Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(64)

“Congratulations. I could care less.”

Her gaze boomeranged back, eyes reduced to slits. “Yeah? So, what were you doing at seven besides eating glue?”

Gabriel stepped forward, probably deciding to take the ropes before we starting flinging sand in each other’s eyes. “Was there any success with the spell?” he asked Anita.

She shook her head. “There was too much chaos that night, it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment the spell went off the rails.”

“I can take you back,” offered Trace, stepping forward from the shadows. “I’m a Reaper.”

Annabelle’s eyes glazed over with lust as she took him in. “Mmm. And a fine one at that.”

A slash of jealousy tore through my stomach. “Keep your eyes in your head. He’s taken.”

“So are you,” she retorted, her hazel eyes purposefully flicking to Dominic who was standing just behind me.

I shot up from my chair, my arm pulled back, ready to slap the smirk off her face, but she promptly flicked her wrist down at me, forcing my butt back down to my seat against my will.

“Try that again and you’ll sooner lose your hand,” she warned me.

I’d seen what her magic could do out in the clearing that night. I decided it was best not to push her.

“Even if you take us back,” continued Anita, “there’s no guarantee the spell will work. At best, it’s a hit or miss. Reversing magic always is.”

“That’s really reassuring.”

“We can always try pulling the Barrier back up,” suggested Arianna. She was twirling a strand of dark hair around her finger.

Annabelle scoffed at her. “And how do you propose to do that without Engel’s blood, little Miss Fix-It-All? She killed him, remember?”

She chewed her bottom lip.

“Do you have an idea?” I asked her, suspecting that she was too afraid to say it with her older sister breathing down her neck. Unfortunately, I knew that feeling.

“Well,” she began carefully, folding her hands in her lap. “If we could find someone that shares the same bloodline as him, we might be able to do it with their blood.”

“You mean, someone he sired?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay…and how do we do that?”

“Good old-fashioned detective work,” said Anita, making it clear she was done helping us. “Who knows, figure it out. If you do, come find us again and we’ll talk money.”

The three of them stood up to leave, bringing our little meeting to an uneventful end.

As soon as Arianna walked by me, I reached out and grabbed her arm. “Wait.” My voice was so low, I wasn’t entirely sure I said it out loud.

She looked back at me with pity. “There is no magic to break a bloodbond,” said Arianna, even though I hadn’t even asked her my question yet. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“There has to be something you could do. I can’t…” I hesitated and then shook my head. Strangely, I felt nervous saying this in front of Dominic, like he might get offended and be angry with me…as if that remotely mattered in the grand scheme of things. “I’m a Slayer, Arianna. I can’t be bonded to a Revenant for the rest of my life.”

Her face contorted with sympathy before her gaze shifted to Trace. “That won’t work either,” she answered his silent thought.

I bounced a glance between the two of them. “What won’t work?”

“Dusting him,” answered Trace, though he quickly backpedaled upon seeing my displeased expression. “Like if he were to trip and fall on a wooden stake,” he added through a dimpled grin.

Dominic made a face at him. “I’m standing right here.”

“If the Revenant dies, so does she.”

My mouth dropped open. Like, seriously? I was going to have to put that one in my sauce and marinate with the forever-ness of it all.

“At least that’s how their story goes.”

My brow quirked up. “Their story?”

“Yes, their story.” Annabelle walked back up to Arianna and snagged her by the elbow, drawing her away. “As in, according to the Revenants’ side of the story. Okay? Great. Good luck with all that.”

Arianna pulled her arm free from her sister. “She deserves to know, Anna!”

“That’s highly debatable.”

“Annabelle,” reproached Anita as she rejoined her sisters, clearly irritated by the holdup. Her gaze turned to me as she let out a short breath. “Revenants have always maintained both parties would die, but that detail may very well be to save their own asses. Your beloved Order, on the other hand, has always proclaimed the opposite to be true, however, that may be to force its cattle to proceed with the vanquish. You get the drift?”

“So basically no one knows for sure?” That sounded hopeful.

“Bingo,” applauded Annabelle. “It’s not like any Descendant worth their Mark would ever willingly sign up to test the theory. Well, most of us anyway,” she added, giving me a final once over that was drenched with accusation.

“Right.” Apparently, bonding myself to Dominic to try and save my life didn’t qualify me for a pass. Apparently, I still wasn’t worth my Mark because of it, and worse, I was staying bonded to Dominic for the rest of my life.