Page 56 of Blue Embers
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I had to say something. The woman I saw in the museum wasn’t a red witch and I knew it was significant information. The others had to know.
“She wasn’t there,” I said, unsure how my statement would be received. All eyes darted toward me and suddenly I felt a bit awkward. “I don’t think she was, anyway,” I clarified. “The woman who attacked me. It’s a little foggy in my head, but she didn’t look anything like the Zephyre I’ve studied. She was tall and strong, yes, but her hair was light. Her skin was pale. She wasn’t human, I could tell, but she wasn’t Zephyre. Her eyes were pure black and she spoke like there were--”
“Two voices coming out of one mouth,” Draven said, his eyes brightening with what I could only assume was anger.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“She’s controlling another body,” Killian said. “So she has a vessel.”
“So the witch is too chicken shit to come out and do things herself,” Malice said. “Then who the hell is she using as a host?”
“Wait, what does that mean?” I asked.
“A Zephyre’s telepathic abilities allow them to transfer their consciousness to another body to protect themselves from physical harm,” Killian explained.
“And the woman at the museum?”
“Who knows?” he shrugged. “Some unlucky soul.”
“No, she wasn’t human,” I repeated in a smaller tone as if talking only to him. “I’m sure.”
“Whoever she was, she won’t last long under Haera’s control,” Draven spoke. “We’ve seen Zephyre cycle through vessels before. All this means is that she’s as strong as we feared. She’s likely experienced and knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s going down the line looking for clues at this point and what she wants now is your sister’s child. Fortunately, the only person that knows anything about the child and its location is Saxon,” he said, looking at the only other Ash Bringer in the room.
“So you do know where it is?” I asked him.
Saxon nodded. “Killian found out where Talia Price lives fairly quickly.”
“Haera will figure it out soon enough,” Killian said. “I knew about Talia Price and if she did read me in the museum, she knows about her too. If she has access to any information at all, she’ll track Talia down and find the child, same as we did.”
“We all came here because Haera’s going to start making more moves,” Draven said. “We know that. Out here, we’re secluded and we can plan what to do next. We’re counting on you, Killian, to keep track of what’s going on out there while we’re gone.”
Killian gave Draven a nod of compliance. At that point, the conversation took a turn into some more strategic discussions, which I wasn’t too well versed in. I began to lose interest and became distracted by my personal dilemmas, Killian being the more puzzling one. The thought of my sister in a freezer was a bit of a stresser along with Ben’s death. And then there were the slowly returning memories of how I had somehow been pulled from my own home and drove all the way to the museum unconsciously only to, what? Almost die?
I glanced down at my abdomen, the voices around the room drowning into static, and vaguely remembered Killian’s blue dagger plunging into my gut. Remembering who stabbed me was an issue that I couldn’t see clearly and the more I thought about it, the more my head began to hurt. I pressed a palm to my forehead, attracting Everly’s attention.
“You ok?” she asked.
I looked at her, trying to cover up my discomfort with a nod. “Fine,” I said, but now my stomach had joined in the irritation and began to growl. If I’d been out for a couple days, chances were I was pretty hungry, even if I was only just now noticing. “Could I get some food?” I asked
Everly nodded, throwing Draven a brief glance as if to let him know she was stepping out, and escorted me to a passage on the other side of the stairway. I hesitated to see if Killian even noticed my departure, a little uncertain where the two of us stood at the moment. Still in a daze over it all, I followed Everly into a kitchen area with rustic, wood countertops and a matching wooden table in the adjoined dining room.
I leaned forward on the counter instead of sitting down, trying not to let my thoughts spiral too far out of my control. Everly pulled out a few containers from the fridge and spread them out. I saw bread, lunch meat, lettuce, and a few other things, which she immediately started assembling. It was a lunch I would have made myself on a lazy day at home, which made me smile.
“Keera would have made you something better,” she said as she slapped some meat onto a piece of wheat bread. “But I’m not really the fancy type. You’re not a vegetarian are you?” she glanced up, pausing as if ready to judge me if I was.
“No,” I shook my head. “Definitely not.”
“Good,” she said. “What do you want on your sandwich?”
“Mustard, cheese, lettuce and tomato,” I listed.
“You eat yours like mine,” she said. “Except tomato. That shit’s disgusting.”
Once the sandwich was made, she put it on a plate and handed it over, filling a glass with water to go with the meal. As I ate, she relaxed against the edge of the counter, eating a piece of cheese and listening casually to what was being said in the next room. Every now and then I looked at her, catching little details each time that I didn’t before. When she raised her hand to take a bite of cheese, I noticed the handprint coiled around her wrist, which closely matched the one I now had on my waist.
When Everly turned, I caught a glimpse of roughened, tattooed skin up the side of her neck and remembered reading about her when she’d won the Red Race months ago. Being in the presence of the champion, who also happened to be the Archon’s mate, seemed a little surreal all of a sudden.
