Page 101 of Claimed By Blood

Then I catch onto the thread of Samuel’s conversation. “And this is the village where Evonnia was born…”

Finn frowns, and I feel his confusion. “But that’s where…”

Samuel nods. “He moved his Court there as a declaration of victory. The manor was built directly over the ashes of Evonnia’s home.”

“Asshole,” Frost grouches.

“Did the villagers know?” Vane asks, leaning forward. “Because when we went to collect Evie…”

“That old woman bowed to the coffin,” Frost finishes. Glancing back at me from his position beside them. “But when I lived there, no one ever breathed a whisper about witches. Just blood-sucking demons in the house on the hill.”

“It must have been nothing,” Samuel dismisses the theory with a wave of his hand. “Evonnia was so young… barely eight…”

Gideon frowns. “That was old enough to remember something of this, surely.”

He turns to me with a suspicious glare that I just don’t have it in me to return. “I don’t… I…”

I should have childhood memories, but…

“Cain did everything he could to beat talk of anythingbeforeout of them,” Samuel explains. “He took away their names, their clothes, shaved their heads. Basically erased their identities until they earned the new ones he gave them. The older girls might have some memories, but Evonnia and Alice were the youngest and most impressionable.”

“Don’t use that name,” Immy hisses from behind me.

Samuel inclines his head in apology. “You must have seen Cain’s brainwashing techniques on educated immortals. Imagine how effective they’d be on illiterate human children.”

An uncomfortable silence falls over all of us, and I catch all of them sneaking glances at me. Finn senses my discomfort and sends a silent hug down our bond before coaxing Samuel back into conversation until the van loses the eerie silence it held before.

Thank God for the omega.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

CALLISTA

“Sire, Armin is dead,”Bella announces quietly.

For a second, Cain remains still as a statue with his head resting on my lap. The parlour we’re in is the smallest, most intimate room in his island mansion. He hasn’t left his Triumph Island home in days, instead choosing to delegate the hunt for Evie and her band of merry freaks to Bella. A lot of the human and lycan staff have been banished—apart from Ivan, who hasn’t dared to complain about the work of running the whole household by himself.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Cain was hiding.

But I will never dare to say that to his face.

The tension in these dark halls has only gotten worse once Armin reported back to Bella saying that our idiot sisters were in league with Frost. Cain raged for hours once his own men confirmed it. CCTV footage showed Evie was once again playing around with her ghoul. Since then, the entire island has been locked down and the city put under a strict curfew.

Cain has kept me holed up with him, but thankfully, his demands of me have been few. I’m not stupid. I know silence and obedience are the two things keeping me alive right now. So I keep my mouth shut as I rub his temples, letting my fingers play in the silver-streaked strands of hair at his forehead.

“And Samuel’s progeny?” His words are silky smooth. Dangerous.

Bella hesitates. “Dead. But sire… there are reports that Samuel himself was present. Those of my men who survived say he fled with our sisters and Frost’s pack.”

Our sire erupts from the chaise, ripping his head from my grasp with a roar that shakes the building.

I can’t help it. I flinch back into the velvet seat, hugging my chest reflexively. Even Bella—normally so unflappable and cold—takes an involuntary step towards the door.

“And your team let them escapetogether?” Cain hisses.

“We’re doing our best to locate them,” Bella promises, her tone clipped and professional, but her fingers are white as she grips her tablet like a shield. “Already, we’ve picked up several rogues who lived under Samuel’s rule and brought them in for interrogation—”

She chokes off as Cain’s hand wraps around her throat and slams her up against the wall.

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