Page 9 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

She looked at me with such hope that my traitorous heart lurched in my chest.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what you are. We’ve never had anyone appear like you did. The Raathmore coven were followers of the Deathwatch Revenants, weren’t they? Do you know what they hoped to gain by sacrificing you?”

She looked away from me again and her eyes watered. She brushed away a stray tear and there went that instinct to comfort her again. Fuck knew what that was about. I wanted to pull her into my lap again, like I had done earlier. She felt good there. I’d never felt that pull for anyone before. I wondered if it was tied to the sacrifice. I filed that thought away to speak to Korbin about later.

“My grandmother was desperate to have a Necromancer in the coven. We hadn’t had a fully-fledged one for a few generations and when she found out my mother was pregnant, she decided that the Blood Moon was the perfect time for a sacrifice. I was to be sacrificed to the Deathwatch and, in return, the coven would receive the magic to ensure my mother’s unborn child would be born a necromancer.”

I thought about what she’d said. We hadn’t felt a draw or pull for our magic during the Blood Moon, which was unusual. But I wasn’t the thinker in our group. That was Korbin. I was the guy they sent to torture and maim, gut and kill. I didn’t mind that though, I enjoyed it. More than thinking anyway. “I don’t think their spell worked.”

“Why?”

“Because we didn’t reward anyone or send any magic topside. The only thing that happened was you arriving.”

“Oh. Wait. What do you mean you didn’t send any magic?”

“The others and I are the Deathwatch Revenants. Your coven sacrificed you to us.”

Chapter Five

Raevyn

What the actual fuck? “You’re a Revenant?”

The dark-haired angel nodded at me. “Yep. Have been for millennia.”

“I was sacrificed to you?”

“Looks that way.”

“I really am dead, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know, pretty girl. You might be something in between. Or…” He pulled one of his snake bite piercings between his teeth as he disappeared into his thoughts. He really was beautiful. Like he’d been drawn from darkness and twisted in nightmares. Apart from his eyes, which were such a blinding blue they must have been stolen from an angel. His cheeks arched high, and his lips were plump and full. And his hands… hot damn they were gorgeous. He had long fingers that ended in ridiculously looking sharp, pointed black nails and they were flipping that black blade of his absurdly fast between his fingers.

“Or…,” I hedged, trying to get him to continue his train of thought.

His eyes met mine, a wildness in them that pulled at me, making me want to let go and join him in it.

“What if, instead of making the baby the necromancer, they made you it.”

I laughed. The notion was ridiculous. I didn’t have any magic apart from whatever had randomly appeared when I landed here, and I wasn’t even sure I knew what that was. It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t be the necromancer.

Could I?

“I’m serious. Try it.” Nox looked at me like I had the potential for world domination. Like I could make all his dreams come true.

“You’re being ludicrous.” I jumped to my feet and started to walk away.

“I’m not,” he said, following me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “Why did you come here?”

“Because it’s quiet.”

“But it’s a cemetery, Raevyn. What would bring you here? There’s a perfectly pretty garden just over there.” He pointed to a lush bit of greenery that I’d walked past and not even noticed.

My stomach dropped. I pulled my hand away and continued to walk away. Nope. He was wrong it wasn’t possible. I couldn’t be a Necromancer. I wasn’t—

“If you give it a go, I’ll help you get revenge on the person who killed you.”

Those words had me stopping dead in my tracks. I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say I didn’t want it. Hell, it was revenge that was churning deep in my gut and souring my stomach. I wanted to make my coven pay for what they did to me. For all the times I was ignored, pushed aside, thought of as lesser because I was a Null.

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