The news felt like a bomb.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
Her eyes shifted to mine before they went back to the body. But the words weren’t coming out.
“The witch’s body, right?” Caspian asked, finally coming closer. “I saw your reaction earlier.”
He walked toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Surprisingly, she didn’t push it off, but from the way her body was hunched forward, I guessed it was more because she lacked the energy than because she enjoyed his touch.
She nodded.
“Was it someone you recognized?” Vesper offered, her other hand coming to touch Cedar’s and my joined ones.
Cedar sent her a bitter smile.
“The body was too destroyed to know,” she said. “But our cloaks were magically treated to withstand even the most powerful magic.”
“We won’t let anything like that happen to you.”
It was Caspian who delivered that line, bringing out a flood of warmness from me.
My life had been filled with men trying to hurt me. Steal from me. Bind me to them and use my body for whatever they wanted.
He was a refreshing change, and at that moment, I was glad I picked him.
“As heartwarming as this is, can you give us anything else?” Atlas growled.
“Just because you’re pissed that you have to get married doesn’t mean you can take it out on us,” Vesper spat. “You think I wanted to be starved to death and turned into a vampire? You think Cedar wanted to spend every night living the same recurring nightmare after what her coven did to her? You think Aurelia wanted to be sold as a broodmare? Grow up, Atlas. No one wanted any of this.”
Atlas’s eyes turned a brilliant red.
“It’s your fucking fault all this happened,” she hissed. “All I wanted was to help Aurelia. I regret taking you in every day. All you’ve done is cause me trouble?—”
“Both of you, stop!” My tone left no room for discussion as I stood between them. During the word sparring, they had inched closer to each other until they were a mere foot away, somehow forgetting about the dead body between us. “If you can’t keep it together, I will be forced to treat you like the children you’re acting like.”
They glared at each other, neither of them willing to lose the game of pride.
I put one hand on each of their chests and pushed them away. That got their attention, and they both looked down at me. I gave them a warning growl.
“Now, Cedar, if you'd be so kind as to finish telling us what you know.”
She nodded and let out a shaky breath. I reached out and held her hand through it. Caspian was by her side, looking at her with the utmost concern.
“The only knowledge I have is what I spent years accumulating. The nightmares. The visions from the seer. About my parents.”
“Visions?” Vesper asked. “You never told me…”
Bitterness and pain filled the bond.
“I didn't know it at first. He was trying to tell me something. I can see that now,” she said, looking at the hunter with a pleading gaze. “My coven must've used a similar way to steal power. That's how my… parents died. He was showing it to me over and over again, forcing me to look. The rune was slightly different, but in my heart, I know it was meant for the same thing.”
“Do you think your coven and the council have been working together?” I asked.
Cedar gave me a shaky nod.
“They're involved. I saw the rune on the floor in the room with Kyan. No one could do that except for a witch. So I guessit's your turn, Atlas. What can you tell us about your previous family?”
Atlas crossed her arms.
