Davina (Davy Harwood #3)(52)

Davy asked, taking a step toward the vampiress, “Do you know who I am?”

“You are . . .” She gazed around once more, the corners of her mouth pressing in. “You’re The Immortal thread-holder. No one else would have the power to pull one, such as myself, into your mind. I’m a priestess for my people. My own powers have not been challenged by more than a handful.”

She was a big deal. Davy nodded. She got it. “What’s your name?”

“Yaeyn.” The vampiress added, “Jiyama spoke about you. She said your magic was addicting. She yearned to touch it again.”

“Jiyama helped us. My friends and I could escape because of her. I’d like to thank her someday.”

“She’s missing.”

Davy frowned. “What?”

“She’s gone. No one can sense her essence anywhere. That’s why I’m out here. I had hoped . . . I thought perhaps she went in search for you, but . . .” Yaeyn turned around and regarded the others. “I am not seeing her with you.”

The one Mori that Davy hoped could help them was gone. She—there was nothing she could do about that. “Lucan loved her.”

Yaeyn nodded. “She loved him as well. It is troubling. No one can find where my sister went, even Lucan himself. He was the last to have spoken to her.”

A dark cloud of suspicion lined the bottom of her stomach. Davy wondered, but that didn’t make sense. Lucan loved her. She witnessed their exchange herself. If he did something . . . then, that would be on him. It would be another reason to make him suffer.

Yaeyn said, “I hear rumbling.” She focused on Davy. “That is you. That’s your anger.” She inclined her head, a soft question coming from her, “You don’t think . . . Lucan was to wed my sister. Why would he harm her?”

“I don’t know, but the Lucan you know isn’t the Lucan I know.” The rumbling in Davy grew, shaking, sending Yaeyn from side to side. She held her hands out, trying to steady herself, but the beautiful landscape that Davy had sculpted for the Mori turned to the inside of a volcano. The heat was rising, more and more, and Davy was ready to explode.

“Kill her,” The Immortal hissed.

Yaeyn’s head whipped around. “Who was that?”

Davy was standing in front of the Mori, but another presence stepped beside her. She knew, before looking, that it was The Immortal. It was herself.

Yaeyn’s eyes widened, and she took a step backwards. “They unhinged the thread. You are no longer merged.”

“Kill her,” The Immortal said again, ignoring the Mori. “Take her power for yours. We can use it instead of using the power you’re restoring for Jacith. Take her power, Davy.”

“No.” Davy shook her head, but her voice was quiet.

Yaeyn started looking around. “Release me, Thread-Holder. Release me now.”

It was too late, though. The Mori sensed what Davy already knew, it was why she released The Immortal to stand next to her. Her power was still locked up, but Davy knew what she would do. She needed the extra encouragement or she didn’t think she could go through with it.

She was going to kill the Mori.

They were all attached. It was why they called each other sister and brother. If she took this Mori’s essence, it was a gateway into their community. She would be connected to all of them and she could yield that connection as she pleased. She could slip into their minds. She could tell them what to think, feel, do, and so much more.

Yaeyn whispered, shaking her head, “Don’t do this, Davy of the Thread-Holder. Jiyama said you had good in you. She longed to assist you. She wanted to be your friend.”

Davy snorted. “She loved Lucan. Her judgment’s off.”

“I can feel it in you, too.” Yaeyn’s eyes were piercing, pleading with her. “It’s why I didn’t attack or flee. My reflexes are faster than yours are. I feel what she felt. You are good. You are pure. Do not listen to the evil in you.” She gazed with scorn at The Immortal. “This one is power hungry. She wants to take control over you, and she’ll swallow your soul whole to do that. She won’t hesitate. Don’t let the darkness win.”

But as the Mori was talking, The Immortal reached over. She clasped her hand onto Davy’s, who turned her palm around. They were now palm to palm, and their fingers intertwined. They were the most connected in a long time, before Davy merged with her back at Roane’s restaurant.

“This is good. This is the right thing to do.” The Immortal spoke quietly to her, clasping her hand tight.

“No, Davy.” Yaeyn thrust a hand out, as if to grab ahold of Davy.