Page 69 of Claim the Twilight
The light in her eyes dimmed a little. “Sin has some work to do, but…I won’t lie. I love him. I just…I need time. Time and coffee. Please tell me you have coffee in Old Town.”
“We certainly do. We’ll grab some before we check on Ezekiel again.”
Surely, he would be awake by now.
Ezekiel was no longeron the sofa when we got back to the sitting room, and my heart lifted. He’d obviously woken up. Ordell, Lorenzo, and Kaster were missing too. The Faoladh, Sin, and Holly stood together by the hearth talking in hushed voices.
Nyx and I joined them.
“Where’s Ezekiel?” Nyx asked before I could.
“Ordell and Kaster have taken him to the safe room,” Holly said.
Icy needles pricked at my skin. “What? Why?”
“We found a strange mark on his arm when we examined him. Kaster says it’s the mark of Loviator. He hasn’t seen it in eons, not since Loviator was locked away. The fact that she can apply it now means that she’s growing in power.”
“What does that mean? What does this mark do?”
“It puts the wearer under her control,” Sin said.
“You can’t trust him now,” Bryce said softly. “Not until the goddess’s hold on him is broken.”
The coffee I’d downed a few minutes ago threatened to come back up. I’d saved Ezekiel from the curse, broken him out of the horrific cycle of memories that Loviator had him trapped in, and now she’d claimed him again.
Heat burgeoned in my chest, rushing up my neck to settle behind my eyes. “I’m going to kill her. I’m going to rip away all her defenses, all her fucking ‘batteries,’ and then I’m going to tear out her blackened heart.”
The corner of Bryce’s mouth lifted, his violet eyes darkening with an answering bloodlust. “We’ll be right beside you, Orina. Have no doubt.”
Daisy materialized by the door, and Bryce snarled, his body tensing, ready to attack.
She blinked at him and smiled sweetly. “Calm down, big boy. I’m already dead.” She turned to me. “Matthew says that he’s received word from the vampire houses. They’re coming here tonight.”
“Fuck.”
“Also, you’re wanted in the safe room. Ezekiel is awake.”
I didn’t need asking twice.
Ezekiel stood behind bars,shoulders slumped, eyes bloodshot, his skin so pale he looked dead. Déjà vu washed over me, and the band wrapped around my chest contracted, making it hard to breathe.
“Orina. I’m sorry,” he said.
I shook my head, blinking back tears as I ran toward the bars, stopping when the ward Lorenzo must have applied singed my skin. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll stop her and free you, I promise.”
“She took Hemlock. I couldn’t stop her,” he said.
“We’ll get him back.”
“How?” His eyes narrowed. “How do you plan on fighting a deity like Loviator?”
My skin pinched as I scanned his face, the same face I knew and loved, but there was something off about it now. Something unnatural about the tone and inflection of his voice.
“How?” he asked again. “And more importantly, why? All she wants is to be free. To have a place in this world. To help cleanse it of evil.” He lifted his chin, eyes flashing.
My heart dropped, my belly filling with ice. There could be no doubt who I was truly speaking to.
Ordell gently gripped my arm, attempting to draw me away from the bars, but I held my ground, taking a step forward instead.
