Page 47 of Blood Coven

“You never could love me as much as him. But he never loved you, Mama. I did.” Juniper sobbed. “You could n-never love a child of rape. But it wasn’t my fault.”

“I know, Juniper. But you are wrong about one thing,” Azalea replied, placing the blade against her throat.

Juniper choked back another sob, the dagger digging into her flesh with the movement of her throat. It instantly drew blood, the blade horrifically sharp. But it did not hurt.

“I always loved you. You were proof that good could come out of so much evil.”

Juniper laughed sourly. “You let my existence justify all the evil you’ve done? That makes you no better than my father.”

“He was not your father,” Azalea snapped. “You have no father. Just a mother.”

“You are my mother no more.” Juniper lifted her head to the skies, watching as the clouds shifted and broke slightly. She saw the molasses sky and hoped the moon would never rise. For her, it would be darkness forever.

Azalea whispered something in a language Juniper did not recognize, her voice starting as a low growl and gradually increasing in volume. A throaty rumble echoed from deep in her chest. The words filled the forest around them, and in between the trees, Juniper watched as her doe dipped her head, then folded her legs underneath her.

With her head on the dirt, they locked eyes as Azalea gripped the knife a little tighter in sweating palms, pulling it to the side swiftly.

As the doe let out her dying breath on the forest floor, words formed on the scroll before Azalea. Blood seeped into the ground to the roots of the trees and appeared on the parchment as ink.

Juniper’s body twitched twice before she saw nothing but darkness.

PART IV

THE COVEN

32

SILVANIA

THE YEAR OF THE MOON

RED

Inside the house, surrounded by the scent of blood and decay, Red developed her plan. With the presence of the other women at her side, she felt protected and empowered. Love for them bloomed inside her, taking hold and growing at an uncontrollable rate. They had all come to her aid when only weeks ago, her disappearance would have gone completely unnoticed. A swell of gratitude filled her, overwhelming her. She swam through her newfound emotions as she tried to focus on what had to be done.

“Sorin, Alina, can you do it? Can you sever him from his curse?” Red asked.

Sorin looked around the house, her hands touching the books and scrolls that lined the shelves. Trinkets that were a shadow of the family history sat covered in dust. A handheld mirror, candles with their wax dripping like permanent icicles, an intricate candle stuffer. Sorin stepped back and pushed a stray curl out of her face. Her black hair had grown tangled, her shapely figure revealed by her thin night dress.

The room grew quiet as they waited for an answer. A stale feeling, pregnant with dread, hung in the air.

Sorin glanced over her shoulder. “I believe I can, but I will need you, Red.”

“Me?” Red asked. “Why me?”

“I will explain later.”

“Very well,” Red agreed, trusting in whatever Sorin had planned. She looked at Tatiana and Lilianna. “I need you both to bring my father here.”

“To kill him?” Lilianna asked with a grin, newfound bloodlust in her eyes now that her father was deceased.

Tatiana shot her a wide-eyed glance, making the whites of her eyes brighter through her blood-stained face. She pursed her lips together as though she wanted to chide her sister but held back.

“Yes,” Red said. “We cannot be free with our oppressors still alive and breathing down our necks. Tatiana, you must wear my cloak and make him follow you. But keep your distance. He will think I am dead because of the sacrifice; he will follow you to see what went wrong. Lilianna, you must break into my house and retrieve the scroll. It will be in the den, the room on the eastern side of the house, facing the fields. Once my father follows Tatiana, you’ll be able to sneak in. My mother never steps foot in the den, but make sure to be quiet.”

They nodded at the same time as though they were one. Sisters who had endured so much of the same pain, with only each other to hold and protect…to suffer with.

Red pulled her cloak off and handed it to Tatiana.

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