Page 33 of Nearly Dead

“Lady Astrid,” Zephronis prompts, dismissing his interruption.

“My daughter has always defied expectations.”The way she calls me her daughter carries weight.“She should not belong to the vampires or the werewolves.She is a Devine.We take care of our own.She belongs with us.”

“She is a wolf,” Sully protests.

“She belongs with me,” Costin says, his voice smooth as it carries over the chamber.

Zephronis raises his hand, and again the chamber immediately quiets.He steps off his raised platform and comes toward me.Touching my cheeks, he holds my face as he looks into my eyes.I feel a steady pull of magic from his fingers.I have no clue how long I stand there, being studied, but when he lets go he lowers his head for a long moment.“We have not gathered to cast judgment, but to assess the threat to balance.The hybrid will be tested.”

“Tested how?”Anthony asks.

“Her control.Her loyalty.Her nature.”Zephronis gestures to the center of the floor, where the marble pedestal he just abandoned pulses with light.“Step forward, Tamara Devine.Stand in the circle of truth.”

I hesitate, looking at my father, at Astrid, at Costin.None of them seems surprised by this request.

Sully gives a small growl to get my attention.He lowers his jaw and slightly shakes his head as if to tell me,“Don’t do it.”

Astrid takes me by the shoulders, blocking Sully from view.Very softly, she explains, “The circle strips away all magical influence, including the potion you took.”

I swallow nervously, understanding the implication.Without the potion suppressing my wolf side, with all the heightened emotions of this chamber, I might lose control.Exactly what the council wants to see.

“If I refuse,” I whisper back.“They’ll assume the worst?”

She nods.I can hear her words echoing in my head, “Remember who you are.”

Taking a deep breath, I step forward.My silk dress whispers against the marble as I walk toward the platform.I feel their eyes on me, the weight of their judgment, their curiosity, their fear, their need for control.

When I approach the circle, I see the symbols more clearly.The ancient runes represent all supernatural factions, intertwined in a complex pattern that vibrates with power.When my foot crosses the boundary, I feel a sharp tingle that races up my leg and spreads throughout my body.

The suppression potion burns off like water on fire-heated stone.The itchy necklace breaks and falls.Suddenly, every sense is heightened.I can hear heartbeats around the room.I smell the distinct scents of different supernatural beings.Power presses against my skin like heat before lightning.The wolf inside me stretches, no longer muted, and the vampire responds in kind.

I am fully myself for the first time since the attack, both natures present and demanding attention.And I am standing in front of the most powerful supernatural beings in the world, expected to prove I’m not a monster.

ChapterEight

I stare at Costin, able to recall the texture of his skin against mine.I feel the air entering my lungs.I smell his blood.I taste the memory of it.His very presence calls to me, a bond so thick I don’t know that I could ever deny him.

He’s always been there.A constant.My constant.

At first, he was my protector, lurking in the shadows of my childhood, keeping me safe as a promise to my grandfather.I always saw him as another monster, a nice-enough monster, but a monster.I was wrong.It took me twenty-eight years to see what he could be to me.I fought it.Part of me still fights it, because this is not the path I wanted.I never wanted to be a supernatural, not like this.I’ve seen what power does to people.

I wanted to be normal.Human.I wanted to want Paul.But Paul is only an idea, a representation of all my disappointments and secret dreams.Life has proven that path would never work.Death.Prophecies.Fires.Labyrinths.A near apocalypse.Claws and fangs.The images of all of it swirl in my mind.I was born to this destiny, to these horrible moments, this monstrous reality.A mere mortal could never survive it.

I can’t look away from Costin’s eyes.They draw me in.He’s been so much of my timeline, and I’m barely a blip on his.He’s controlling and frustrates the hell out of me.Still, I feel our deep connection like a thread pulsing between us.Suddenly, I realize he’s trying to influence me and give me his calm.

I try to focus on him, but I hear the chorus of heartbeats from those in the room.They call to my monster like raining chaos to demand my attention.Each beat is like a drop of water on the floor, one after another, too many to focus on.

The magic takes away all of my safeguards.I hear the ugly crack of my bones.Pain rolls through me, but I ignore it.Both natures are present and demanding attention.This is my full self, the one we’ve been trying to stop.

The chamber falls silent as I stand in the circle, my body humming with barely contained energy.My gaze slips from Costin’s hold to move over the most powerful supernatural beings in the world.They expect me to prove I’m not a monster, and I can tell most of them think I’ll fail the test.

I feel the dual natures inside me, vampire and werewolf, struggling for dominance.The wolf wants to fight, to assert itself before these predators.The vampire wants to calculate, to manipulate the situation to my advantage.

Great.My choices are dog or bat?One wants to pee on the floor to shock them as I mark my supremacy, and the other wants to skulk away into the shadows to plan.

Both want to feed.

“Look.She’s smiling,” Anthony says.He’s not talking loudly, but I detect the hope in his voice.“She’s in control.”

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