Page 70 of Reap the Night
“Did you know?” I swallowed past the lump of emotion in my throat that Ingrid’s lullaby had left. She’d been Arabella’s mother, and I’d acutely felt the connection. For a few moments, I had been Arabella once more. “Did you know I was Arabella reborn?”
“I suspected as much after I tricked you all those nights ago.” She had the grace to look embarrassed.
“After you tried to get me mauled?”
“Yes.”
“But you feel…better?”
“I do. I feel clearer. Like the days when I came to work for the Tepes family before we were trapped by the curse and forced to follow him wherever he went. Before we were bound to the brick and mortar that he calls his home. I was the last to lose my wits and my mind. The youngest lost one, but the clouds in my mind are lifting, so it means that there’s hope. You’re our hope.”
There was no longer any doubt in my mind. “We have to get her out.”
“The door to the lost room is barred,” Daisy said. “Ingrid is containing the mad spirits.”
“The way to free her from her obligation is to end the curse,” Ordell said. “You’re the first incarnation that has succeeded in controlling the darkness inside her.”
My darkness…Loviator’s darkness. I’d felt it all my life, latent and potent, but I’d succeeded in squashing it time and time again, to focus on protecting the innocent and the way of the Order.
“You only ever broke when Ezekiel hurt innocents,” Ordell said. “You’ve managed to train your darkness to rise only in response to injustice.”
“We can use that to our advantage,” Hemlock said. “If you can guide Ezekiel out of his nightmare, then we have a strong chance of breaking the curse.”
“Has he ever woken from the nightmare?”
“No,” Ordell said. “The last times he was triggered, he eventually fell into a deep sleep that lasted until his next rising.”
“Did you have your Arabella on hand to help any of those times?”
“Yes. Once,” Hemlock said.
“She tried to kill him, and we were forced to end her,” Ordell said.
Ice trickled down my spine. They’d told me they’d killed the past Arabellas, but now that I knew that I was her, it meant that it was past versions ofmethey’d killed.
“Don’t dwell on it,” Ordell said. “Please.” He looked pale. Sweat beaded on his brow.
“Ordell?”
He smiled. “I’m fine. Just hot.” He plucked at his long-sleeved polo. “Not used to wearing knitted stuff.”
“Then take it off.”
“Hardly the time for a show, is it?” he teased, but I wasn’t having it.
“How bad is it? The rash. And what does it mean?”
“It doesn’tmeananything,” Ordell said. “It’s just part of the beast cycle and?—”
“Stop it! Stop lying to me. I’ve had enough of half-truths, secrets, and uncertainty, so tell me exactly what the fuck is going on with you.”
“You should tell her,” Hemlock said.
Ordell stared at him in shock. “What?—”
“You’ve mate-marked her, so you should tell her.”
Ordell ground his teeth.
