Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(39)
“This is another part of this change I’m undergoing, isn’t it?” I couldn’t keep the reproachful tone out of my voice.
She blinked several times. Minty irises lifted to touch my face—unconcealed, raw emotion in them—and back down to my arm again so fast I almost missed it. With a heavy exhale, she whispered, “Yes. I believe it might be.”
Another sign of what was to come. I stifled a sob. “Fantastic. So the Fates have wrapped my diseased body up into a nice big bloody bow for you all!” I was yelling now but I couldn’t help it. It was that or break down and cry.
“You’re not diseased,” Sofie’s voice was now tranquil again but her words flat, dead.
“That’s easy for you to say. It’s not you! It’s never been you going through this!”
She flinched as my callous words slapped her across the cheek. But I didn’t let up. I took it one step further. Reaching forward, I grabbed onto her forearm with my good hand and dug my nails into her flesh. Each word came out slow, precise, and sharp as a razor blade. “You need to fix this. Now!”
Her jaw clenched as she looked at me again, her face an ocean of worry and regret and defeat thinly veiled by her natural strength. She said nothing, though. What could she say? She’d try. That’s what she’d do. And when she did, well … there was a definite pattern here. Ask the Fates for help and they helped, with a side of “new curse” to screw you over in some other way. So she’d solve this—before or after my eyes turned yellow and I killed my friends with a graze of my finger, was up for debate. What next, though?
“What’re we going to do?” I asked softly, my voice, my words, my everything suddenly deflated.
She grasped my good hand in both of hers. “I will fix this,” she promised, her voice shaky. “Please, stay strong.” Her eyes squeezed shut and when they opened, any sign of the vulnerable Sofie was gone. “And you will go get this taken care of. Now. Ivan!” She called through gritted teeth.
Yeti Two appeared immediately. “Please stitch her up. The bathroom at the end of the hall is fully equipped,” she instructed as she tossed the remaining towels over the small pool of my blood on the marble. “And send in the staff to clean this up. Quickly.”
With a curt soldierly nod, Ivan marched over and seized my good arm without a word. I turned back to Sofie.
“Go!” Sofie ushered with a waving hand. “You’re safe with him. They don’t crave blood. Keep pressure on your wound.”
“Okay.” I turned to follow Ivan out the door. The crunch of broken glass under boots stopped me. My head snapped to the gaping window to see Mortimer and Viggo passing through. I waited. And waited, my heart hammering furiously. Come on … please … Please! A third figure came through. Ivan gripped my arm to support me as relief ransacked my body. Caden’s eyes were immediately on me. Beautiful jade eyes. He had come back to me. I hadn’t killed him. I felt a tug on my arm. My legs locked up stubbornly, no longer willing to follow Ivan. I twisted and shook my arm to no avail, desperate to break free and run to Caden’s side.
“They got away,” Mortimer announced, adding in “thankfully.”
“Well, I should say that went well!” Viggo strode over to where the urn used to sit, his face twisted in displeasure. One of her friends must have grabbed it. Not Lilly. She was too busy mutilating me. If my blood still had any impact on Viggo, I couldn’t tell. He didn’t even bat an eye in my direction. He couldn’t care less, I knew that. Lilly could’ve escaped with my head and he’d react the same. I am a fly, an inconvenient pest to him. I was okay with that …
He continued on with his sarcastic tirade. “What’s your next brilliant plan, oh, wise one? Now that she has the one piece of leverage I had over her and she knows what Mage is, why would she ever come back? We have no edge!”
“We don’t want an edge, Viggo,” Sofie spat back. “We need their help. We need them to trust us. That was our peace offering.”
Ivan tugged on my arm again. This time I yanked it away “What happened exactly?”
Sofie sighed. “Mage compelled them to hold still, allowing me to channel her memories through to them. I showed them everything. They saw firsthand what happened on Ratheus. Lilly figured out what Mage is. She knows what an original can do.” Sofie paused. “Her mother was the original vampire.”
My eyes shifted to Viggo as a knot formed in my belly. There was something there … the pieces were sliding into place. Viggo had something to do with the original’s death—that much I knew. That meant he had something to do with Lilly’s mother’s death. He probably killed her. That would explain Lilly’s hatred for him.
The mother-killer stared back at me with a smug smile, likely aware of the puzzle pieces I was putting together in my head. I hate you! I want you to die! I hope Lilly kills you after all of this! If it weren’t for everyone else here, I’d throw the towels on the ground and run toward him. Let my blood kill him! I had to force my hatred down as I dismissed the thought, turning back to Sofie. “So what now? Clearly she’s not happy.” I held my arm up as evidence.
“Now … you go get that stitched up before your blood turns us all mad!” Sofie yelled. She never yells at me. Cowering slightly, I glanced at Caden. He nodded to the door, his jaw clenching as his eyes grazed my arm.