Page 91 of Wicked Chains
I turn to leave, pausing with my hand on the doorknob. "One more thing, Rose."
"What?"
I look back over my shoulder, letting her see a glimpse of what I've been suppressing. "Next time you decide to put on a show, remember what I told you when you decided to test my patience in the forest.”
I don't wait for her response. I step into the hallway, closing the door behind me, and walk away, the memory of her wide eyes and parted lips burned into my mind. The game between us has changed somehow, the rules rewritten.
And I'm not entirely certain who's winning.
Forty-One
Rose
Ash's visit has left me restless, his promises of protection about as comforting as a knife to the throat. Easy for him to say when he's not the one with a target on his back. Helena isn't the type to forgive and forget, especially after being humiliated like that.
I'm screwed.
I flop onto my unmade bed, and the sheets still smell like last night. I want to bury my face in them and pretend the outside world doesn't exist, but that's not exactly a realistic long-term strategy.
Ash might be terrifyingly intimidating, but I doubt anything can stop Helena Wickersly from doing exactly what she wants. The woman tried to crush my familiar in her bare hands, for God's sake. I highly doubt whatever ‘steps’ Ash and the coven discussed are going to make her reconsider her vendetta against me.
I’m lying there, trying to sort everything out in my head. There’s got to be a move here. I have to be able to do something to make sure Helena doesn’t keep trying to destroy me. And then there’s whatever the hell is going on with Ash. There's something in Ash's eyes when he looks at me that scares me almost as much as Helena does, but in a much different way. I can't trust him—I know that—but I also can't deny that he's protected me more than once now.
It suddenly becomes ten degrees colder in my room. The air shimmers in the corner, then Drake materializes, looking more transparent than usual. There's a heaviness to his posture, a sadness in his eyes that I see more and more these days. Too often.
"Hey," I say, straightening up. "You okay?"
Drake moves close to me. "No," he says simply. "But I need to be here, anyway."
Well. At least he’s not telling me that everything is fine anymore.
"What's wrong?" I pat the space next to me on the bed.
He sits, the mattress not dipping. "I've been avoiding this conversation," he says. "But I can't anymore. I think it's time I told you everything, Rose."
My heart skips a beat. "Everything about what?"
"About why I've been... disappearing more often." His eyes, those haunted, handsome eyes, meet mine. "About what's happening to me. And something else. Something I was going to tell you a long time ago, before you tried to find the original blood contract. Something I should have told you well before that day."
“Before Abigail?” My voice has a note of surprise.
He nods.
I reach for his hand. "I'm listening."
Drake doesn’t speak right away, almost like he can’t get the words out. I don’t say anything either, I don’t dare. Not when he’s this close to actually talking to me about what’s been going on.
Then he sighs, and he begins, his head down like he’s defeated.
"When we first met, I told you what I knew about my death.” His fingers tighten around mine. "I had unfinished business with the Crescent Moon Coven. I wanted revenge for what they did to me, for how they murdered me."
"I remember," I say softly. "You said a girl betrayed you."
"Yes." His voice is hollow. "I trusted her, and she betrayed me to save herself. I was tethered to Serpentine Academy by my obsession with vengeance. I wanted to see the Crescent Moon Coven destroyed.” He looks down at our joined hands.
“You’ve already told me most of this, Drake.”
He nods, and his form flickers slightly, like a candle in a draft. "Just listen, please, Rose. I got what I wanted. My reason for staying tethered here. The destruction of the Crescent Moon Coven.”
