Seth’s attention flicked from me to my mate.The Covenant?—
“There will be no secrets,” I said, working to keep the sharpness from my tone.
He gave a small smile and dipped his chin. “The Covenant is gathering and it is best we present a united front.”
This was what we had been working toward for so long, yet now it was here I dreaded leaving Adrienne for even a single second. But she took a deep breath, attempting to quell her tears, and pulled back to look at my face. Never once did I expect her to beg me to stay, but the resolve slipping through the fading bond had me thinking of all the reasons I should.
“I need to return to the apartment anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “And someone should tell Noah.”
My heart twisted at the idea of her alone. I looked over her shoulder to where Bernard had appeared. “Ralph will take you home.”
The barest hint of a smile curved the corner of her mouth. “Of course.”
I cupped her face in my hands, leaning down to press a kiss to her mouth. Urgency rippled off Seth, cutting through my haphazard list of reasons why I should stay. This waswhat we’d been working for, this would be for the betterment of all. So, reluctantly, I pulled away, pressing my brow to hers.
“Tomorrow and the next,” I promised.
She gripped my wrists, rising to her toes to kiss me again. “Tomorrow and the next.”
It had beencenturies since I last set foot inside the ornate and foreboding mansion of the Covenant. Mael and I had been on tentative speaking terms then, though by the time I’d left, an entire room had been destroyed. That had not been my final conversation with my brother, but it had been close. Since then I’d heard how he’d twisted our history until it was unrecognizable. How he’d claimed to be the first turned by Seth, older than me and all others, despite his being made decades after I was turned. Others spoke of his connection to the goddess, how he heard her voice and therefore must be obeyed.
Lies. All terrible, brutal lies.
And the very last time we spoke had been right before he planned the raids on the Souzterain—back when it was still on the Rachay River. I’d found him on the rooftops and all but begged him to reconsider, to see reason, but it had been too little, too late.
With a sigh, I stared at the double doors leading into a room I’d seen countless times in his fledglings’ minds. Lilith stood beside me, preternaturally still as we listened to what was happening on the other side of the door. Immortality suited her, though I’d known it would have. She had been destined for this life long before even her mother had been born, but I’d never imagined that she would be the one to bring Mael to justice.
To say I was proud of her would have been a hideous understatement.
I squeezed her shoulder.Stay close to Callum.
She nodded, turning to look back at Seth, who hovered nearby. He gave her a wink before slipping back into a shadowy alcove and all but disappearing. On the other side of the door voices quieted and the footsteps padding from the opposite end of the room—the other members of the Covenant who’d served my brother directly—stopped.
Ready?I asked Lilith.
Yes…I think so,she answered, a little of her trepidation slipping through her silent voice. With trembling fingertips, she tugged up the hood of Gabrielle’s usual robe until it covered her hair and face. They would have noticed her immediately as an outsider had she come in with Callum and Mateo.
The thought of Gabrielle sent a pang of anxiety snaking through my heart. She still had not woken from the state Mael’s torture had sent her into. I’d visited her coffin tonight before Lilith and Callum joined us and had attempted to use my power to slip into her mind and encourage her to wake. But there had been nothing but darkness, nothing but the sound of her screams. I worried Gabrielle would not wake and worried what that would mean, especially for Henry who sat vigil by her side.
Stay close, trust your instincts,I encouraged Lilith before I sent out my power to open the doors.
As one the crowd turned in our direction. Gasps of surprise cut through the silence from some while others froze. I took a moment to scan the crowd, noting each immortal in attendance. Many of these vampires I knew—some I had even loved once. But there were others I would take pleasure in destroying.
The masses parted when I took a step forward, Lilith following at my side. It was as silent as the grave save for eachfootstep ringing over the stones, but I kept my attention fixed on the six immortals within the center of the circle. Once I’d counted these immortals as friends—Iris, the lone female of the group, was a sister, in fact. She had been made by Seth a thousand years after Mael and I had been. But I’d lost her long ago to the fervor of Mael’s visions and madness.
She stared at me now with terror in her gaze, skin ashen and hair bright red. I ushered Lilith toward Callum where he stood beside his brother before I raised my voice. “Your master is dea?—”
Atticus rushed me before the word was done, arms outstretched and fangs bared. I grabbed him by his thick black hair and sank my teeth into his throat, ripped off his head in the next breath and threw his body to the ground.
“Anyone else?” I rumbled low, blood dripping from my jaw.
A single breath was all there was before Balthazar surged forward next, followed by Hartley and Darian. Around us the room descended into chaos, screams of terror and fury ringing in my ears as I dodged blows and shot out my power to wrap around necks, snapping them easily. I reached for magic I’d long since abandoned. Fire roared through my veins and shot out, immolating attackers where they stood. Screams. Blood. The scent of burned hair.
And death, so much unnecessary death.
I fought with blood tears in my eyes, my soul cracking in half as I destroyed those who might have lived unendingly. Those who had lived a thousand lifetimes, those who I had walked this world with before this city stood. With each vampire I killed, another stone settled upon my shoulders I was unsure I would ever shake.
Fresh screams ripped through the room and from the corner of my eye I saw the double doors open again. Seth stepped through, his hands in his trouser pockets, andwatched with furrowed brows as his children destroyed one another. The male I’d been fighting froze in horror and I paused, placing my hands on his face.
