Page 75 of Claim the Twilight
Ophelia pressed her lips together, her eyes bright. “Christian was manipulated. He would never have?—”
“But he did,” Zafrina said, cutting her off. “His ambitions have caused this, and your house is responsible, so stay and fix it, but donotexpect us to join you in your folly.”
She swept from the room, taking her two ambassadors with her.
“Zafrina, please…” Laudon went after her but stopped at the doors, his shoulders slumping for a moment before he stood tall again, turning to face us. “You have the House of Shadows’s support.”
“Good to hear it,” Kaster said, striding into the room.
Laudon’s face broke into a grin, and then his gaze flicked to Kaster’s wings, and his face fell. “You spoke…out loud…”
Kaster gave him a soft smile. “I’m sorry, Laudon. It’s time. Time to accept the truth.”
Laudon’s mouth trembled, and he pressed it into a thin line, exhaling through his nose. “Yes. I suppose it is. I…thank you. For playing the part for as long as you did.”
Kaster inclined his head. “It was my honor to be your son these past centuries.”
Laudon nodded again, his expression strained as he clearly held back tears.
“House of Spirit will help in any way we can,” Ophelia said, clearly not giving a shit about what Kaster and Laudon were talking about. “Just tell us what you need and where you need us.”
“All right,” Kaster said. “Let’s get started.”
A chill crawled up my spine, and a moment later, Daisy materialized beside me. Ophelia flinched in surprise, but Laudon, used to the specters of Branwood, was unfazed.
“What is it, Daisy?”
She leaned in, bringing the chill of death with her. “Jacqueline is dead.”
Jacqueline laypale and lifeless on the narrow bed of the guest room she’d been allocated. The sheets on either side of her were soaked with blood from where her arms lay at her sides, slit from wrist to elbow. I breathed through my mouth, eyes burning, stomach cramping with the beginning of hunger.
“Clean her up and bury her.” I hurried out of the room, back into the corridor, and jogged for the stairs, where I stopped to take several steadying breaths.
“Do you need to feed?” Ordell asked.
I shook my head. “I’m good. For now.”
“She left this.” He handed me a folded note with my name on it.
Orina,
There is no apology that can make up for what I did to you. I was selfish. Desperate to live, whatever the cost, and I justified it to myself. I was wrong. My time has been up for a while now, and I’m done fighting it. I want to end it on my own terms. I can’t risk the surge taking me down. I can’t risk adding to the horror that’s to come.
I hope in time that you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my part in your pain.
Jacqueline
So much pain and death. It had to end now. Loviator needed to be put down. Once and for all.
Chapter 31
PADMA
Aster leads us down a plush green carpeted corridor. The walls are painted white, and large potted plants stand like sentries against it.
My mind reels with the fact that this woman is Moringa’s sister, a witch that lived centuries ago. I can understand vampires living that long, but witches?
Wait, is Hemlock a witch? No, he’s a sorcerer. “Is it normal for a witch to live as long as you have?”
