Page 59 of A Dawn Of Blood

Nuala’s eyebrows shoot up, Raven frowns, and Dryden blinks at me.

“No,” Nuala says, confusion in her voice, “Drydenis your mate.”

I shake my head, turning all my attention onto Dryden, forcing myself to just get it over with. “The night of the first mission I went on, it wasn’tyourblood I reacted to. It was the general’s. I smelled it again last night. There’s no doubt about it.”

Now even Alaric and de Groot, who have been spacing out, are leaning forward. Everyone is staring at me intently, most of all Dryden, who looks as if he’s seeing me for the very first time.

“What the hell do we do withthat?” Nuala finally breaks the silence.

I don’t get the chance to respond. “Even if it were true, Anna,” Dryden starts with an awkward chuckle, “it doesn’t change anything, does it? I mean, except Baldur, this is the most vile man out there—”

It makes him break off, when I just keep looking at him with a somber, apologetic expression. “No,” he mutters, “you’re not being serious.”

Am I? My mind is in this thick fog and I have no idea what to think, let alone say.

The silence that ensues seems to stretch for an eternity.

Nuala clears her throat and throws me a knowing look. “Why don’t we let this marinate for a second?” she suggests. “It might not even be important, but the mission most definitely is.”

I give her a nod, still feeling Dryden’s eyes on my profile, but choosing to ignore it for the time being.

“So, everyone,” Nuala starts, “finding the bones of Baldur’s ancestors… Any ideas?”

Chapter 44

Longing for solitude, I leave the Main Hall, heading straight for my room. I know I need to think, but I’m so overwhelmed, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, lost in a haze of suppressed memories and events of the past day.

It’s just as I reach the end of my hallway that I spot something.

A black tail disappearing around the next corner.

I freeze, my mind flashing with an image from a long, long time ago — when I first applied for the Archivist position, went into the Forbidden Section and ended up following a black silhouette that looked just like the one I saw now.

I frown. No, it was only my imagination.

“If that were true,” my wolf’s voice sounds from the shadows, “Iwouldn’t have seen it.”

I let out an unsettled chuckle, then turn serious again.

It would be impossible.

But the slightest possibility that itiswhat I think it is… It’s enough to get me moving.

Practically running, I turn the corner where I saw the tail disappear, spotting it rounding the next one.

Now determined to catch the sneaky animal and prove myself and my wolf wrong, I break into a sprint.

It’s not an easy task — to follow a small, swift creature through a crumbling old building in the middle of the night. I find myself having to use my fire to light the way, jump over heaps of rubble and avoid old ornaments falling on my head from the ceiling.

But I’m so focused on the image of the black tail that I almost let myself slam into a wall. Coming to a screeching halt, I stumble back and look around, blinking.

Where the hell did it disappear?

My wolf directs my attention back to the wall. I summon another flame to illuminate the sight before me, but it still takes me a second to understand what I’m looking at.

There’s a plant climbing the wall — it’s dark, succulent leaves covering the torn painting underneath. And right below the frame, there’s a hole through which she must’ve disappeared.

I’m already moving to try to go through when my wolf stops me. “This is no ordinary plant,” she tells me, her nose working. “It’s magic.”

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