Page 68 of A Dawn Of Blood

Interesting.

I register the people shift in their seats, and it seems to be enough to make the witch rush to say, her tone all apologetic, “But I understand how important this is, so here’s what I propose. While I keep trying to make Cain see whose side he should really be on…”

I have to fight not to let out a scoff.

“Alaric will try to get the info from the inside. In the meantime, I’ll form a team to find a third source of info as well.”

Barely a second goes by before the leader shakes her head. “Absolutely not.”

My eyes dart back to the witch. She seems to be collecting herself. “Why, if I may ask?” she asks in a calm voice.

“For two very good reasons,” the leader readily replies. “Number one, the shadowcurse.” She signals to the little shifter girl to start talking.

Let’s see what they know.

“Lately,” the girl starts timidly, “the number of reported incidents is growing at a rate that is normally associated with pandemics. There doesn’t seem to be much time before it turns irreversible.”

“Time we could’ve used working on getting the bones,” the leader cuts in, “forging the sword and killing the bastardbeforehe gets the chance to put us all under his complete control.”

A sword? I almost let out a scoff.

“I’m sorry that this is happening,” the witch counters, “but it’s not a valid argument against my proposal. Killing Baldur won’t result in the shadowcurse no longer being a threat.”

“Number two,” the leader keeps going, “you’re biased in all of this.”

I frown.

“Am I?” the witch drawls.

It’s the vampire woman that answers, barely concealed anger in her voice. “You are. Right now, all you care about is your little mate.”

The very mention of the mate ruse makes me grit my teeth, but the witch seems equally indignant. “Does that make memoreorlessbiased than some other people in this room?” she demands.

“What did you just say to me?” the vampire woman asks through gritted teeth.

To my surprise, the witch shakes her head and says, “Sorry.”

“Anna,” the leader cuts in, “we’ve talked about this and we have the majority. No matter how distasteful this is to all of us present here, desperate times call for desperate measures. Since you can’t make Cain talk,we will. And there’s no point in you resisting this.”

Ah, torture. I guess it was only a matter of time.

When I don’t hear her respond, I look at the witch again, only to watch her slowly stand up, this indecipherable expression on her face.

Everyone around her squirms. I don’t know why, but she makesmefrown as well, holding my breath in anticipation.

“Let me address my being biased first,” she starts, surprising me with the combination of calm, serious voice and the slight smile. “Yes, Iambiased…”

I see the vampire woman’s eyebrows shoot up. The witch takes a moment to look at them all individually, before the expression on her face turns so unforgiving and authoritative all of a sudden, it makes a shiver run down my spine. “But if for even a single second you think I wouldn’t resist this for any one of you here,” she says, the voice still calm, but only on surface level, “oranyonefor that matter, that can only mean one thing.” She pauses for a second. “You’ve forgotten who I am.”

No one protests. As she speaks, my eyes, like everyone else’s, get drawn to this soft glow around her wrists and her neck. The Aurora tattoos.

“There’s another huge part of who I am,” she continues in that same mesmerizing voice, clearly aware of the fact that she’s captured everyone’s full attention. “It’s the fact that I’ve heard these arguments you’re presenting to me many,manytimes before this moment right now. The memories, as always, are vague, but… the sad truth is that I’ve also witnessed what that kind of thinking inevitably leads to.”

The witch stands straighter and stares at them all intently. I no longer see either annoyance or anger on any of their faces. They’re just listening. “If there’s any other option available to you,” she tells them, “thereareno times desperate enough to excuse abandoning your very humanity. It’s by far the worst thing that can happen to us all, both individually and collectively, and you are dead wrong if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you make this mistake.”

To my surprise, this makes the people exchange looks filled with… shame?

It surprises me even more, when the witch seems to register this and reacts by keeping her voice firm but softening it significantly. “So no,” she tells them, “we won’t be using force to get the info out of Cain.”

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