Page 83 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
Feeling lost, alone, andso, so stupid, I backed up a pace, and then another, needing space and time to think. To do something to warn Sera about what was coming. Running away wasn’t an option. It was too cold, and Bastien would only catch me. And besides, if I left his service before our contract was up, I’d die. I had to come up with a plan that wouldn’t blow up in my face like the others.
My attention snapped to the four objects sitting on flat stones around the circle. A curved horn of a sheep. A piece of snowflake obsidian. A wilted wild rose. And a feather that looked like it once belonged to a goose. Demonic relics were once owned by a demon or imbibed with demonic power. The Dark Witches used them to channel demonic energy to fuel their magick. So many of my family members died trying to destroy these stupid little trinkets.
I glanced up at the moon for guidance.Please, Diana. Give me the strength to be better. To protect my family. To understand the way forward.
The chanting of the witches was deafening. Louder. Faster. The ritual was coming to an end, and someone was going to receive new powers.I could feel it.
If Diana heard my plea for help, she wasn’t answering.
I glanced around the graveyard, looking for some kind of sign pointing me in the right direction, but… there was nothing.Nothing. Nothing… except a deep, low growl that came from behind the casting circle. I found those same strange yellow eyes peering at me through the darkness.
Something had me in its sights.
Another tide of dark magick swirled around the circle, but Ididn’t let it scare me. I was so tired of cowering. So tired of being afraid. So unbelievably sick of watching others and wishing I was different. I was so fed up with being…me.
Step into your power.Tansy’s words.
You are fire.Bastien’s words.
I squeezed my eyes shut, letting them infuse me, strengthening me. If I wanted the world to change to keep Sera safe, then the old version of me, the one who didn’t believe these things, had to die. When I opened my eyes again, the beast was still staring me down, waiting.
“Show yourself.”
The eyes blinked, and then the creature padded forward. Torchlight illuminated it for what it was—amassive gray wolf. Its shaggy fur wet with snow. It’s muzzle slick with blood.
Rumors of echoed in my head. Alec’s story of the werewolf. I should be scared of the beast, but nothing in me told me to run. A calm settled over me.A knowing. The wolf was said to be the Moon Goddess’s sacred companion. Her spy. The one who told her secrets when it howled each night.
Maybe the beast Alec saw wasn’t a werewolf, but one ofDiana’s wolves.Maybe the woman he saw wasn’t a woman at all, but our goddess walking amongst her people?
I locked eyes with the wolf. Did Diana send you?
If the wolf could hear my thoughts, it didn’t move.
Wind whipped graveyard dust into my eyes, and I had to shield my face, but I didn’t let it stop me. I took a tentative step forward, when a brilliant light filled the graveyard, like a star had fallen from the sky. Warmth flooded my veins, and the last thing I remembered was the sound of my name being shouted as I fell headlong against a gravestone, before everything went black.
Chapter 39
une chose sombre et contre nature
CLAIRE
My head.Hurt. My chest.Burned. My blood felt like it was boiling in my veins. My skin felt like centipedes were crawling all over me.
What was happening? Why was there so much pain?
I couldn’t remember what I’d been doing just before I blacked out. It was like trying to remember a dream just after waking. Every time one detail surfaced, it disappeared.
All I knew was thatBastien was one of them.He was helping them fight against Sera. I needed to find the strength to get up and fight back. The thought helped my consciousness return, and I held on to it like the tail of a kite. I followed it as I slowly opened my eyes and found my vision was blurry. I blinked, trying to clear the image, but everything was a blob of red, orange, black, and gray.
Then everyone was shouting at once. Gritting my teeth, I lifted my head, squinting until I could make out the big blurry shapes in front of me.
Wolves.
Not just one, but five. A pack. And by the looks of the tight circle they’d made around me, they were… protecting me.
But why?
One voice penetrated through the cacophony of others. “That wasmygift! It belongs to me! I’m the worthiest witch in this graveyard! She did something to the spell!”
