Page 31 of A Dawn Of Blood

“Cain,” I hear Nuala say in a low, dead-serious voice. “Cain is here.”

Chapter 22

“Everyone calm down,” Nuala yells just as the room starts breaking out in panic.

It snaps me out of my shock, when she orders us to take care of Finn’s body while she leaves the room with Dryden, the both of them looking as focused as I’ve ever seen them.

While we do our best to execute the order as quickly and efficiently as possible, all I can think about is…

How do I prevent everyone here from suffering Finn’s fate?

When we’re done disposing of the body, we get summoned to the war room. Nuala and Dryden are already there, sitting at the table, talking in tense, hushed voices.

We all take our seats, Nuala observing me thoughtfully. What ensues is a moment of loaded silence, Finn’s death looming over all of us.

It makes me realize what I need to do. I first need to learn what it even was, what just happened.

And while it did seem to take everyone else by surprise as well, I still feel the need to ask, “What was that?”

Everyone seems to snap out of it.

Nuala shakes her head, frowning at me. “We’ve never seen anything like it happen before.”

“But theywerehis shadows, no doubt about it,” Lorcan says.

“There was no chance of him ever resisting them,” Jaeger offers. “Their compulsion was full-proof.”

“And they spread, quickly,” Dryden points out, “until they took the host over completely. Even without the compulsion to commit suicide, they would’ve ended up killing him.” He leans back in his chair, a deep frown on his face. “This, people, is a viral curse, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one more clever or sophisticated.”

“What are you saying?” Alaric asks with a nervous, incredulous laugh. “That this is a lethal, full-proof remote compulsion curse?”

“Yes,” Nuala somberly shakes her head. “And I believe it’s what Baldur’s scientist had been developing. I believe we’ve just witnessed our first instance of the shadow curse.”

Fuck.

*

I force myself to focus on my mission, on saving everyone in this room. “How do we protect ourselves against it?” I ask Nuala.

To my surprise, it’s Raven who answers, “We learn the mechanism.”

Everyone turns to look at her, which makes color rise to her cheeks. “Um, sorry, but back in the early nineteen-hundreds, I had this phase in which I only wanted to read medical books. And, when it comes to curses, the first step is always learning how it’s contracted and how it behaves.”

“Anything we can do in the next twenty four hours?” I ask, leaning forward with bated breath.

She shakes her head apologetically. “I’m afraid not.” Then, as if she suddenly remembers, “Unless there’s someone else here who knows more?”

No one says anything.

Damn it.

I feel Nuala’s eyes on me even before I turn my gaze onto her. I raise my eyebrows in a silent question.

“How does he know we have you?” she asks in a low, tense voice.

“Can you really be sure this isCain’sdoing?”

“He’s outside,” Dryden replies somberly, “along with an entire army.”

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