1. Scythe

Chapter 1

Scythe

A urelia stares at the severed end of Sabrina's tail as I remove the dagger holding it in place on the drywall.

Outside the room, Stacey is retching, held between Raquel and Connor, who came rushing into the anima dorm a few moments ago. Lyle is outside, trying to get some sense out of Christine, the dorm gargoyle, while I've sent Xander to question the tigers of the animus dorm.

Placing Sabrina's tail on my handkerchief and carefully setting it on her bed, I examine the black-handled dagger. While there are no obvious physical markings on the smooth leather-wrapped hilt, the energetic signature of the beast who held it last is as clear as day.

"We have to get her back, Scythe." Aurelia's voice is hoarse with restrained emotion.

I turn to look at her, the young woman who has been tormenting my brothers since the day she strolled into our lives.

Who has been tormenting me.

She wears an oversized plain black T-shirt and track pants that I want to rip off her body because they carry multiple foreign scents from the lost-and-found box at the medical centre. Her olive complexion is flushed—both from the adrenaline of the situation and from being claimed by Lyle. Her power thrums around her in a wild, seductive concoction that beckons to me in a different way than before. It's more radiant and more dangerous than her golden energy. It's like gold with a diamond sheen.

By the careful way she holds herself, she feels the difference too.

Though she's rinsed her mouth and wiped most of it off, the smell of blood still sticks to her.

Fredrick Ulman's life's blood.

I wonder if it will change her, the fact that she's killed a man. I wonder if finding vengeance will change her like it changed me.

Aurelia boldly returns my stare with blazing blue eyes, and as my silence settles around her, that soft, alluring mouth sets into a firm, hard line.

"Are you giving me an order?" I ask in a low voice.

Her anger reduces to a simmer, and she speaks quietly. "I'm asking for your help. Whether you give it to me or not is your choice. But I'm going to get her back with or without you."

She surprises me. Each and every day, Aurelia Boneweaver surprises me.

I shake my head. "This is bait, Aurelia."

"This is my fault," she counters. "I need to fix it."

"A lot of things are your fault."

She blinks at me in shock, as she's done many times before. But this time, her eyes catch the light as they grow shiny, filling with tears.

The scent of them reaches my nose, sweet and salty, mesmerising me. Drawing me in.

My shark snaps his teeth, wanting to cause pain to the creature making Aurelia cry. Except, right now, that's me.

My stomach twists on itself.

Her spell over me is broken when she audibly swallows. "So, what then?" She's embarrassed now.

I fight the urge to step closer. "You want my advice?"

She nods.

I stare hard. And it pleases me to no end to watch her submit to me.

"Yes, please," she clarifies.

My reply is short. "Leave her."

Aurelia's face changes from submissive to furious in one second flat. "As if I would do that!"

Fascinating.

I pull up Raquel's desk chair and take a seat, stretching out my legs to try and dissolve the sudden tension in my body. At one time, I had wanted Aurelia to be ignorant of her real powers. But the more I observed her true self, the more I'd wanted to see what more she is capable of. Something in me yearns to see her out in the world in full, supreme force. My animus is excited by the prospect of both of us shedding the blood of our enemies together.

But in order to do that, Aurelia needs honing. In the Old Times, that wild, brute force power she has would have been enough to make her a queen. But in this world? Wild power needs to be honed into something precise to make it truly lethal.

Marduk will be so pleased by my change in direction.

So I ask her, "If I refused to help you, what would you do next?"

She prowls irritably down the length of the room, glancing out the door where her friends' frantic voices can be heard. "We're wasting time here."

"She's gone, Aurelia," I say firmly. "The next hour, the next day will not make a difference."

She whirls around, panic flaring. "Are you kidding me?"

"No." I ground her with a stern tone. "Now, tell me what you would do. What would be your next move?"

Her eyes slide around the room. "I… I'd?—"

"Without the help of your mates."

She glares at me, then takes a deep breath, understanding that arguing will get her nowhere. She taps a bare foot.

"Well. It's clearly my father who has her. So I'd…call him. If he's holding my friend hostage, he clearly expects contact from me."

"Is that his usual tactic when taking hostages?"

She goes silent and I know she is far away, in a place she doesn't like to linger. The distant past. Then I get a quiet, "Yes."

"And how do you think that phone call, that negotiation, would go?"

She closes her eyes because she knows the answer. Her shoulders sag. "Not well. It wouldn't be a negotiation at all."

"And what would he ask of you?" I push her towards the truth.

Her eyes search the darkened landscape through the window behind me, as if she can see Mace Naga and his retinue rushing back to Serpent Court. "To present myself. To…surrender myself."

"And how would you respond?"

"I don't know," she mumbles.

"You do know. Think . How should you deal with a beast like Mace? Don't think of him as your father. He's not. He showed that today. He's shown that every day since you were thirteen."

She flinches like I've slapped her.

My shark thrashes inside my body, promising violence. I say more softly, "When a man shows you who he is, you believe him. Every action is revealing."

Her dark brow furrows as she considers this, hands on her hips, staring at the floor and biting her lip, deep in thought. Aurelia's life is going to change dramatically now, and I wonder if she's ready for it. For what she has to do.

Sitting back in the chair, I do what I do best. "You and I are going make a little agreement."

She eyes me suspiciously. Good girl.

"We don't react, Aurelia. We respond. I will help you bring back Sabrina, alive and hopefully mostly well. In exchange, you will be one of my…beasts. You will obey my every command. You will follow my rules. You will swear allegiance to me."

Surprise flickers across her beautiful features.

But she doesn't know that I have no animas sworn to me. Anims, yes. But never animas. She would be the first and only one.

"Take it or you get nothing from me."

Her eyes flick down my body so fast I might have missed it. What do those eagle eyes see? What do those Boneweaver eyes see? With training, could she see as a shark does?

Something fresh and clean glimmers in my stomach, wholly unexpected. Perhaps it shows on my face because Aurelia takes a smooth, controlled breath.