Page 74 of The Dark Rising
“I do not know, child, all I know is what’s been passed down to me. The Gods are angry, and we are feeling their wrath. That’s all I know, but I’m not sure of what.”
“Can a ritual be done to curse the lands?” I ask. “Darius said I did it, which is not true, but what if the ritual part is right and it caused the rogures?”
“I’m not sure, I haven’t heard of such a thing before. This is why you should visit the Gods’ home. They have all the knowledge.”
“I don’t even know where the Gods are. I have no idea where that is or where to even start looking,” I grumble and pick some grass between my fingers, sending some power into it slowly and watching it lengthen.
“It will reveal itself,” Belldame tells me, watching as I make the grass grow. “It must.”
I blink my eyes open sleepily, the corridor now brightening with the sun rising through the window. Shit, how long did I sleep for. I scrub my hands over my face and stand, stretching my muscles out. I groan at the feeling and crack my neck. Damn that felt good.
“Are you ready to go over what we took from your old home,” a voice says out of nowhere, and I react on instinct.
My hand flies through the air until it connects with a throat. My eyes widen as Leo coughs and splutters. “Oops?” I say, looking over him warily as he finally straightens and rubs his throat.
“Damn, Rhea, keep your hands to yourself.”
“Don’t sneak up on me then,” I fire back, watching him with caution to see if he will retaliate.
He shakes his head. “It’s no wonder he liked you from the first moment, even though you tried to kill us.” He thinks for a moment. “It probably turned him on.”
I scowl and put my hands on my hips. “I don’t know whether to be horrified or impressed someone can get a hard on mid battle.”
“It’s the adrenaline,” he chuckles, then his face turns serious. “Go easy on him, yeah?”
I shake my head. “Would you go easy on someone in my position?”
“No,” he agrees, his eyes tightening. “He did what he had to in the moment to protect me, us.” My brows furrow. “If Darius breaks an order from Charles, he doesn’t get punished, at least not physically. Charles would punish me and the others instead, knowing that would get Darius to agree to do what he wanted because Darius would take his wrath himself if that were an option.” The breath releases from my lungs in a rush. Is that true? Did he only do it because he was keeping his men safe? I look over Leo, looking for any sign that he’s lying, but all I see in his eyes is him imploring me to hear him. “Darius is punishing himself enough, just… think about it.” I go to respond when he says, “Come on, we’re waiting in the dining room.” He turns and I follow, shaking my hand out from the soreness. Bastard has a stupidly hard neck.
I enter through the door and see the Elites and my pack, apart from Josh, Anna, and Sarah, sitting at the table. The walls that were full of pictures of the Elites is now gone, not a single frame to be seen, and those stupid flutters in my belly start again. Moving toward the table, I flop down in an open seat, ignoring Darius’s stare on me as what Leo told me runs through my mind. Why hasn’t Darius told me this himself? Does he think I wouldn’t understand to some extent? All I have ever done is try and look after my pack. Shit, I even went into the Deadlands to kill, no,didkill, some of his Elites to protect them. My stomach churns, and I do raise my eyes to meet his then. I see confusion in them, like he knows something is off, but he doesn’t know what. I quickly look away and down at the number of papers in front of me that we rushed to get. I pick up one of the sketches in front of me and wrinkle my nose.
“What is this?” I ask the room, looking over the drawing of a beast-like creature and putting what Leo told me to the back of my mind.
It stands on two legs, its wolf-like face having very human eyes and ears, apart from the pointed tip at the top. Its skin falls off in clumps behind it and foam drips from its lips.
“It looks like a deformed rogure,” Damian says, and I can see that for myself.
“Have you ever seen something like this?” I ask him and pick up another sketch of this creature.
“We haven’t, and I’m assuming you haven’t either?” I shake my head. “Well I hope it’s just a sketch.” He shivers and gives the drawing a wary look. I hope so too.
I pick another piece of paper and it’s covered in names, some crossed off and some having certain markings beside them. I study the names and notice they are all female, and so many of them. I stand quickly and lean over the large table, moving papers out the way and collecting the ones that have more names on them. When I can’t find any more and have a reasonable pile in my hand, I take them with me as I go to sit on the floor in front of the fireplace so I have more room.
“What is she doing?” Leo whispers.
“Concentrating,” Taylor replies.
“She could have just done it on the table,” Damian grumbles.
“Is this really worth complaining about?” Hudson says, and I hear more paper being shuffled around.
“Maybe he needs to get laid,” Colten chimes in. “Hey Seb—“
I block out their bickering and spread the papers out in front of me, scanning name after name. I move through the sheets, seeing so many crossed off, then I come across one I recognize. “Fuck.” I keep looking over the papers, dread filling me.
“What is it?” Darius asks as he comes over and crouches next to me. His knee touches my side but I don’t move from the contact. Not when his scent wraps around me, wanting it in this moment.
“Look.” I pass him the paper and he takes it from me, studying the names. I point to one. “Sarah is on this list. These could be the names of people that are…. training, or taken. Otherwise, why would she be on there?” There are so many names, hundreds. None of my pack are though. My throat closes up at the thought of still being unable to get them. “Do you recognize any of them?” He shakes his head.
