A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(29)

I swiftly stepped to her side, pulled her close to me, and snaked my arm around her waist.

She held her breath for a moment, exhaled loudly, and rolled her eyes. It wasn’t necessarily irritation that I saw on her beautiful face, but rather some kind of anguish. I figured maybe she hated her condition, having to rely on one of us for support. The thought lined up with what she’d told us about her tribe and their customs last night.

Bijarki led the way toward the edge of the property, bag on one shoulder and crossbow in his other hand. A dozen short arrows with colored feathers poked out from the side of the bag. I followed closely with Anjani, while Draven and Serena walked behind us.

One by one, we passed the protective shield and headed into the jungle, where winds whispered and rustled the leaves and dangers lurked in the dark shadows. My chest tightened at the thought, and my hand instinctively pressed into Anjani’s hip. I felt her body tense against mine.

This was going to be an interesting trip.





Vita





[Grace and Lawrence’s daughter]





Serena and the rest of the group had been gone for a few hours. Draven had left some instructions for Aida and me regarding our Oracle powers. Even with Phoenix out of it, two Oracles were still standing, and we should make use of the time while Draven and the others were away. He told us to tap into our visions further, using the herbs from last time, while Field watched over us.

However, it wasn’t something either of us wanted to rush into. Both Aida and I were still reeling from the previous day’s events. We decided to wait another day, clear our heads, and keep our eyes on Phoenix in the meantime.

I watched over Phoenix in the basement until Aida came down and told me to spend some time out in the sun.

“You’re starting to look like a corpse,” she joked and pulled me off my stool, taking my seat beside Phoenix.

I smiled. I didn’t know what I would’ve done without her.

I went upstairs and grabbed a quick lunch from the dining room, then roamed through the mansion for a while out of sheer boredom. I found some candles in mason jars in one of the rooms upstairs and decided to go out in the back garden and try practicing some fae stuff. It sure beat wandering around a house filled with dead stuffed animals and old books.

I grabbed four jars with candles and a box of matches and scuttled downstairs. There was a big, beautiful magnolia tree in the back garden where I’d seen Phoenix before. It branched out with a thick crown of pale pink blossoms, casting a pleasant shade over the growing grass.

I sat down underneath the tree, my back against the southern side of the plantation house. The jungle unraveled in front of me in undulating shades of dark green and yellow accents.

The candles waited defiantly in their jars for me to fail miserably at controlling their flames. But Zerus’s image formed in the back of my head, and I shook the negative thoughts away.

I looked around me and took a deep breath. I was surrounded by nature. My fingers brushed over the soft blades of grass.

I remembered the sentry’s words the last time we’d spoken. You need to slow down, to study the natural world before you can claim ownership over it, he’d said. I needed to take it easy as I often allowed my frustration to get the best of me.

I lit up one of the candles inside its jar and waited a few minutes. I watched the flame rise slowly, drawing in the oxygen that kept it burning. I breathed in and out, carefully composing myself as my palms hovered above the jar.

I willed the flame to react to my body, and it flickered just a little bit. Then my mind ran off, thinking about the Nevertide Oracle. I wondered how she was feeling, locked up in the glass sphere filled with water. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than losing my freedom like that. To be blind and helpless while time flowed in and out of her with visions of everything past, present, and future…

I imagined the torture of living at the whims of a power-hungry Destroyer that had no problem shedding the blood of innocent creatures, as long as he got his way. The same fate would await me as well, along with Aida and Phoenix, if we didn’t do something about Azazel.

The Druid had been incredibly helpful, despite his less than conventional methods. I had to give him credit. He’d dedicated his life to protecting Oracles, as had his father before him. He lived to keep us safe, while the world beyond the mansion turned darker and uglier each day.

Tears stung my eyes. The Nevertide Oracle was trapped in her glass bubble, suspended in time, almost lifeless, yet unable to let go. I remembered the candle beneath my hands and looked down. The flame had gone out.

“Damn it,” I muttered. I had to snap out of it. Instead of getting closer to nature, I was drifting away thinking about the Nevertide Oracle. No wonder I was failing every time I tried to bring my fae abilities to the surface; I was too easily distracted.

A few moments later, I lit the candle again and placed my hands above the jar.

This time, I kept my eyes open, my gaze fixed on a willow tree in the distance. Its branches brushed over the dark swamp water beneath it. I focused on the branches swaying in the breeze.

Slow down.

It didn’t do much good. My mind wandered off again, this time—predictably—to Bijarki. Flashbacks of my recent dreams intertwined with memories of my visions of him—our bodies close, lips fused in ardent kisses while the world crumbled around us beneath the weight of giant snake tails and corruption.