What is going on?
I’m shaking.
Then I notice that the curved dagger is Mother’s Night Sky Blade, (the twin to the one now sheathed at Freya’s waist). Heka must have seized it from the altar.
The Night Sky Blade is used to perform the blood sacrifice.
I hiss in outrage, as the dagger’s iron burns Daire’s pale skin.
Heka tuts, as if I have simply made a mistake in one of his tutorials. “You have been fooled. Don’t feel too inadequate; fae are tricksters. It was a smart but treasonous ruse. I have, however, saved the kingdom and you from what was likely an assassination attempt by King Aurelius.”
My expression blanks. “Move away from Dove and drop the knife, Heka. I don’t want to hurt you, but if you hurt him, then I will make you scream.”
Shadows coil out of me, forming giant bat wings that block out the moonlight and extinguish the guttering torches.
The crowds back away from me in terror.
Ruin doesn’t move from his seat, however, quietly watching.
Isis and Horus circle closer to the altar with an eagerness that makes me sick, as if they want a better view of Dove’s blood staining the glistening silver.
Heka, to my shock, doesn’t drop the knife. “Apologies, but I must share with you what I have discovered. In my testing for the fae’s cursed iron and mask, I uncovered his unique elemental magical signature, which was buried underneath it. Only the most powerful of primal fae can control the elements. I also realized that he was wearing a runic glamor on his hair and wings. It takes a mage as skilled as I am to recognize it.”
I listen to the sudden uptick in Freya’s heartbeat, along with her panicked breathing.
She is holding herself still, attempting to hide the truth, but she can’t hide her body’s own reactions from a vampire.
Both dread and a crushing sorrow flow through me.
Heka isn’t lying.
My nest mates have been.
“Tell me quickly,” my gaze doesn’t leave the knife that Heka is holding to Dove’s throat, while I flex my long claws in warning, “why I shouldn’t rip out your heart for binding my groom on the night before the wedding?”
“Because I don’t believe that you will wish him to be your groom, once you know who he truly is. He is wearing a disguise.”
“No…” Freya grasps onto my arm.
I make the mistake of glancing at her face.
I wish that I hadn’t.
Then I could have held onto the illusion that my Omega didn’t know the full truth of whatever this trick is. Then it would only be Dove…no, whoever this fae is…who is the traitor.
The betrayer.
My heart bleeds.
I try to pull away from my Omega, but she desperately clings onto me.
“Please.” Freya snatches onto my sleeve, but I yank it out of her grasp. “Please, fuck,please. We were going to tell you. I told you that we were before we married, remember? Things are complicated. We have been trying to save you…”
Tears tremble in her eyes.
I want to believe her. Don’t I owe her a chance to explain?
When the tears tumble over, chasing down Freya’s cheeks, I almost reach to brush them away.
