Page 17 of Wicked Thirst
Moira gazed up at him and pursed her lips. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “You endured the same poisoning. Perhaps you should take your leave, my King.”
Oh, sassy from Moira. This is new.
“I only worry for your health and safety.” His voice was low and calm.
“And yet your health and safety outweigh the importance of mine.” Her grip tightened on his arm as she swayed slightly, but she continued to hold a stubborn set to her shoulders as though saying she was going nowhere without saying anything at all.
I took a step toward them, and both their eyes snapped up to mine. Titus’ red mist surrounded them in an instant in a protective barrier. When he recognized me, he drew in a sigh of relief and let his blood magic fall. His shoulders sagged slightly as though he were relieved to see me. It made what I had to tell them that much harder to do.
“Piper, are you well?”
“Yes . . .” I hesitated, thinking about Gray. “Well, no.”
I didn’t know how to tell them their most beloved son and nephew had turned into a monster. I couldn’t explain how or why it happened. The words were stuck in my throat. It’d be like telling a parent that their child was involved in a horrific accident. It wasn’t news that was easily broken. I felt my mouth open and close a few times as I struggled to find the words I knew would hurt them.
Moira glanced around the room and toward the door, searching for him. “Where’s Grayson?”
A ball formed in my throat, and I fought the tears that wanted to spill over onto my cheeks. How could I tell them what happened? How could I say to their faces something was horribly wrong with their beloved son and nephew? I didn’t know how to save him or fix this. “He’s . . . he’s gone.”
“Gone?” Titus’ grasp tightened on Moira’s hand.
I held my hands together, wringing them in front of me. My nerves began to get the better of me. I’d held it together this long, but I couldn’t reconcile the monster he became with the Grayson I knew. But they wouldn’t be able to either. I’d been so strong, only thinking of getting him here, but now that I was here, the emotions I’d been holding on to were starting to come through. The cracks in my armor were showing, and I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to hold it together without crying. I sucked in a sharp breath. “Something happened to him and I don’t know what it is. I need your help to find him and fix him. He’s , , , he’s not himself.”
The doors flew open and into the walls with a loud bang. Atlas stormed into the room looking like he was going to light the whole place on fire. Red mist flowed from his body like a crimson cap, and the raven on his chest sprang from his skin and soared around his head in low circles. His eyes flared with anger as he looked at me. “How dare you use your blood magic on me.”
Rage seethed in his words as he marched across the room toward me. My own anger and frustration rose to the forefront. It’d been the most terrifying few hours of my life, and I didn’t need to be scolded by him. “How dare you get in my way!”
“Titus.” Moira gave a light whimper. “Her arm.”
All words halted and everyone in the room stared at the soulmate mark on my arm. Titus was at my side in a flash, holding my arm out to the side. His fingers were gentle on my skin, but his eyes were wide as he looked at the roses surrounded by black lines that looked like barbed wire. “He can’t have. He wouldn’t. I-I ordered him . . .”
His words trailed off as they all looked at each other and my arm. One moment they shared a look of shock, and in the next moment they fell into utter defeat. Atlas’ shoulders sagged and he hung his head. His raven landed on his shoulder and ran its face over his cheek as though trying to soothe Atlas. Moira sucked in a breath, and she swayed on her feet. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her body collapsed almost in slow-motion as she fainted, her hair tumbled around her head in wild chocolate waves, and the length of her dress bunched around her legs. Titus moved before she hit the ground. He was there, catching her from falling into the rubble left behind.
“Moira.” He gave her a light shake. “Moira, wake up.”
Her eyes fluttered open and tears spilled over her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her hands in the lapels of his coat. She buried her face in the velvety fabric as she tried, and failed, to hold in her sobs. They racked her body, and she shook in his arms. “No, not again. I can’t do this again.”
“What? What’s happened to him?” I turned toward Titus, but he couldn’t look me in the eye. They all knew, yet no one said a damn thing to me, his soulmate. Titus just held Moira there, seeming unsure of what to do. His face was all hard lines and gritted teeth.
I faced Atlas. His face was a stone-cold mask. “What is going on?”
“Piper, this is very important. Tell me exactly what you saw,” Titus insisted as he placed Moira on her feet but didn’t let her go.
“Grayson . . . he changed in moments. It happened so fast. He suddenly got a little bigger, his muscles were more well-defined, red lines forked in his eyes, and he . . . um . . . he attacked me. Has he gone feral or something? Maybe he’s sick like I was? Maybe he had some bad blood at the party?”
Silence.
I shifted from one foot to the other as the feeling of dread settled deep in my stomach. This was more than a case of bad blood or sickness. It was deeper. I felt it in my bones. Their reaction only solidified the panic I now knew was completely warranted. “Someone say something.”
“Your majesty, I can see no reason to keep this from her any longer . . . He has fallen.” Atlas pressed his lips into a hard line, like just saying the words pained him.
“Fallen?” I glanced around at them as panic ran through my body. I tried to hide how my hands quaked with fear. Deep down I knew this was bad, so bad it scared the people closest to my soulmate.
I felt like I knew him so well, but now this made me feel like I didn’t know him at all. “What does that even mean?”
Titus helped Moira gain her bearings. He kept his arm wrapped around her side, allowing her to lean on him for balance. Quiet sobs racked her body as she struggled to breath. Tears fell freely down her face, onto her dress, and to the dirty floor. Titus forced himself to stand straight and meet my eye.
“The House of Shade has been cursed for a thousand years. And tonight, what you saw happen to my nephew, was the curse taking another member of our house.” He cleared his throat and shook his head as Moira let out a light cry.
