Page 111 of A Legacy of Poison and Lies

She stepped in front of him, leaning up onto her toes and cupping a hand to the back of his neck to ease him to look down at her. His eyelashes fluttered, his fingers fisting into her tunic as the haze seemed to clear from his vision, emotions flicking out from him in spikes as if he were trying to keep it all locked away from her.

Zylah pressed her lips against his, grounding him, letting him know she was with him, no matter what he was feeling. Even if the guilt was laced with euphoria, she let nothing but love pass down the bond, acceptance, no matter what he’d done.

“Marcus is dead,” she whispered. Jesper too. It was over. Holt was free.

He sucked in a breath, a shudder passing through him, and then frowned. “Aurelia.”

But it was too late. A wail cut through the silence, and they turned to the sound, Holt’s hand finding hers.

“No!” a Fae screamed, throwing herself to the dirt beside Marcus’s lifeless body. Raif stood beside her, and even if he hadn’t, Zylah would have known it was his mother; her black hair and her complexion, the shape of her face, just like Raif’s sister, Rose. There was no doubting that this was Aurelia.

“What have you done?” she whispered, hands brushing over Marcus’s face as her eyes trailed up to look at them both. The same dazzling blue eyes Raif had once possessed.

Zylah stamped out any pity she might have felt at the sight of Aurelia leaning over her lifeless mate. She would not let this female’s sadness pull any remorse from her for what Holt had endured at their hands. For all that they’d done. “How could you?” Zylah asked. “How could you do all of this? And to your own son.”

Aurelia held out a hand to Raif, gracefully rising to her feet. She smoothed down the front of her deep blue gown with the other, her gaze flicking from Raif’s empty black eyes back to Zylah’s.

“I would never do anything to harm my children. He wishes to remain this way. Being a vampire has improved the dark magic he already had.” Raif was silent, his expression void of any emotion, but all Zylah felt was disgust. How could a mother do that to their child?

Aurelia’s eyes cast back to her lifeless mate. “Do not try to distract me from the fate that awaits you.”

Zylah tried to evanesce, but nothing happened. She pulled again on her magic, but neither she nor Holt moved.

“Which of you did this?” Aurelia demanded, taking a step closer.

“I did,” Holt said immediately.

What’s happening?Zylah asked. They should have been able to evanesce away, but it was as if Aurelia was made of vanquicite, as if she nullified every last drop of their power.

Aurelia took another step closer, glancing between them before settling her attention on Holt. “She will know the pain of feeling your death before she dies, and you will die knowing it was because of you.”

It was then that Zylah realised the sounds around them had faded; not the same quiet that followed Holt’s blast of power, but as if they were in a bubble, just the four of them, Marcus’s body lying between them.

She’s holding us inside,Holt warned her.Her touch will paralyse. Don’t be tempted to try and strike her.

Zylah tilted her chin and met Aurelia’s eyes as she squeezed Holt’s hand. “What is it that you want with me?” She couldn’t help but notice the way Raif tracked the movement, despite his stance of indifference, his hands in his pockets the way he always used to hold himself.

“I had considered gifting you to my son before you served my purpose. He was fond of you, you know. Come with me willingly, Zylah, and I will have him make Holt’s death swift,” Aurelia said, stepping over her mate’s corpse as if it were nothing, closing the distance between them.

Gifting.Like she was a prize mare.

Zylah’s disgust turned to ire, Holt’s wrath echoing in response. She pushed against Aurelia’s hold, searching and searching for a snag in the magic that she might be able to unravel, teeth clenched against the weight of it. “Fuck you.”

Aurelia’s laugh was cold, empty. “You have your grandmother’s filthy tongue.”

Blood of my blood, Pallia had told her. Kopi landed on Zylah’s shoulder as Aurelia’s words settled over her. Not because Zylah was Pallia’s descendant. But because she was her granddaughter.

It was all her, from the beginning,Holt told her, free of the compulsion.Aurelia’s been searching for you all this time.

It had never been about Marcus. Never been about Ranon’s old magic. It had only ever been about this, about Aurelia seeking out her father. Arnir was Marcus’s puppet, but Marcus had been Aurelia’s all along, mate or not.

Holt’s confirmation flared down the bond.

“And of course, Pallia’s little companion,” Aurelia added. “You were always loyal, weren’t you, Kopi?”

Zylah couldn’t even flinch as the Fae reached out a hand as if she might stroke Kopi on the head. But it didn’t matter.

She’d found the end of the thread. And she tore at it with everything she had.

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