Page 60 of Shadows of Fate

“Oh yeah, you’ll be feeling the venom already. It’s the wolf venom. I coated the first blade in it. Shadow stone mixed with that is quite the toxic cocktail, I’m sure you’ve guessed by now. You’ll be pretty useless for a while, but we’re going on a trip. Enjoy your nap, My Lord,” he chuckled.

I could feel my anger rising in my chest, and I wondered if Silvana could feel it, or if the cocktail bullshit he injected me with was withholding it from her. I was more angry with myself for letting this fool get the drop on me. I glanced over at Bastian next to me. He wasn’t moving, but I could still hear his heartbeat.

“Don’t worry about him. He was dosed too. But he’s not coming along. Only room for one, and that’s you. He’s lucky he gets to stay behind with your new queen. She’s quite the looker,” Delano said quietly. He stood up and headed for the door.

I wanted to growl at him. Snap his neck. Rip his throat out with my fangs.

I heard him whistle quickly, and then two more males entered the house. Each one of them grabbed an arm and lifted me up. Everything was going black around the edges.

I was on the floor.

The silver reflection of the moon.

The cobblestoned street.

The darkness of a carriage.

Then nothing.

Chapter31

All His Secrets

Silvana

Icould hear Cedar saying my name, over and over. Trying to get my full attention, but I couldn’t focus on his voice. I was busy focusing on the internal battle that was waging in my soul, trying to find the other piece of myself that was suddenly missing.

A sharp pain brought me back to the here and now. Swinging my head back to focus on what was in front of me, I realized Cedar had slapped me.

“Are you back?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

I nodded in response.

“Can you feel him at all?”

I shook my head.

“Okay, stay here with Bastian. He isn’t waking up and I’m not sure why. Maybe the blade was coated in something, but he’s unconscious. His wound isn’t bleeding anymore, so that’s a plus. I’m going to shift and see if I can follow whatever trail they left behind.” I realized his hands had been on my shoulders the entire time, squeezing on and off.

“I don’t understand how they could’ve taken him, Cedar,” I whispered.

“I know, Silv, I know. It’s going to be okay, though. We’ll figure it out.” He was nodding his head, trying to instill some sort of faith and hope in me. But I couldn’t seem to get my mind off of how hollow I felt.

Aeric cleared his throat, and I saw Cedar look behind me at him. “Delano is gone too.”

“Stay here with them, I have to at least do a once-over through the city. They had to have been ready to take him—it’s doubtful they were on foot,” Cedar said, his voice leaving no room for argument.

“Of course,” Aeric replied.

Cedar got up and walked closer to Aeric. “Please know, that if I come back to either of them being harmed because you were in on this with Delano, I will hunt you to the ends of this world, slice the skin from your bones, let you heal, and then do it all over again—forever.”

I glanced back in enough time to see Aeric visibly pale at the threat. I didn’t need to see Cedar’s face to know just how serious he was. He’d always given off gentle energy to those around us until he didn’t anymore.

Cedar left out of the front door, leaving me alone with an unconscious Bastian, and Aeric, whom I’ve known for all of half a night. Letting out a deep breath, I moved and sat next to Bastian. He was starting to get some color back in his olive skin. I picked up the shadow stone blade that Cedar left beside him and licked a bit of the blood off the tip. The coppery taste hit my tongue and I immediately spit it out. Something about it was just… wrong.

“Aeric, did we ever figure out what the wolf venom the Outcasts were using actually was?” I looked up at him as he paced the floor. He stopped and looked at me.

“Well, not exactly, no. We know it’s some sort of silver mixed with the drug venom that the… less savory members in the Court of Wolves created and deal out in the taverns there. They tried to bring it here, but, well.” He smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. “Let’s just say Raiden didn’t let them in the court very far with it. That’s why we were all so shocked that the Eternal Outcasts made it as far as they did. Raiden isn’t one to let anything like that happen in his court, you know?” He looked just as confused as I felt about it because I knew that to be true.

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