Page 11 of Her Dark Promise

You simply can’t control yourself, can you?

I closed my eyes and tried to cast Circe’s voice from my mind when Callum asked, “What was their crime?”

“They murdered Mariam.”

His eyes widened from the shock as he went wholly still. “What?”

“They killed her for the gold that I had been giving to her over the years.” I squeezed the cup tightly. “They boasted about whatthey did to her, and I didn’t do her justice in making sure that they suffered more than she did. I suppose we’ll just add her to the list.”

“List?” Callum inquired.

I shook off my collective madness. “Nothing. Take a shovel and go to her home on the edge of the forest. Go down the path until you hit the river, and take a right. Follow it until you see her cottage. Give her a proper burial.”

How many more will die, Callie?

“Enough!” I said it loud enough for the wrath in their eyes to soften into pity and worry.

The sound was unbearable. I rolled my eyes and finished the rest of the wine. I had yet to touch my food, having completely lost the desire to eat.

Callum leaned forward—he always moved on whenever I answered that voice inside my head aloud—and said, “I am glad they are dead. They deserved nothing less.”

I held his stare, mutual understanding shown in his eyes.

My heart skipped a beat thinking of Mariam lying in a pool of her own filth, the blood having already dried on her wrinkled skin. I swiftly stood and ordered. “Go now, Callum.”

“I’ll leave right away. I will take care of everything,” he assured me.

I knew he would. I didn’t respond as he left.

“Are you going to let me take over?”Emilia asked. A hopeful look spread over her face.

“I am considering it,” I said.

“What is there to consider?”

My head began to pound. I wasn’t calm enough to have this conversation with her. “Many things.”

She stood in a rush, her knees knocking against the table, causing the china to shake. “You’ve been training me for thissince I was a child. I know what to do, how to find them, how to care for them, which towns to take them to.”

She sounds so much like little Annabelle. Will you lie to her too?I used the palm of my hand and thrust it against my head to quiet the voice. Why was it getting so worse lately? And yet, how could I deny the truth in Circe’s words?

I folded my arms across my chest. “You know how to do everything Mariam did. I am not concerned with your ability to serve. I know you will do right by those children. I am more concerned with what you will ask them, or what they will say to you. I mention that town and you shiver, Emilia.”

She glanced down at her arms involuntarily where little bumps began to rise.

“You want to find the men that hurt you. You want revenge.”

“I have earned it.” This time, her eyes did all the talking for her. Dark, fox-like, seething with that rage I knew she lived with every day.

“But your revenge is not more important than those kids,” I said defiantly, and regretted it rather quickly.

Her eyes dropped, and she sank back onto her chair, fingers curling into the cloth of her dress.

“I need to know I can trust that you will not disappear on some hunt for them because I can’t protect you if you do, and if something happens to you, Emilia,” I paused, realizing my voice had grown weak, shaky. I cleared my throat and pulled back my shoulders. “Who will take Mariam’s place then?”

Her body slumped into the chair, and she began to eat quietly. I wanted to reach out and touch her and give her some kind of reassurance, but I couldn’t soften this moment any more than I already had.

“You will have your revenge,” I promised her, the same one I’d made since the day I found her. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d keep that promise.

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