Page 115 of A Dawn Of Blood

To my surprise, Baldur takes a step away as well, his lip curling into a smile. “Just in time, son.”

I grit my teeth. I love what he’s trying to do, but I really don’t like the look on his father’s face. “Please don’t get involved, Cain,” I urge him.

Cain glances between the two of us, his eyebrows pulling down. “What’s going on?” he asks in a near whisper.

It’s then that it hits me — this is what he’s always thought Baldur looks like, but now...

His eyes settle on his father’s face and roam over it for a brief moment as if he’s seeing him for the very first time.

My heart skips a beat. I think he’s remembering.

“You…” He breaks off, his eyes widening in shock.

“I…?” Baldur echoes in what seems to be amusement. “I what, Cain?”

Cain stumbles back a little. “You’re…” He grits his teeth. “You knew. You knew we were mates.”

Baldur scoffs. “What if I did? Does it matter?”

Gritting his teeth, Cain moves to attack.

Baldur easily blocks him. He’s still smiling, but there’s a warning in his voice when he drawls, “Careful, son.”

Going red in the face, Cain spits out, “I’m no son of yours. And even if I were, I’d still kill you for this.”

This time, when he attacks, I help him. Together, we’ll defeat him once and for all. It makes excitement flood me, when we manage to restrain him.

But the very next moment, he breaks free of our hold and uses his powers to keep us away.

“I’ve never lied to you, Cain,” he says. “Everything I’ve ever told you is true, you’re proving it yourself. All your life, all you’ve done is excel, working towards a destiny larger than life.” He scoffs. “Thenshecomes along and suddenly, without so much as a second thought, you’re willing to throw it all away. You’re willing to turn against the very man who made you who you are today.”

My eyes dart to Cain. He attacks, managing to restrain his father again all by himself. He’s panting with rage, but he collects himself enough to say, “Yes, you did make me who I am today. And I trusted you, you were the only person I ever did trust, and it’s in aliethat you raised me.” He glances at me, remorse in his eyes. The look warms my heart even before he whispers, “She was never out to get me. I’ve only ever been cruel to her, and all she’s shown me was kindness. Shelovesme.”

But before he can deal the final blow, Baldur breaks free again and smirks. “Yes, she does. That’s the whole point,son.”

And the next thing I know, Jericho’s body is falling to the floor with a loud thud.

It makes me inhale sharply, this dread flooding me from head to toe, when I see Cain’s body freeze then spasm.

Chapter 80

My breath held, I watch Cain stand straight and, as if nothing happened, slowly and casually roll his shoulders and crack his neck.

He shoots a couple of shadows out of his fingers, the power seeming to be even greater than a second ago.

Then he turns his eyes onto me, but it’s even before he drawls, “Ah, nowthisis everything I imagined it would be,” that it hits me.

My eyes widen in shock. “No,” I mutter, my voice sounding so disturbingly distant and despicably helpless.

He’s just entered Cain’s body.

And now he’s standing there with his head tilted at me, seemingly enjoying the look on my face. “I have to say,” he starts, “after that first body I took over, your shifter mate’s corpse was such a nice change. Very powerful. So much so that I decided to stay in it. Showing up looking like him was just an added bonus. But this one?”

A sob threatens to leave my mouth. How do I kill him without killing Cain? “Leave him be, Baldur,” I plead. “There’s no need to involve him, this is just between the two of us.”

“Oh but it hasn’t been for exactly thirty three years now,” he replies as he starts strolling around me. “That’s when you managed to go back in time, thinking you’d escaped me. But almost as soon as you left, the most magnificent, life-altering thing happened.”

I frown, my mind threatening to explode as I try to focus on both his words and figuring out how to get out of this mess.

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