They both nodded.
“I suppose your speed and strength—which is greater than most vampires I’ve ever seen—is also due to the witches?”
They nodded again.
An unsettled feeling took hold of me as we made our way back to the castle. My siblings had boasted about how great their life was now that the Elders no longer ruled over them. They could do whatever they wanted, they’d said. It was clear now though that all that was self-delusion. They had simply put themselves under the control of a different kind of evil.
It was obvious though that my siblings didn’t appreciate my pessimism. Besides, it was true what Erik had said. It wasn’t like they had a choice in the matter. They’d traded themselves in to the witches and there was no going back. Even despite the witches’ darkness, it did seem that—at least thus far—life was better being ruled over by them rather than the Elders.
The real test would come when either the witches abandoned their blood ritual, or started making demands that we could not meet.
I wondered whether Julisse loved Erik enough to stay behind, even if her coven disapproved of her action. Somehow, I doubted it.
I was lost in thought as I made my way back up to my chambers. I wanted peace and silence to think over everything that had just been revealed to me.
Instead I was met with a stroppy-faced teenager sitting cross-legged on my bed.
I groaned. “For the love of… Not now, Celice.”
“Not now. Not now. It’s always not now,” she whined. “You can’t just make a promise to me and not keep it.”
“Well, thanks to your sisters,” I said through gritted teeth, “I have nowhere to take you anymore even if I wanted to. So take your huffing and puffing to their rooms, and leave me in peace.”
She remained seated on my bed, arms crossed over her chest. “I’m not letting you get out of this conversation that easily.” She paused and looked up at me seductively. “Novalic… If there really is nowhere to take me, then why don’t you just take me here?”
I stared at her disbelievingly as she slid out of her dress and slipped between my bedsheets. She loosened her hair and pouted her lips.
I need to stop being such a gentleman with this little wench.
“Celice,” I said, “I don’t want you. I lied when I said that I wanted to be with you. I only wanted to use you to protect my friend’s island. Now that’s all gone to hell, I have no interest in you. Absolutely none. But there are plenty of other men on this island. Go pick one of them to deflower you.”
Her face flushed. Her pupils dilated with anger. Her voice became deep and deadly as she spoke.
“Never insult a witch, Kiev.”
She yanked her clothes back on and stormed out of the room, the windows shaking from the force of her exit.
Good riddance.
Bitch.
Chapter 20: Mona
It was starting to feel like I’d never left the coven. Over the next few weeks, I slotted back into my place. Even Isolde and Efren seemed to accept that I was here to stay and stopped glaring at me so much.
The other witches and warlocks stopped whispering to themselves in the corridors whenever I walked by, and Rhys reappointed me to my former duties. These mostly consisted of assisting in creating potions for the various forms of witchcraft they were trying to master. Occasionally, I was called to join in creating magic, or more often, casting a curse.
But I was starting to forget what the potions I was helping to make were for. I was starting to forget about the sacrifices of innocent people that were going on around me in the name of restoring our kind’s former glory. It was easier not to think of these things.
Rhys was right.
I found myself wishing that I had just listened to him from the start. He’d always told me that if I followed him blindly, I would find a place of peace.
Or at least a place of numbness.
I’d caused myself so much unnecessary pain.
And when I finally closed my eyes to the evil we were committing and became numb to it, Rhys was also much easier to get along with. He had told me that if I just surrendered myself to him, he would make an effort with me. He kept that promise.
Each night that I shared his bed, in the morning my skin looked paler. The circles under my eyes grew darker, more prominent. The darkness that had taken root in my heart swelled and enveloped it. Accepting my surrender hungrily.
But although I felt I was dying a little more each day, it didn’t hurt as much as it used to.
Although each time Rhys touched me, it felt like I was sinking further and further into oblivion, it was less painful than trying to fight him.
And really, that was more than I could have ever hoped for from a place like this.