Page 119 of Tales of a Deadly Devotion
Of course the bastard would choose now to turn up.
‘What?’ Kat demanded, her voice hoarse as if she’d been struck by the words.
‘It was nothing,’ I snapped, wishing there could be a ferocious growl building in my throat but there was nothing. Hating the pain in her eyes, the horror and shadow of her guilt. As if any of it was her fault.
‘With a verium dart,’ Thean continued, unbothered. Producing the offending item from their jacket pocket with a flourish. The silver dart. I didn’t see them pick it up. They must have gone back for it, but why?
Only Thean Page wasn’t quite finished ruining my day.
‘Not to mention the hunters that caught her. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t turned up?’
‘No.’ Kat’s voice was nothing but a whisper. Her eyes filled with horrid sorrow as they took me in. ‘Alma – I didn’t—’
‘I told you not to say anything,’ Gideon bit out, glaring at the voyav as he snatched the dart from Thean’s grip.
‘Alma. You didn’t say it washunters.’ William looked stricken, his freckled skin pale. Blackthorn was considering me with those serious grey eyes where he’d come to stand behind Kat, focusing on the dark circles I knew were beneath my eyes.
Evidence of everything I couldn’t hide. Not without the creatures I longed to become.
Too many people watching. Too much concern. Panic and shame coiled inside of me. Twisting into a painful rage. Turning me on Thean with clenched fists. The burning sensation of my claws manifesting. That wildness in my blood unfurling from its slumber.
‘Trust me. I’d manage those hunters fine on my own,’ I leered. Feeling the sharp point of the barest fang in my mouth, the ghostly pinch of tightening skin at my cheek. The faintest hint of my magic coming back.
‘You don’t need to prove that tome, darling,’ they smiled wickedly, those hard amber eyes tracing my features before they softened slightly.
No. I needed to prove it to myself. It was me who had panicked. Me who had let those hunters catch me. A horrid growl rumbled in my chest, slipping easily up through my clenched teeth.
The voyav leant closer, that smile never diminishing. ‘There she is.’
It was then I realised I was seeing them through my feline eyes, and that it was claws that bit into my palms. How I’d found my way back to my magic. Incensed the voyav had something to do with it.
Bastard.
‘Alma?’ Kat asked again, but I stormed past them all and into the study, unable to bear another moment of their proximity. I didn’t deserve all of their worry. Thankfully, the house had materialised a tea set on Kat’s desk. I busied myself with pouring all the cups. ‘Never mind me, we need to work out how to open the book.’
‘Why were hunters at the Grey house?’ William asked. The question halting the cup halfway to my lips. I turned, seeing Kat the closest. Her confused expression mirroring my own as we both turned to William.
I shook my head. ‘They weren’t—’
‘Alma was over the bordering lands. Weymouth lands,’ Thean answered effortlessly from where they lounged in the doorway as if we were all an inconvenience. As if they had turned up for nothing more than to cause trouble. To piss me off.
‘Hang on …’ William held up his palms. ‘Did you say Weymouth?’
Although he didn’t need an answer as the boy moved to one of the sideboards, ignoring us as he picked up one of the maps and held it open between our gathering. ‘Lord Weymouth died in the third uprising three centuries ago. His lands were claimed by the fey and the Council never sought to take them back because of the ancient fey ruins there. The Mouv Settlement was formed shortly after. It’s also on the boundary of rebel territory.
Mouv. A fey settlement built on ancient ruins. A place Montagor suddenly had interest in; enough to send his men. Enough to rile up the Countess.
‘We need to go,’ Kat said, a flare of lavender at her fingertips. She knew what Montagor’s men would do. What men like him were capable of in such rural settlements. We both did.
‘We’re not bloody taking everyone,’ Gideon snapped, his finger pointed at Emrys before moving it to the rest of us. ‘They can stay here.’
‘Make me,’ I hissed, feeling the sting of my fangs as they slid through my gums. Something writhed inside of me. A wildness that wanted to take flight. To claw and bite.
A horrid whining growl came from the corner of the room, making my ear twitch and unease ripple down my spine as I looked towards the table where the cage sat with the dark fiend curled up at its centre. Glaring at us from where it had wrapped its tail around itself, as if we’d disturbed it from slumber.
‘Why is that thing here?’ Kat asked.
‘It keeps appearing,’ William flushed. Making me suspect he was more afraid of the nipping bastard than forgetful of its existence. In answer, the table the thing perched on rattled. The house was clearly not done with the pest to bring it back up here.
