Page 40 of Dominion

“Why?” I asked. “Why would you keep something like this from us?”

But he had already said why. He had his reasons, just like every single one of us for everything we did, but that didn’t mean it was right. It didn’t mean that those reasons were okay.

“We could’ve stopped this madness weeks ago. We could’ve gone to them, to the real Order.”

“No,” Dylan refused, standing up. “They would have taken you from me. They would… They would have given you to somebody else.”

“I’m not an object to be given, Dy. You know me. You know how much I love you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because he’s right.” Casimir answered instead of Dylan. “We would have completely annulled that union, Skylar. And we would have taken only the two of you with us.”

The two of us? What did he?—

I looked at Ash, who seemed to understand better what was going on.

“My parents were working with somebody, Moonshine. I have no idea who, but I have a feeling that it was the other Order. The Crowell family wasn’t part of the Black Dahlia, not anymore.”

“And with my bloodline, and Gabriel Lacroix being my father?—”

“You would’ve been considered innocent,” Casimir finished for me. “But not him.” He looked at Dylan. “He is a true Blackwood, and everything he did?—”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Dylan blasted, the vein on his neck popping up. “I had no other choice but to do what my father told me to do. I had to!” he cried out. “I had no other choice,” Dylan whispered and collapsed back on the couch, hiding his face from us. “Everything I did. Every single person I killed, it was all because he told me to do so. I didn’t know better. I didn’t even know you existed. I had no fucking idea.”

“But you knew that the Order of Black Dahlia existed,” I said, looking at Casimir. “You knew and did nothing.”

“Nuh-uh,” he tsked, getting up from the couch. “We planned, Skylar. We planned, because everything we do has to be executed perfectly, with no mistakes. Contacting the Sons of Hades, getting involved with Ash, it was all part of our plan.”

“Who are you guys? What is the name of this other Order?” I asked bitterly.

The smile that spread over his face was downright scary, but the proud gleam in his eyes told me that this other Order was something he held dear to his heart.

“We are the Dominion, my baby sister. And I am the one who’s leading them.”

11

ASH

Sometimes it feltas if we were all stuck inside Purgatory, with no way out. Just when we thought that we knew everything there was to know, something else popped up. I wondered if we would ever be able to put a stop to this madness, to just live like normal people did.

To say that Casimir dropped a bomb right on top of our heads would be the understatement of the year, and I had no idea which one of us was more shocked—Skylar, Dylan, or me.

There was a part of me hoping that someone else would come along and take the reins. it was getting tiring trying to keep everyone alive, trying to make plans when the other two people I was in this with were slowly disconnecting from reality, with no real need to do anything to fix our situation. Perhaps it was selfish of me to think like that, but I needed them to do something.

To wake up, to show me that they were still with me, but even the news Casimir shared did nothing to wake them up. As I sat on the back porch of this house, trying to put some distance between me and everyone else, I felt only one thing—loss.

I could recognize the looks on their faces for what they were. I could sense it in the air even when I didn’t want to admit it to myself, and I had no idea what to do.

Talking did nothing.

Shaking them helped even less.

I feared if I left them alone for the time being, the damage would be irreparable. I feared that even if I dared to blink, they would be gone from my life—or at least the version of them I loved.

Casimir and his men decided to take the two rooms on the second floor, close to our rooms, while Cillian generously offered to take the couch in the living room. Skylar, Dylan, and I were in the same room, but I had a feeling that there wouldn’t be much talking tonight between the three of us.

Mere moments after Casimir mentioned Dominion, Dylan got up and left the room, followed shortly after by Skylar, neither one of them saying a word as they disappeared from the conversation that involved them. The shock and disbelief on Casimir’s face would’ve been comical if I wasn’t worried about the two people I loved.

For the first time since I came to Winworth, I had no idea what to do. I had no idea which step to take, not with all these other people I never anticipated. I didn’t trust Casimir, not with everything that went on with the Order in Winworth, and I didn’t know him. I knew of him—everyone and their grandmother did—and I knew that he couldn’t have come to power that young without leaving a bloody trail behind.

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