Page 11 of Her Blood Revenge

‘Six that we’ve seen,’ Shaw replies, walking over and taking his dagger back. He pulls off the pixie spy and looks at it with disgust. ‘Neve would have sent more that we haven’t seen. That’s a certainty.’ He drops the fire pixie to the floor and slams his boot down.

At least this one won’t be able to report back to Neve. All a fire pixie needs to send a message is a flame, and it could send any information it wants straight to her.

‘What is Neve waiting for?’ I ask. ‘She knows where we are. She knows we have Ashe and the blood grimoire, yet she’s made no attempts to reclaim either. She just sends in her little spies to watch us.’

‘I don’t know. And that makes me more nervous than anything else.’ Shaw looks at our still-sleeping girl. ‘Perhaps the fight between mother and daughter took it out of Neve and she’s healing. Perhaps she’s gathering her unseelie forces.’

The idea of her taking time to heal and reclaim her former strength has my insides well and truly knotted. Neve’s kindred meant that she could take the power of the witches whose blood she used. She could use fire, air, earth and water if she had enough blood on hand. I shudder. Giving her time to strengthen is the last thing we should do.

‘I still maintain that we should get gone, Shaw. Let’s take Pix and-’

‘What? Hide in some shack somewhere? Wait for Neve to rebuild her forces and destroy everything we built until she comes for us and her?’ He nods at Pix. ‘The human king will turn on us if we leave the castle for good. If we stay here, at least we will have their protection and that of those living in the castle. We have no unseelie or blood witch sympathisers here.’

‘That’s because half of them have left, Shaw. More most likely. Did you know all the Selkie left last night with Frank and Helio?’

The look on his face tells me he had no idea.

‘We killed both her sisters. Cut off her hand. Confessed we were in love with her daughter and then tried to kill her, too. She will not let a single one of those things go. Neve is coming.’ He remains determined in his resolve. ‘Leo’s border killed three earth witches earlier today as well,’ I continue. ‘They’re still after her. We’re down to maybe fifteen living here now. Our allies are becoming fewer every day. They know something is happening, and they’re getting out of dodge before getting caught in another war’s crossfire. And I can’t blame them. They’re either the lastof their species or were so damaged by the war that here is the only place that would take them.’

‘And they thank us by abandoning us.’

‘We’ve been killing them!’ I hiss back, growing more angry and frustrated with every word spoken. How is he capable of being so fucking stubborn? ‘They wake up to find more of their friends missing. To find dead witches at our borders. To find pixie spies,Neve’s spies, lurking in the shadows. And we’re killing anyone who asks too many questions about Pix. We can’t stay here like this, Shaw. We need to take her and go before they turn on us. We clearly don’t trust them, or we would have told them the truth.’

‘And are we just going to pretend Archie’s old fuck toy wasn’t with Neve all along?’ Dorian grunts. ‘The Banshee turned on us. They could, too.’

‘True!’ I add, keen to try and sway Shaw’s decision. ‘If the banshee was with Neve, then anyone could be. We need to go!’

‘She wasn’twithNeve through loyalty,’ he argues. ‘She wasagainstPixie. There’s a difference. The banshee saw an opportunity to eliminate her competition for Archie and took it. And wehadimprisoned her, need I remind you. No matter how desperate she was for you, Archie, the banshee was our prisoner. Nothing more. No. I’m confident no one here allies with Neve or her unseelie.’ He returns his dagger to its sheath and grabs his coat before heading towards the door.

‘Is she any different?’ Dorian asks as his hand reaches the door knob. Shaw looks back at him as Dorian nods to Pix. ‘She’s our prisoner. Pretty damn sure she hates our guts too.’

‘You seriously think Pixie will turn on us and side with Neve?’ he scoffs.

‘No,’ Dorian replies, resting his elbows on his knees as he looks down at her. ‘But I think she’ll set the whole world on fire in the vague hope of ridding herself of everyone who has betrayed her. Neve. Cole. Her coven.’ Solemnly, he lifts his gaze to Shaw. ‘Us. She’s learned to live with a lot, Shaw. She accepted the beatings and control from her father and coven. Accepted our capture and vowed to live as well as she could despite it all. I’m not sure she’ll do either now. Not accept us, nor learn to live with any of it. Not now she knows her mother is the blood queen. Not knowing we’re the ones who set her free. Not knowing that she is suffering every day because of the spell we forced her to do against her will. And not now she’s… whatever she is.’

‘She’sourwitch. And she will forgive us,’ he snarls as he leaves. ‘She has no fucking choice in the matter. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.’

‘She’s a blood witch. An earth witch. And a blood drinker,’ Dorian corrects him.

‘I’m extremely aware of that, Dorian. And keep your voice down.’

‘We’re no closer to figuring out why she is the way she is.’

‘I don’t actually give a shit why she is the way she is.’ Shaw throws open the door, letting it slam into the wall so hard chunks of stone hit the floor. ‘I’ll deal with Neve. We stay put. We’re safe here. Make sure Leo is keeping the border strong, and if anyone else wants to leave, let them leave. Ungrateful fucks.’ He storms from the room without another word.

Dorian continues watching Pix sleep as I take a breath.

‘We’re fools for staying here.’

‘We’re fools for many reasons, Arch. But if Shaw says we stay, we stay.’

With a sigh, I follow Shaw, but not before sliding the tips of my fingers through some more blood as I pass it.

Waste not want not.

I have to jog to catch up with him. His steps are long and agitated as he storms through the castle.

‘You good?’ I ask.

---