Page 84 of Her Blood Revenge

She angrily scoffs again at my words and quickly wipes away some stray tears.

She turns away from me to hide her vulnerability.

‘I used blood magic and got pulled to her,’ she says.

‘I think so. Yes.’ I speak quietly.

‘How?’

‘I don’t know. But you mustn’t get dragged there again, so no more blood magic.’

‘Stating the obvious, Shadow Master.’ She faces me again, her composure returned. ‘What did you promise her in exchange for your freedom?’

I chew my lip like a damned child. The vines slide further up my leg in warning.

‘Powerful blood witches,’ I admit.

‘Meaning?’

‘Her power comes from her worshippers. The more she has, the more powerful she is. Every time a blood witch uses blood to power their spells, they power her. That’s what all the blood was. It’s the blood of those who died so blood witches could use their magic. And the souls you saw in the sea are the witches who died in the darkness of worshippingher. Every spell is a prayer. Every sacrifice is power.’

‘She’s in chains down there. Who put her down there like that?’

I look away, fighting the urge to tell her. It’s all stories of legends and myth, even to creatures as old as me. But I know that there is truth in it. And it is a terrifying truth to learn.

I do not want to scare her.

‘Dorian,’ she pleads. ‘Stop keeping secrets. You say you love me. Prove it. Trust me with the truth.’

When she takes my hand in hers, I lose any fight to lie. I grip her fingers tightly and speak.

‘Witches locked her away. So the stories are told, back at the dawn of time. She was in chains even before I came to be. I was made to be her slave. Her creature to torment the souls of those she collected. The witches that locked her up in that realm cast a spell to channel her powers for themselves. The goddess was a creature of great and terrible magic that walked the earth in mortal form. She was death herself. Ending life and causing endless bloodshed. That is what made her stronger. That is what made her happy. To kill and grow. Kill and grow. A group of mortals bound her in those chains and left her on those shores, locked away in a different realm. But the mortals did not know that each time they used her power, the blood they spent went straight to her and made her more powerful. Her dark magic spread and contaminated others in their bloodline. And so Blood Witches were born. My torment of the dead witches became known, and those still living called me to earth. They thought they were stealingme from the goddess and giving peace to those they lost. But the goddess, sheletme go. She set me free on the condition I send more of them to her. And I did. I swept across the lands as a shadow of death, killing and tearing apart the blood witches. Until Dhalia bound me in this form. If I kill with my shadow power now, the souls stay with me and don’t go to the goddess. But they go to her if I kill the witches by other means.’

‘Is that why you killed Neve and the others the way you did?’

‘I killed them for my own reasons. They trapped me in this form.’ I gesture to the body I inhabit. ‘In this corpse of a killer who relished in taking the lives of women and girls. Who enjoyed feeling their necks snap and their hearts break under the weight of his body.’

‘So you killed Dhalia for revenge.’

‘I’ve killed for less.’

‘Why does Hel want us? Why is she collecting the blood and the souls? And if she is so strong, why is she still shackled?’

‘Her body is bound to those chains. That’s all I know.’

She chews her lip, thinking hard. All I want is to know what her thoughts are.

‘The manacles had a marking on them.’ She lifts her head. ‘I have seen it before. In a dream I had the other night.’

‘What dream? What did you see?’ I pull against the roots. I know I could break them if I needed to, but I want her to feel safe. In control. So I let her hold me here for now.

She continues to glare at me, distrust and suspicion on her features.

‘If you’re tricking me and this is all some scheme to free your mistress-’

‘She is not my mistress.’

‘I mean it, Shadow Master. If you’re working to use me to her ends, I will rip you apart and return that stolen body of yours to the earth.’

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