Page 97 of Cruel Revenge
“Allow me,” Hasan said. He stepped forward, taking a picture with his phone, then walked back out of the room. A moment later, Subira hissed while Zuri growled, then stormed into the room.
“Old magic. They must have used this marking to bind her to the body, to force the possession. She probably left after the body died.”
“She lingered for a little while,” I said. “Taunted me, talked to me.”
“She’s a ghost, meaning she didn’t move on. Lingering probably comes naturally to her,” Subira said. Heath had to move out of the way quickly. “I know the language tattooed into the pattern. Babylonian. Hasan, Zuri, and Jabari know it better than me, since I learned it from them. She must have developed this for this usage.” Subira grabbed the arm and leaned down, sniffing deeply. “There’s bone in the ink.”
“You can… smell that?” I asked, frowning.
“It’s her bone,” Hasan said
“It must be,” Subira said, dropping the arm. “And if you want to know, the spell says exactly what it does. This soul was boundto the body, but won’t die with it. It’ll go back to its current resting point. So… if they needed her bone to make the tattoo, that means her bones are out there. We’re going to need Kushim to show us where he buried her.”
“I’ll go with him,” Zuri called out.
“So will I,” Hasan said softly.
“Not you.” She pointed at Hasan, but didn’t look at him. “I need to keep you safe.”
“She also said this body was beginning to fail…”
“I will look into all of this. I want this body.” Subira now looked at Hasan, who sighed.
“I would give you the world and a throne to rule it, and you want a corpse,” he muttered. “Fine. I’ll make sure it’s transported through the Tribunal to our home. It doesn’t stay in the house.”
“It’s my house,” Subira growled.
“It can be in the house, or I can be. Not both,” Hasan said, his jaw clenching. “I often bend the knee to you, Subira. Please don’t do that to me.”
“Fine.” She gave up the fight quickly. She looked at me and reached out, touching my cheek.
It took me a minute to register that it was in the exact spot that the ghost had touched me.
“How dare she touch my daughter,” Subira whispered, her eyes narrowing. I could smell her fury, then it was gone. She stood up slowly, then lifted the body with ease. “You may have the room to yourselves. It’s safe to be in. Zuri, help me with this.”
“I need Hasan!” I said quickly, then turned to Heath. “Can you help her get the body to the Tribunal at least?”
“Easy enough,” Heath said, looking cautiously at me, then going with Subira, who nodded at the man I had sent to her.
“That works. He works. Come, Heath.”
Through the mate bond, I caught the humor of the Alpha werewolf being ordered to follow by a tiny ancient woman.
When I knew they were gone, I looked at my father. He finally entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“What is it?”
“Everything about… all of this is kind of blurry to me, but I remember exactly what she said… and I could wait to talk to you about it, but I think I need to talk to you here, now. Where neither of us feel like the one in charge or in power.”
“Both of us are off balance here,” Hasan said, humming thoughtfully. He started fiddling with things on the desk in the room. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit… smarter than I have given credit for as well. What did she say?”
I took a deep breath, wanting to quote it exactly, word for word.
“‘Those beautifully cursed eyes. I’ve always loved them. He must hate you, having to see these all the time. The eyes of the monster that made him.’”
Hasan paused his fiddling with things on the nearby desk. He turned to me, his gold eyes staring down mine.
“I see.” Hasan closed his eyes and sighed. “They’re not cursed. Yes, they are the same color as the original werecat, Subira’s father. Yes, that sometimes makes me hatemyself.” He opened his eyes once more and walked toward me. A deep, terrible pain was in his eyes now. “But not you. In fact… when you opened your eyes for the first time after the Change, it was the first time I ever agreed with Subira when she called thembeautiful. Never think that I look at you and see him. I see a young woman who doesn’t deserve the legacy she carries, so I wanted to spare you from it. I know you’ll have more questions about it, but… I would be much more willing to talk freely about this on my island.”
