Page 101 of Bought to Break
‘Lana? Lana?’
She looked past the concerned faces of the Brothers. She was back in the room at the inn. Groaning, she tried to sit up. One of them held her while another put some pillows behind her.
‘What happened?’ Sorin asked, fear evident on his face.
Lana looked apologetically at them all. ‘I’m sorry.’ She focused on Kane. ‘I made you believe I was healed. We had to save Sorin, you see? I knew you’d never agree to my plan if you knew.’
None of them said a word, so she continued. ‘I made an agreement. The goddess gave me until midwinter and, in return for getting this,’ she pulled the Vessel out from her skirts, ‘she said she’d help me.’
She put the artefact in Viktor’s hand. ‘Please can you take it to a priest? A real priest? I don’t have the strength left.’
She began to drift off again and hoped Viktor would do as she asked.
‘There you are.Finally succumbing, I see.’
Gaila stood before her. She tutted. ‘You would have had another week if you hadn’t wasted all that power.’
Lana frowned. ‘It was hardly a waste.’
Gaila shrugged. ‘Suppose so. Your man has given the vessel to one of my priests. I understand that you also killed my enemy. You did well. Much better than I expected.’
‘It wasn’t really me. It was the old witch, Vineri’s sister. She burned him up and she destroyed his collection.’
‘But you helped set her free. I saw you do it. No, my dear, I have you to thank. We all do.’
Lana looked around. There was nothing else here. Just them. ‘Is this a dream?’
Gaila smiled. ‘Yes. It’s easier for me to speak with you here than trying to get you to the God Realm, as I’m sure you recall,’
‘Am I dying?’
‘You kept up your end of our bargain, so I will keep mine.’ Gaila took Lana’s hands. ‘It is done.’
‘So easily?’
Gaila shrugged again.
Gods.
The goddess turned away, but a sudden thought came to Lana. ‘Wait. What if I have children? Will they be witches?’
She looked thoughtful. ‘They may be. But if they are, they will be born to contain the power, unlike you.’
‘And the Brothers. Will they go back to … the men they were before I changed them?’
Gaila rolled her eyes. ‘No,’ she answered impatiently. ‘You never changed them in the first place; not with your power, at any rate. Any differences in them were your doing, not the Dark Realm blood. Now leave me be, girl. I have important, godly things to do.’
Lana’s eyes opened.It was dark, but the sky was starting to lighten. The dawn wasn’t far off. A lone candle burned in the corner. Kane, Sorin and Viktor lay around her on the bed. They looked clean and bandaged and in very deep sleeps. They needed the rest, so she didn’t wake them.
There was water in a small tub in the corner. It wouldn’t be warm, but she didn’t mind. She’d brave it to be clean. She smelt of smoke still, and thinking back to what had happened in that room made her body feel dirty. She got out of bed, stripped and climbed into the bath. It was cold, so she washed herself quickly, shivering as she did.
‘Let me attend to your injuries,’ Sorin whispered in the dark.
She nodded in the dim light.
He helped her out of the tub and dried her. She stood in the middle of the room while he quietly rummaged through one of their packs.
When he came back, she hugged him. Unable to keep the smile from her face, she told him what Gaila had done.
