A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(63)

Anjani stood still, looking up at the tree.

Bijarki came down on one knee in front of me and lifted my chin with two fingers. His gray eyes stormed into my soul. Another round of tears scorched my eyes. My lips were dry and trembling. The pain on his face seemed to mirror mine. I couldn’t take it.

“Phoenix!” Serena screamed into the ground, breaking down in tears. Her sobs tore into me, cutting deep. Raw holes drilled deeper into my chest with every noise she made. She kept shouting after her brother, and none of us could do anything about it.

Draven stood still, an indecipherable expression on his face, his lips pressed tight. He frowned more every time Phoenix’s name left Serena’s lips.

Bijarki couldn’t do anything for me in that moment. We both seemed to know it.

I dropped my head onto Aida’s shoulder and waited for…what?

I watched Bijarki from the corner of my eye as he looked up. His face straightened all of a sudden. He stood.

I noticed that Anjani was still staring at the magnolia tree above us. I looked at Bijarki again and watched his eyebrows morph into a puzzled frown as he, too, stared at it.

“Phoenix…” Serena’s voice dimmed as she cried, still digging into the merciless dirt.

Jovi kept mumbling words of comfort to Field, who’d drifted into a state of wordless shock.

None of us had been prepared for any of this. None of us knew what to do.

I looked at Anjani, then at Bijarki. They were transfixed by the damn tree.

My gaze followed theirs. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as I realized what they were staring at.

The magnolia flowers had turned from their usual pale pink to a vibrant red, the petals swollen and amplifying the size of the tree crown. It was huge and unnatural. It took my breath away.

“What is happening?” I asked.

Aida noticed my consternation and looked up. “What the hell?”

Her mutter drew Field out of his catatonic state. One by one, we all stared up at the red magnolia tree.

“What’s going on?” Draven asked.

No one made a sound.

Serena finally looked up with bloodshot eyes. Tears still flowed down her cheeks. She brought a hand up to her mouth to muffle her gasp.

She then turned her attention back to the ground beneath her.

She fell to her knees, looking down, and I saw a glimmer in her eyes as she stared right into the earth, her face just a few inches away.

She was trying to use her True Sight to look for her brother.

“The tree, Draven,” Bijarki said, stupefied. “It turned red.”

“What?” Draven replied.

“The magnolia blossoms. They’re all swollen and red. I’ve never seen this before in my life,” the incubus said.

A moment passed before Draven spoke.

“The tree was given a blood sacrifice,” he said, his voice low and cold.

We looked at each other, then at the tree, then back to Draven. None of us knew what that meant, and no one spoke.

“What’s a blood sacrifice?” I finally asked, already fearful of what the answer might be. I swallowed back more tears and leaned against Aida. I felt so weak.

Serena’s eyes widened as she continued using her True Sight. She had found something underground and, whatever she’d seen, it had shocked her. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

Draven’s voice shot through the silence:

“It means the last Daughter of Eritopia is about to wake up.”