Page 77 of Wicked Fate

She shook her head as her eyes glistened. “They immediately came to my mom and noticed me clinging to her leg. They asked if I was her child, and she said yes. Then they asked about my abilities, and Mom didn’t respond. She didn’t want the vampires to smell a lie.

“But silence spoke just as loud as if she’d offered up the truth, and the vampire queen killed our priestess in cold blood. When my mother refused to answer again, she killed the priestess’s daughter—the next in line.

“When she placed a gun to the next in line’s head, someone spoke up that we had seen signs that I could alter a person’s emotions.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered. “Then she killed everyone but my mother and me and informed my mother that I should be raised healthy and understand my magic.”

Pressure built in my chest for how horrible this story already sounded.

“But you were a child.” Kendric plopped onto the couch where she’d been lying. “How would Ambrosia recognize you when you were older? And why didn’t the coven fight back?”

“Because we were surrounded. Someone had to have betrayed us, leaking our coven location and revealing that we had a cloaker in our midst. That’s why Mom and I never joined another coven.” Her mouth pressed into a firm line. “There were so many weapons aimed at us; we would’ve all been dead if we’d tried to fight back.”

She took in a ragged breath. “Unbeknownst to me until the day my magic fully matured, the queen had kept us under observation as I grew up.”

The room went still.

“My magic matured just shy of my twentieth birthday, and I saw both pride and fear in Mom’s eyes. I was confused at first, until she told me I had to disappear. That the only way I’d live a free life was if I ran far enough that only the goddess knew where I was. Not even Fate could follow.”

My throat tightened. “But you didn’t get that chance.”

Adara swallowed, her jaw quivering. “The night Mom helped me pack, the vampires came. They’d been tracking us as she’d feared. With guns pointed at us, I was given two options. Help keep the vampire queen’s emotions cloaked so her humanity wouldn’t gain strength, and be at her beck and call for any magic she needed, or Mom would die right there in front of me.”

A tear trailed down her cheek. “I have nightmares to this day about the way my coven died, and I couldn’t let that happen to my mother, so I agreed. Mom yelled for me not to do it, but what kind of daughter would I be if I told the vampires no? I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

Beside me, Ryker flinched.

“They clamped magic-absorbing chains on her wrists and dragged her away. And then the vampire queen herself stepped from the tree line.”

Adara looked above our heads, her gaze far away. “The queen didn’t kill me. She saw value in me.” Her lips trembled. “And I agreed to stay and help her.”

Briar’s brows drew down, suspicion flaring again. “Why imprison you if she had your mother as leverage over you? If you were still useful?”

“Because I was tired,” Adara whispered. “I couldn’t keep doing awful things to people just so she could win. I understood why Mom had wanted me to say no. I understood the burden we both carried, and it wasn’t something the goddess could be proud of. As I performed my tasks, I altered my appearance. Fifteen years of cloaking the queen’s humanity, spying, constantly being used by the queen—I broke. I didn’t want to be her weapon anymore. I wanted to be free. She didn’t even allow me to see my mother in all that time. Who knows if I’ll ever see her again?”

Cassi’s breath hitched.

“I made it look like I’d been taken. Like someone forced me out of my home. But really, I staged everything. I was trying to disappear—to break the queen’s connection to me and remove my magic from Ryker’s soul.” Her eyes flicked to him, guilt thick in her voice. “To stop letting him be manipulated by magic.”

“You failed,” Gage said coldly.

Adara nodded. “I made it as far as the forest line. The vampires were already there.”

My stomach turned. “They took you to that prison.”

“Where they drained me like my mother.” She looked at her bruised wrists. “Of everything I had left, and Queen Ambrosia and Ryker were draining my lifeline to fuel the magic I’d cast on them.”

A sour taste filled my mouth. Holy shit. The queen truly was ruthless.

Ryker’s guilt ripped through the bond. Then he cleared his throat. “Can you lift the spell from me?”

Adara blinked at him, then slowly nodded. “Yes. I meant to. I just—never got the chance.”

Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out. Ryker didn’t flinch, but I saw the way his shoulders coiled tight. He stood perfectly still as her palms hovered over his chest, her eyes slipping closed.

My wolf surged forward, hating the thought of her touching Ryker. However, I pushed her back and reminded her what this was for—his humanity.

Ryker grimaced, then linked,Xander, will you go inform Bruce and Reid that the witch is awake and sharing information?

On my way.Xander raced out the door as a quiet hum began to build in the room. Swirls of magic left her palm, flowing into his chest near his heart.

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