Page 15 of Vanquished Gods
“Basket-making? And you didn’t invite me? I can’tbelieveI missed out.” He slid his wineglass onto the table. “Tomorrow, let’s try to make those powers of yours useful, shall we? A vampire hunts, and a witch practices the art of magic. It’s time to do what you were made for.”
“And what if I can’t do it without goingover the edge of reason, as you put it?”
His voice was quiet, but intensity burned in his eyes. “You’re more likely to lose your mind from denying your true nature. And if you refuse to even try, do you know what will happen? TheOrder will keep growing, and strengthening, and amassing their forces until even Eboria is conquered, and Gwethel, and all of us stand tied to pyres, watching as they light the flames. You’d not only lose your mind, but everyone you love.”
“This island is just west of Sumaire. Can’t the rest of the vampires help?”
He shook his head, and a strand of his long, dark hair fell before his high cheekbones. “No. The Mormaer rules Sumaire. He no longer speaks to me. If you think I’m not very nice, he’s worse.”
I swallowed hard. “Is that why you’re so determined to take down the Order? To stay safe?”
He inhaled sharply, his expression impossible to decipher. “No, Elowen. It’s because it’s therightthing to do, and that’s just who I am, isn’t it?” He held his hand to his heart. “I’m just a giver.”
More sarcasm instead of a real answer.
He turned to leave, then cast another golden look at me. “Join us for dinner in the lunarium.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Do you eat?”
“No, but I drink. And you will be well looked after as our guest of honor with actual…honestly, I hardly remember what mortals eat, but our cooks are well-trained. Oh, and Elowen? You have the only room with windows that let in real sunlight. You’re in a remote part of the castle here and have it all to yourself. Most of us do not have the butterfly pendant protection that I possess.”
At the door, he turned back briefly. “And you can take off your gloves here.”
The door closed behind him, and a heavy silence filled the room, broken only by the faint whistling of wind through the towering diamond-paned windows.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my thoughts racing. Through the thick stone walls, another distant scream pierced the air, and the hair rose on the back of my neck.
I pulled the metal butterfly pendant from my cloak pocket and crossed to the bed. Crouching, I shoved it deep under the mattress.
I hurried to the door, relieved to find it had a thick iron bolt across it. I slammed that shut, locking myself inside.
But the sound of screaming still made my skin crawl.
I sighed, suddenly unsure if the sound was even real, or just in my head.
I’m already plunging over the edge of reason…
I stared out the window at a distant figure by the shore, dressed in a flowing white gown that fluttered in the wind, her hair covered in a white veil, body contorted as if she were in agony. She looked like a ghost, ethereal and agonized.
I blinked, and she was gone.
CHAPTER 8
Despite the faint howling, it didn’t take me long to settle in to the castle. Maybe it was all the flowers, or the long nap I’d had. Or the absolutely divine wine, or the venison pie and fresh fruit.
Mine was by far the grandest room I’d ever stayed in. A large velvet chair nestled between the vast windows. One entire wall was taken up with bookshelves stacked full of novels and poetry.
And for the first time in my life, I had my own bathroom. In the barracks of Throckmore, I’d shared outhouses with twenty-four men and a copper tub behind a curtain for bathing.
This wasluxury.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit quite how much I was enjoying being in Sion’s castle. And despite my prior reservations, I really felt like Leo was safe where he was in the witchy city.
As I filled my private tub, I poured myself a glass of wine and stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows of my bathroom, which gave me a perfect view of the sea. And I felt it as the white poppies blooming over the walls and sprawling over the stones also turned their faces to the light. Outside, the sun-kissed ocean gleamed with sparks of rosy gold in the setting sun. I’d noticedthat in most of the castle, the windows had a sort of filter on them that gave them a bluish tinge. But in here, the ruddy sunset streamed in, bathing my skin with warmth.
As the water continued to pour into the bath, I started stripping off my travel-weary clothes—and my gloves.
With the bath finally filled, I sank into it. Instantly, my aching muscles melted into the heat, and I breathed in the humid air. Light from the setting sun slanted in through the coiling steam, lending the room an ethereal quality—amber and coral rays cutting through the mist. All the way up here, looking out onto the sea and twilit sky, I could imagine I was in the heavens.