Page 35 of Shadows of Fate

“She doesn’t know, Raiden,” Allie said gently.

Both Silvana and I stared at her, but Silvana was the first to speak. “Allie, keep your visions to yourself please,” she gritted out.

Allie smiled at her friend gently and went back to eating her food.

“What does she mean, you don’t know?” Micah asked.

She got up from her chair and started pacing in front of the windows, her arms crossed against her chest. I thought back to the story she told Joel, and I could feel my anger spiking along with my shadows. I could feel her anxiety cracking through the mental walls she was trying to keep up.

“Everyone else out. Now,” I growled. Micah and Bastian stared at me for a moment, before collecting the notes I made them and their glasses and leaving.

Allie smiled, laying a hand on my chest. “Patience, My Lord. Trust the threads.” Then she followed Micah out.

“Trust the threads.”I wish I knew what that meant. Instead, I focused all of my energy on the female in front of me.

“Silvana, come and sit down.” My tone was gentle but imbued with the fact that I was not arguing about this.

She looked over her shoulder at me for a moment before sitting back in her chair while I took Bastian’s.

“What does Allie mean?” I asked.

“She means that I don’t fucking know. Okay? I know nothing. I woke up one night, covered in my own blood and snow, fighting for my life, starving, in the middle of the woods in the Court of Wolves. I have no memory of how I arrived there, who turned me, or my life before that night.” She stared out one of the windows for a moment before quietly continuing. “I have nightmares where bits and pieces come back to me, Raiden, none of which are positive. I know I had a sister.” She shrugged and continued staring out the window, silent, her knees pulled up to her chest in a defensive position.

It took everything in my power to stay grounded where I was. My shadows were writhing beneath my skin to comfort her, while simultaneously they wanted to hurt anyone who dared hurt a hair on her beautiful head. Seeing the strong, confident, powerful female before me curled up like this was slowly killing me.

“What happened when you woke up?”

She looked back at me and whatever she saw in my eyes must have placated her. “I wandered through the woods for a long time. I knew on some level I was hungry and wanted blood. Eventually, I wandered into a town. I walked through the streets and there was this man dragging a woman into an alley. She was bleeding.” She looked back toward the window. “It took every ounce of willpower to not go after her, Raiden. She smelled… so good. But when I saw her tears? I grabbed him and just ripped his throat out. Something inside of me changed.”

“What happened to the woman?” I wasn’t sure why that was my next question, but it felt important.

The smile that curved along her lips told me I was correct. “She hugged me and then went home to her two children. She was on her way home from the tavern she worked at, and her mother had them at home. She said her husband had been killed recently—he was part of the Court of Wolves army. She was all her kids had left. I watched her the entire way until she made it inside safely.”

I reached across and tentatively took her hand into mine. Sparks shot up my arm and I gritted my teeth so as not to react. Now wasn’t the time. “That’s nearly impossible for a newly turned vampire, Silvana, you should be incredibly proud.” I meant every word of it. When I was freshly turned, I couldn’t be around humans for many months without wanting to drain them dry.

She smiled sadly, looking down at our intertwined hands. “I was more scared of what was happening to me than anything else. I had nowhere to turn, and I wandered south for ages before meeting Cedar. We became friends quickly, and he helped me a lot. He’s been the brother I never knew I desperately needed.”

“I’m glad you have each other.” I pulled my hand away, although it wasn’t even close to what I wanted to do. “I’m going to gather the others so we can go over everything, and when we’re done, I’d like to take you on a tour of the grounds. If you’re interested, of course.”

She stared down at her now empty hand before looking over at me again. “That sounds nice, Raiden, thank you.”

I reluctantly rose from my chair and headed out to grab the rest of our group. Thankfully none of them went far. Welcoming them back into the library, I closed the door behind me and went back to the table.

Once everyone was seated again, I cleared my throat. “Okay, well, now that I don’t have to worry about how this news will go over, I can continue.”

A small smile graced Silvana’s face, but it was Bastian who chimed in. “So, you believe it’s Keres who’s behind the attacks?”

I looked around the room for a moment, seeing everyone was on the same page, before dropping my head. I let my shadows leave my body in a hurry as they covered the walls and windows, making it so nothing could leave the room. I recapped all the information that Micah and I had gathered thus far—the kidnappings, the connections to the women having vampires in their family lines, what Joel and the others told Silvana and me, and so on.

“I believe Keres is kidnapping hybrids, turning them, and using them to produce more powerful born vampires to take over Kostbare.” It was so quiet, you could hear the blood rushing through Allie’s veins if you tried. All four of them stared at me for a few moments before looking around at each other.

“Well… that makes sense,” Silvana said. I was almost shocked to hear that she was the first one to speak and didn’t think I was insane. Now everyone was staring at her. “Well, what else? Keres is known as a bit of a recluse. No one knows what he does up in those mountains. You said it yourself, Joel told us he’d heard about the breeding. All the women have vampires in their family lines. It all connects.” She shrugged and sat back in her chair, picking her glass back up and taking a drink.

Something akin to pride ran through my chest, and I couldn’t help the smile that hit my face. I looked around at the others, waiting for them to have some sort of thoughts.

Bastian shrugged. “Well, I’ve always hated that one anyway. What’s next? Storm the ice palace? Rip off his head? Send in Silvana to take over?”

My eyes narrowed at the last comment. “The only place Silvana is going, is here,” I growled.

---