Blood Double (God Wars #1)(81)
"They are. They can't even send coherent mindspeech," Dragon muttered, wiping moisture from his face. "I have to go."
"Let us know if you need anything," Kiarra called out when Dragon disappeared.
*
Breanne's Journal
I was glad her study was so large—so many people wouldn't have fit if it weren't. I didn't know her—not really, so mine were the only dry eyes in the place. Elbowing a few mates aside, I stared at Gavin, who wept and clutched Lissa's body against his. A very large wolf howled and cried with grief beside them.
Lissa was covered in blood—it soaked her clothing and stained the rug beneath her. What a horrible way to die. Sighing as those around me grumbled and muttered at my presence, I lifted my hands. People started backing away when I began to glow. And then I Changed What Was.
Chapter 16
Breanne's Journal
Only one big problem remained, and honestly, I considered leaving him where he was. Cheedas sat on a bunk in the Queen's dungeon—someone had sent him there shortly after he'd stabbed Lissa. I stared at him for moments before he raised tear-stained eyes in my direction.
"Fuck," I sighed. Cheedas loved Lissa, with a father's love. I'd seen it the first time I'd read him. He'd never had love for me after Gavin spread his poison, but I wasn't sure I could blame him completely for that. Erithia had accomplished one of her goals, at least for a short while. She'd managed to kill the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. Somehow, nobody had counted on me coming in to change that.
"Well, Master Cook Cheedas, we have to take a little trip," I said, shaking my head at him.
"Who are you?" he asked, staring at me. I blinked at him in shock. A part of him had changed, and I realized after a moment that he'd had a cloud about his mind, just as Gavin did. Somehow, that had been removed. He—in his mind, anyway—was seeing me for the first time. Yes, he still held the obsession, and if he ever saw Lissa again, he'd attempt to kill her again. I had to deal with that, and it involved something I'd read from the Larentii but hadn't attempted because it frightened me. I gathered Cheedas into my mist.
As it turns out, bending time was easy.
"Who are you?" Erithia hissed as I stood inside the kitchen of the Hurricane Casino hours earlier. The Cheedas she'd obsessed was already on his way back to the palace. I dumped the Cheedas I'd taken from the dungeon in front of her.
"Nobody," I stared at her, unblinking. "Well, maybe not. I hear I'm the Vhanaraszh, whatever the hell that means."
Erithia's eyes flew wide and she drew in a sharp breath. "Kill yourself. Immediately," she placed obsession on me. I laughed. I'd attempted suicide in the past, but had failed miserably. Now wasn't the time.
"You wish," I hissed, showing Erithia red eyes and fangs. "Remove your obsession from Cheedas, here," I ordered, "or I'll kill you the same way I killed your brother." Who knew she'd be so frightened? She backed away, hands and voice trembling.
"I remove my obsession," she quavered to Cheedas.
"Good," I said before hauling Cheedas into my mist and taking him back to the dungeon.
"They'll discover you really didn't have anything to do with Lissa's attack," I sighed, staring at Cheedas, who sat on his bunk again, completely dejected. I hadn't removed his memories of the attack, I'd just gotten the obsession removed. I'd had to butt two timelines together to do it, but as it turns out, it was tiring but not debilitating. It might be debilitating to do it on a much larger scale, but at least I knew it was possible.
"Well, Cheedas, I wish I could say it was fun, but we both know it hasn't been anything close. You won't remember I was here." I misted the hell out of Lissa's dungeon.
*
Lissa's Journal
All of them remember. As do I. I'd died. My other self—the Nameless One that I was, had hovered over my body, watching my mates grieve. A part of me wanted to comfort them, while another part of me wanted to fly away in freedom. I was grateful, too, when Breanne appeared. I was frightened for her as well, as she still didn't realize what she was. As a Nameless One, that information came to me easily. My sister. Vhanaraszh to the Larentii. Q'elindi to Karathia. Mighty Heart to all of us.
How had this happened? That she would be all those things? I wanted her back, but hesitated to attempt mindspeech. I knew how she'd been treated, and I wanted to weep. She had no love for me, and that was the most distressing thing. How could she have anything other than resentment for me? I'd been instrumental in placing her in an untenable situation, and nothing had been done to alleviate her pain and difficulty.
"My love, you should rest," Reemagar, Connegar and Karzac all stood beside my bed after forcing the others back. Everybody was inside my bedroom, including Norian. My talk with him would have to wait. A meeting with Griffin was added to my plans as well, and I wondered briefly how that might go. The fourth person who stood at my bedside, however, was the biggest surprise.
My sister, when she Changed What Was, didn't only bring me back from death. Had she planned this when she held her hands over my body and became so bright none of my mates could look upon her?
It didn't matter—the moment I'd awakened, he'd been there. Nobody else thought to stand in his way, either, and he'd already told me—aloud and in mindspeech at least a dozen times since then, how much he loved me. The funny thing? I felt exactly the same. I stared into Merrill's piercing blue eyes and he winked at me as Karzac placed me in a healing sleep.