Page 52 of Wrath of the Fae

Suddenly, the hand-sketched image of the man begins to move, and he faces me. His skin is covered in black markings, and his eyes glow golden as he stares. Evil radiates from him as he roars in my mind.

‘Come to me, Child!’

I yank my hand back and reach my feet, bumping into Lucca, who has rushed forward.

Elder resumes her staring into the flames and quietly sings to herself, rocking back and forth in her chair.

‘What did you see?’ he asks.

‘Not a clue.’ I feel blood dripping from my nose. ‘But it was old. It was evil.’ I look up at him. ‘And I think it’s here.’

Lucca watches me walk across the carved symbols on the floor beneath the wine cellar. I hold a flaming torch, inspecting them closely.

They are too similar to the symbols I saw in the tree not to be connected.

‘I know what you’re thinking and I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ Lucca says almost pleadingly.

‘I can look into the memories of these markings and see where they came from.’

‘I know. I can hear your thoughts, remember? And as I just said… not a good idea.’

‘It’s not this power that causes me problems, Lucca. It’s the shield. I’m fine doing this.’

‘The older the memories, the harder it is on you. Your nose is still bleeding from seeing whatever the old crone just showed you, and that was maybe a thousand years ago. This?’ He sweeps his arm across the room. 'This is possibly millennia.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

I crouch down and rest my hand on the runes carved into the stone.

‘Raven, please. Don’t.’ His tone is far firmer.

I close my eyes and seek the truth, and I’m instantly met with such resistance my head sears in pain. I let out a painful groan.

‘Pup, stop!’

I push on. Determined. Desperate.

Yield. YIELD!

It’s unwilling to share, and the room trembles as I force myself deeper into it.

More blood spills over my lip.

‘That’s enough!’

I feel Lucca grabbing me, but I refuse to let go.

‘I SAID STOP!’ Something hard slams into my chest and I fall back, letting go of the floor and landing on my back.

Lucca stands over me with a furious“I told you so”expression.

‘I almost had it!’ I snap, feeling the result of my lie spread over my skin.

‘An aneurism? Yeah. I know. Half your fucking brain is staining the shit out of your dress.’ He nods to my chest. ‘I get that you want to take your mind off the bastard who broke your heart and fucked off to another woman, but killing yourself ain’t gonna help matters. So take a breath, calm the fuck down and stop running head-first into dangerous shit like this. You already have a broken rib. Let’s not add to it!’

‘That’s not what I’m doing,’ I argue, wiping the blood from my face. ‘You want me to fix this? I’m trying to fix it!’

‘This isn’t on you alone to fix, Pup! This isn’t your fault. We needed you to bring them together. We need you to be a queen! A symbol of power. Something we can all stand behind and unite with. Not blow your brains up trying to learn what ancient symbols mean.’

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