Page 110 of Hunted in the Shadows
Liar.
Although my heart was cracking in two, I said, “I don’t want it. Not with a price so steep. I’m going to collect my hunters and youwilllet us out of here.”
Through the large doorway, I caught glimpses of iridescent wings rushing over the water. Even a few of the nearby fairies pulled away, making me think I’d somehow intimidated them—until I heard the distant call of the sirens growing louder.
“The feast is upon us,” Marcellus said to me, stone-faced. “I advise you to accept my bargain, Sylvia. It has been far too long since we’ve had a proper ceremony. Don’t you want to enjoy it the way you’re meant to? You have a place here. A family. Haven’t you missed feeling at home?”
“Stop talking like you know me.”
“Idoknow you, my dear.” Marcellus drew closer, his gaze flickering over my traitor mark. “You’ve been terribly lonely, haven’t you? Searching for belonging only to be rejected time and time again. I have lived your life, suffered through your fate.”
More sirens were chirping, singing a melody that tempted me to turn in admiration. Fairies joined the tune, their combined voices echoing through the cave. I realized with a jolt that harmonies were coming from the entrance, where I’d left Jon and Cliff.
“This isnotwhere I belong,” I growled. The delicate gown hugging my hips suddenly felt like a betrayal, the soft fabric chafing everywhere it touched. I wished I could gouge the sacred warrior rune from my skin.
I backed away into the nearby fairies who had stayed behind to form a wall behind me.
Marcellus crowded forward, desperation finally beginning to darken his stoic features. “Don’t you see that the stars have fated you to come here? You are a treasure, Sylvia. It’s no mere accident that you arrived with the very offering we needed for the Celestial Feast.”
I froze. “What offering?”
He chuckled as though I were being facetious. “The stars demand blood, and our sisters must feed on this most sacred of nights. Open your eyes—you know what you’ve done.”
Horror ripped through me so viscerally, all I could do was release a choked sob, covering my mouth with my hands as I felt the cavernous lack of the presences I’d come to know so well.
I’ve killed them.
Jon and Cliff—I’d left them behind. Abandoned them to these lunatics. Were they already dead? Did I have time to make it back to them before—
Marcellus pulled my hands away from my face, his body like a wall before me. His thumbs brushed away the tears rolling down my cheeks. “Shh, don’t be alarmed. Look at me. This isn’t a sin—it’s a beautiful thing, Sylvia. The stars speak through you. It’s an honor.”
No—these weren’t the celestial forms I’d been raised to revere. The stars asked respect and reverence, but not blood.Neverblood.
I thrashed, manic and animal. A small, startled circle of space opened around me as the nearest fairies shuffled back.
“You’re insane,” I snarled, jabbing a finger toward Marcellus before flinging my hand wide, whirling. “Allof you! Fuck your stars, and fuckyou. This isn’t sacrifice, it’s murder.”
The crowd began to close in on me again, and my throat became tight. The urge to fight, tohurt them, bubbled up in me. But I was vastly outnumbered.
Marcellus closed the distance between us again, and I realized another step backward would have me against the wall. He seized my arm like he was claiming me. My skin felt hot where he touched it as I glowered up at him through my lashes.
“You tricked me,” I seethed. Fresh tears—angry and humiliated—spilled down my cheeks.
“I told you many truths,” he countered, wrestling back into a calm voice. His unshakeable demeanor had been a comfort—now, it terrified me.
Many truths, I thought bitterly. Notes of honesty that had been velveteen sheets on a bed of bones. How could I have been so fucking stupid?
“If you hurt me,” I said in a low voice. “They will kill you.”
Marcellus smirked, cocking his head to the side. “Your hunters are a little indisposed at present.”
“You don’t know them like I do.”
Finally, a seed of unease flickered over him. And I might not have gotten a better opportunity than that.
I pulled myself to Marcellus and drove my knee upward into his groin. I felt a sick sense of victory as his breath whooshed out of him in a pained groan—dulled with a pang as I imagined Jon and Cliff cheering me on in my mind’s eye.
While he was still doubled over, I lifted my eyes to the ceiling—to the two dozen fae lights glimmering overhead. I shouted my incantation, magic roiling in my veins. I raked my hands downward, ousting both chandeliers and plunging the chamber into darkness.
