It was my fault he’d successfully gotten into my head in the first place.
Despite it all, I pushed my way through the darkness, seeking the tickle of wrongness that came whenever Dante appeared. I imagined how it felt; the fear, the magic shuddering through me, the sound of his voice grating on my nerves as he whispered about my mate.
I pushed through the rising sickness, the fear. My heart thundered against my rib cage. The more I pushed, the worse it felt. Sweat dampened my brow and upper lip. When I licked my lips, I tasted it on my tongue. The reactions might have been real, but I knew the fear wasn’t. I knew it was a trick, one of Dante’s manipulations.
I knew because it felt like his magic. It felt like something he used to do when he lived with our mother, and he didn’t want anyone going into his suite. It reminded me of things from my childhood I’d blocked from my memory.
Dante’s cruelty had always been there. Even when I was a child looking for friendship with my older brother. He’d beentwisted, unyielding. And he’d hid it too well from those meant to protect me.
Another cold chill rolled down my spine. The skin of my arms prickled, awareness rushing through me.
The feeling of being watched hit me, but the knowledge that I was alone in my cell still had me tensing.
What are you doing, little brother?Dante hissed, reappearing in my mind. I could almost see him, dressed as he was when we found him in the dilapidated cottage, like a general conducting a war. Not a soldier, like he pretended to be, fighting on behalf of his people. But a figurehead.
I didn’t respond to him as I shoved further into the shadows where he usually waited. Shadows that were pliable, easy to push into.
My brother, by some miracle, was weak. There was nothing to keep me away. Not even his voice, shouting at me to stop.
When I stumbled out of the darkness, I wasn’t looking at my cell anymore. There was a fog that settled over the mind I was in, but through his eyes, I saw everything.
Screens. So many of them. Dante couldn’t stop me from taking it in. Not the ones that were blurred out because they’d been cut off, or the ones on the cages of his shifters, who were escaping due to a male unlocking the doors. Not the camera directly placed on the cage where my father and the rest of my mother’s mates were being held—alive, breathing, but preparing.
And definitely not the screen that showed Ivy, standing with the Primal from the Old World, conducting their escape.
40
Hawk
She was laughing with three young girls. The sound of it had my heart racing in a way I couldn’t understand. There was light in her eyes. A warmth that she reserved for those she cared about. It was a warmth shared briefly with me.
I couldn’t tear my eyes from her as I hid in the shadows. She held one girl in her lap while another danced around the room with a large bow around her waist. There was a third resting her head on the woman’s shoulder, a little older than the other two, but still young enough to seek that warmth and comfort.
Forget, a voice whispered.It isn’t real.
The woman looked at me without really seeing me. The smile on her face faltered.
And then the image bled, the colours running like water on ink.
I tried to reach for it. Tried to stop the image from disappearing. I didn’t want it to end. I needed it to stay.
She is not real, the same voice said, pushing the memory further away. The laughing turned to static. The colours became hazy, shifting from bright to something dark and grey.
I grasped uselessly at the remnants of the memory. Nothing but the colour of her eyes remained. The warmth they’dbrought me turned cold, like ice water had been thrown over me.
Everything felt cold without her.
In the distance, there was a crash. “What the fuck is going on?” the voice from my mind shouted, the sound ringing in my ears.
I felt something snap within me. The fog disappeared, leaving an emptiness in my mind where…I wasn’t sure. I knew there was something missing. My heart told me there was a missing piece. And my magic…
My magic burned with the desire for vengeance. It wanted to take back what was stolen.
That wasn’t my Fae side talking. It wasn’t Fae magic that swept through me.
It was demonic.
It was beyond my House or bloodline.
