Page 16 of Blood Coven

“You are Matthias Luca, are you not?” she asked as she stepped back.

He stood straight, then cautiously nodded. Has she known all along? Matthias knew people might recognize him when he returned to Ocleau, and there was a chance they might cast him out for what they believed he did. Doubt entered his mind, encroaching on rational thought; perhaps Ana tricked him with her uncanny looks. Did she have a sister? Matthias wondered. No, she grew up in an orphanage. Perhaps she lured him out into the night as vengeance for something he did not do.

A soft smile danced on her lips, disappearing as fast as it came.

“And?” he asked.

“There are rumors you drowned your last lover.” Ana sounded confident but not entirely accusatory. Something had flipped in her voice; she no longer appeared like an oppressed woman seeking refuge.

Matthias stiffened, grimacing as he thought back to when she died when he found her face down and bloated in the water. “I never harmed her,” he replied through gritted teeth.

None of his plans would proceed if Ana believed he killed her.

“But someone did,” Ana said.

“I believe it was my mother.” Matthias decided being honest with Ana was his best choice. No more lies, not to anyone but Azalea. “Ana, I have something inside of me that will destroy me. More than losing her did.”

“You can’t even say her name,” Ana said, bemused.

Matthias wondered if she grew up in the orphanage with her but recalled Ana mentioning her family home, and knew that wasn’t right. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Riina,” he whispered shamefully. He lowered his head. “Losing Riina.”

When he found the courage to look back up, she was staring right through him, as if waiting for him to continue.

Shakily, he said, “On the full moon, I will become a werewolf unless my mother can take the curse inside of me and put it into someone else.”

“That is where my husband comes in,” she breathed.

“A strong enough person can control it, even live with it. Tell me, Ana, if he was inflicted with this, would he make you leave Ocleau to keep you safe? Or would he flee?”

She nodded warily. “One or the other, yes.”

“The final piece is where it becomes difficult,” Matthias continued. “Your husband must be willing to take my curse.”

The way Ana looked at him made him feel as though she could read every thought that ran through his mind. With only her eyes, she peeled back every layer of flesh until she found the bones, the blood, the veins, the organs. She cracked through his ribcage and found his heart; he hoped she knew his intentions were pure. When she lowered her gaze, she pressed her hands to her own heart as if she were doing the same to herself, feeling for what she truly wanted, weighing the risk and the reward. As if trying to decide if it was worth giving up her mundane, yet safe, life for an unpredictable one with Matthias.

“Can you promise me that if I help you with this, you will help me leave Ocleau?” she asked.

The words he so desperately wanted to hear slammed into him. Even though she spoke nothing of remaining with him once they left, it was enough for him to agree. “I promise.”

“Then we have a week to figure out how to make my husband want your curse.”

10

SILVANIA

THE YEAR OF THE MOON

RED

When the pig’s heart sizzled out, and the fire faded into nothing but a whisper, the night ended. Although it was early in the evening, and the girls still had hours of darkness ahead of them, their goal had been accomplished. Energy vibrated through the forest, pulsing with more power than gale-heavy winds. Each girl could feel it, the life emanating from the trees and earth around them reaching up through their roots to whisper their knowledge.

Sorin was the first to speak, startled out of her daze when Lucien clambered over her shoulder and perched on his hind legs. He tucked his front paws into his chest, his little claws twitching ever so slightly. Sorin absentmindedly reached her hand up and stroked his brown fur. “Let us be protected and never harm one another.”

“We are all we have in this world,” Alina added quietly. “We must look out for one another. Protect each other.”

Red realized Alina spoke to her and quickly became alert. All the other girls already knew their place—they were expected to always look out for each other. She assumed Tatiana and Lilianna had done so since they were born. But for an outsider like Red to witness what she had and be included, the ground rules needed to be laid out before her.

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