Page 81 of Savage Blood
Marcel motioned toward the leftovers. “Grab some food. There’s plenty.”
Knox patted his abdomen. “I’m always up for eating, especially after years of that crap in Heldrok.”
As we ate around the island, easy conversation filled the kitchen, but Knox’s eyes continued to flicker in my direction. Lines dug into his brow as he scrutinized me and then Saint. Eventually, a scowl developed across his mouth.
“Where’s Fane?” he finally asked.
Alicia elbowed his ribs and then silently communicated something to him through their mental link.
“In Mohan Wilds or at Wrath’s,” I mumbled, pushing macaroni around on my plate.
Noticing my mood change, Saint rubbed my back. “I’m here for her.”
“I bet you are.” Knox’s words held a sharp edge. “Tate and Fane were inseparable in Heldrok. Nothing kept them apart, and they hadn’t even claimed each other yet.”
“So I’ve heard,” Saint said, unbothered by Knox’s sudden attitude. He continued eating, inhaling another chicken leg.
“Why isn’t he here?” Knox asked. “What’s changed besides finding out you and Saint are fated mates?”
Alicia kicked him under the counter. “Cut it out.”
“Fane and I are doing what’s best for Tate.” Saint wiped his fingers on a napkin. “And right now, that’s me being here with her instead of him.”
“What’s best for Tate or best foryou?” Knox challenged. “Because all I see is a male trying to steal a mated female away from her claimed mate.”
Marcel whistled and lowered his head as the tension in the room thickened. Just as I opened my mouth to tell them all to fuck off, the kitchen blurred out of focus, and I fell through a black hole…
A familiar darkroom erected around me, and the fire dancing in the hearth cast ominous shadows across the walls. My throat tightened as Barric’s private quarters in Karn’s manor came into focus while I stood in the center.
Oh great. Another damn vision.
The last time I was there, he killed that poor kid Erica to torment me because she looked like Jayla. My stare drifted to where her body had collapsed, curls falling around her head like a halo and her vacant eyes staring up at the ceiling.
Even Erica’s death resembled Jayla’s.
A throb in the room, like a heartbeat, drew my attention toward the coffee table where that iron box sat in the center. My pulse spiked, and sweat slicked my nape. I knew what was in that box, hidden just beneath the iron and nestled in black velvet.
As if it sensed my presence, the lid opened with an eerie creak, and the blood-red stone gleamed within the bed of velvet.
I bit my lip against a moan, but it still tumbled out like a jagged cry.
Why did you betray me? You wouldn’t be sitting alone in a box if you were with me.
Those thoughts were dangerous, especially when I claimed I could get the amulet from Barric without allowing it to burrow inside of me.
Was I lying to everyone?
Or was I lying to myself by believing I wouldn’t embrace the Infernal Sol and welcome it with open arms?
I should have been ashamed. I should have confessed how much I still craved it.
But if I did, would Fane and the others be so inclined to let me steal it back?
Ruin would.
Maybe Wrath and Logan too.
But Saint and Fane would put up a fight.
