need it?” a familiar voice touched my mind, seeming to come from all around me and nowhere at once.
I stiffened, taking a step back as all but one candelabra became dark, the room suddenly full of a writhing darkness. “Vrykolakas,” I whispered.
“Wh—what?” Raven asked, stepping back uncertainly, eyes wide.
A figure materialized behind the lit candelabra, a black wolf so large it would need to crouch to pass through a doorway. Its eyes glowed an ominous red as it observed me.
“Lucian,” Helena said, voice hitching, looking at the beast over my shoulder. “Is that …?”
“What do you want?” I demanded of the god. “Haven’t you done enough?”
The wolf tilted its head, its voice echoing through the room despite its jaws remaining still. “All I’ve ever done has been in the interest of my children.” The wolf’s jaws pulled up into a smile. “It’s good to see one of them do something for me. You haven’t disappointed me, Lucian.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
The wolf sauntered around the candelabra, padding toward me on silent paws. I stood my ground, even as Raven pulled on my arm to draw me back. When he was only ten feet away, Vrykolakas paused, then sat back on his haunches. “You were more clever than I gave you credit for. You passed my challenge with flying colors.”
“Passed?” I frowned. “But … Ambrose is dead.”
“Yes. Yet he promised you his hand before he did. Alas, forces beyond your control intervened before it could be sealed, but that hardly matters. You did as I asked. And anyway, with the duke dead, and the two eldest brothers deceased, a new heir has emerged.” Vrykolakas stepped aside, a length of rope around his neck forcing a form forward that had been behind him. “And it seems that you’ve secured the new future duke’s affection quite handily. He’s quite devoted to you. Allowed me entry into the house after I threatened you with eternal torment.”
I stared at Maxwell, gagged, with his hands tied before him, eyes wet with tears. He’d heard that his brother was dead. And now, he knew he would be next, unless I somehow intervened. “But Emmett is alive.”
“No. He is decidedly not alive. Only one living heir remains.”
Cecelia was clinging to Zachariah, Melbourne and Flora at their backs. “Lucian?” she ventured.
My heart ached at the suspicion in her voice, but I understood it, given what she’d recently learned of me. “No. I … this is as much a surprise to me. I swear to you.”
Vrykolakas sighed. “It matters not to me what your intentions were. You bested the challenge I set before you. Without the hunters in our way, you have helped secure a future for your brethren. And they will thrive.”
I returned his gaze uncertainly. “Does that mean … that you’ll give me my powers back?”
“Oh, yes. And more.”
My pulse pounded, anticipation thrumming through my stomach. But then I remembered Maxwell and turned to look at him. He was so scared that he was shaking.
