Page 37 of The Dark Rising
“Charles has his own uses for me,” Darius reluctantly answers.
“Uses? So he keeps an Heir alive over the protection of Vrohkaria? What will the people say?” I snark. “The people are taught as children how bad the Heirs are, the Highers demand it be taught. They are also taught how unstable they are, and are punished if they worship the old Gods, the wolf Gods, instead of the Highers prayer. If Heirs are so bad, why has Charles kept you alive and risked the wrath of the people from the poison he has carried-on teaching,” I scoff. “What a fucking joke.”
“The people aren’t happy, sure. I understand that,” Leo says slowly. “But the whole bullshit about Elites being hunters for Heirs, I don’t fucking believe it.”
“Me neither,” Damian agrees.
“You ask me to share my truths, and once again, you don’t believe a word out of my mouth. What is the point in all of this?” I fume. “You all need to wake up and see what is going on. You would think with how you are all trained, you would notice something isn’t right somewhere. Your minds have been poisoned with lies, just like everyone else.”
“No, we’re just not deluded to some fucking stories your mother made up and told you as a child,” Damian snarls at me and I stand, slamming my hands on the table, my Heir markings appearing.
“Keep my mother out of your mouth, dog, or I will stitch it up,” I growl, Runa echoing it within me.
“Let’s keep on track,” Zaide interrupts me while I stare at daman with murderous eyes. “We will get nowhere otherwise.”
I stare down Damian until I’m tugged back down into my seat by Josh.“Let’s continue, there is no point trying to persuade them of this.”
“That’s what we came here to do though right? What you wanted?”I snap back through the link, shrugging out of his hold on me.
The link fizzles out and I turn to Darius, who’s looking between me and Josh through narrow slits. “Stop having a private conversation or I’ll cut that blood link between you two.”
I bristle and peel my lips back at him. I don’t want that, even after what Josh has done. I don’t think I could go through another link being broken.
Darius just holds my stare and smirks, not in the slightest bit threatened by me. I huff and sit back down. Growling to myself.
Gods, this is going to be a long night.
Fourteen
Rhea
“It’sprobablybettertostart from the Aragnis pack,” Josh chimes in and I squeeze my hands together, my nails digging into my skin. “To start at the beginning.”
Are we really doing this? “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Why not?” That question comes from Damian.
“What good will it do?” I bite back.
Darius leans forward, elbows on the tables and hands clasped underneath his chin. “We already know that you didn’t do a ritual that caused the rogures as a child. Did you perform it as an adult?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“If you didn’t—“
“I didn’t have anything to do with the rogures,” I say firmly, holding his gaze. He scans my face for any lies, any deception, but he will find none. His jaw clenches as he squeezes his hands beneath his chin, looking at me so deeply I feel warmth build in my chest.
“Swear it on the Gods,” he says, and I hold back my surprise.
“I swear on Zahariss and Cazier that I know nothing, and have done nothing, to cause the rogures,” I answer immediately. No hesitation.
A pause, and then he eventually nods. I slump into my chair in relief. He believes me.Fucking finally.
“You believe her?” Damian asks, and the other Elites look to their Alpha for an answer.
“I do.”
“How can you be so sure, this could be another lie,” Leo suggests.
