Page 72 of Tear of Destiny
Ayden slowly comes to me. I can see there’s something wrong with him because his movements aren’t as smooth as usual – they’re stiff and sluggish. He puts a comforting arm around me.
Noah’s in shock. He looks at Frances, puts his arms around her, and says, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. All this time, I couldn’t seethat you needed help.”
We give him a moment, and then Ayden says, “I know this is hard. But we don’t have time. We need to get out of here now.” He looks unusually pale.
“Did the spirit hurt you?”
He waves it off. “It’s not that bad, I’ll be fine. But we need to get the hell out of here. If they find us like this, it won’t end well for us.”
“If we’re lucky, his family will think he was attacked by a Noctu. I mean, he had enough creepy things in his secret room back there to suggest that he had dealings with one of us. How else would he have gotten all those spirits? His family will make sure nobody finds out about it.” Noah looks down at Frances and then lifts her up in his arms. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 32
My heart thumps in my chest as we ascend the cellar stairs. I try to put the horror behind me a little more with each step I take, but I can’t shake off the shock of all that death. It clings to me like a cold, grimy blanket and chills me to the bone. It’s as if I can smell it with each breath and taste it when I move my tongue. I don’t dare take another look at Alessandro’s dead body in the cellar or at the dark room in which the tortured key spirits met their end. I just want to get out of here.
I glance up at Ayden, who’s leading the way, and see the rip in the side of his shirt. The skin beneath it is bloody, although it’s hard to tell at this point how badly hurt he is. But the fact that he’s still upright and walking gives me hope that he can quickly get it treated and bandaged up.
Noah follows me, carrying Frances in his arms. I can imagine how hard this must be for him and how guilty he must feel. She got mixed up in something with no way out. And still she chose Noah in the end, thereby signing her own death warrant.
We arrive in the corridor, and Noah quickly tries the windows. I watch him test them to see if one can be opened, and I sense thatour time is running out. We’ll soon be found. And then I recall where I was before the fight.
“They’ll know Ayden and I had something to do with Alessandro’s death,” I say quietly. “We disappeared from the party and didn’t come back.”
Noah rattles another window, but it won’t budge. “Tell them you were having a private conversation out in the corridor. You heard a noise and followed it and saw Alessandro fighting a couple of Noctu. You tried to help him, but he was killed. Then you pursued the Noctu after they escaped through a window.”
Noah raises his hand, and Rain goes to him. The huge wolf takes a run-up, launches himself at the window, and simply smashes through it. The glass splinters and shards clatter to the floor. But at least now we have a way out.
“You realize this will make the Tempes double down on their hunt for Noctu, right?” Ayden points out.
Noah snarls, “They’re already hunting us. It won’t change anything. And anyway, the family of the dead guy can’t exactly insist on a thorough investigation. They won’t want his dirty secret to come to light.”
I can tell by looking at Ayden that he doesn’t want to spread this lie. But he also knows that he basically has no choice. The Fabricis will surely do everything in their power to prevent us from exposing the truth. And we know how powerful they are. They’ll probably do the same thing that Frances’ family did – scapegoat someone. And we can never reveal everything we know without mentioning my dealings with Noah and Frances.
Noah climbs through the window and beckons to me. The air is clean. I follow him and jump into an inner courtyard. Then I look up at Ayden. I see his pale face and the effort it costs him to heave himself onto the sill and jump.
“Come on, let’s go,” he urges, quickly getting to his feet.
“Ayden, are you sure you’re okay?”
“It was just a bite, and he didn’t really sink his teeth in. Don’t worry, I’ll get it checked out as soon as we get out of here.”
“We should use the doors,” says Noah, taking out his key. “It’ll take too long on foot.”
I nod and watch him raise his key and open a door. At that moment, I spot a figure approaching him from behind.
“Kate?” I say in astonishment, quickly running to her. “What… what are you doing here?”
I stop abruptly when I see the look on her face. Something’s wrong. Her movements are jerky, slow, and awkward. Like she’s a marionette being operated by a puppeteer. And then I realize why she’s here. How she even located us. She was led here by one of her visions.
She approaches slowly, and I have to force myself to be patient and wait for this strange state to pass rather than trying to pull her back into the here and now. Her footsteps echo in the alley. She moves toward us lethargically, walks past me, and stops right in front of Ayden and Noah. She tilts her head and looks at them both. Slowly, she reaches out toward Noah, touches his arm, and then takes a step toward Ayden and strokes his cheek with her fingers. But there’s nothing loving or tender about this gesture. It looks more like she’s condemning them both to death.
Finally, she opens her mouth, and her ghostly voice echoes off the walls. “Two destinies – now bound together. Bonds that were broken, empty shells searching for their contents. Torn souls that stem from one blood. Two bodies from the same mold, two hearts that are actually one.”
Her mouth closes again, and she stares at the two of them with vacant eyes. I’m speechless and replay Kate’s words over and over in my mind. No way. It can’t be true. And apparently, I’m not the only one who’s thinking this.
“Uh… you realize that’s bullshit, right?” Noah says with questioning looks at me and Ayden. “I mean, I assume youguys interpret that to mean that she thinks we’re brothers or something?”
I nod slowly and look from one to the other. “That’s not possible,” I mutter.