31. Thirty-One

Thirty-One

“Your clothes will be clean in a couple of hours.” Sebastian handed my pile to one of the daeva servants.

She was a plain-looking girl. Someone meant to blend into the background. She kept her head down as she took the clothing and turned to walk back down the hall the way she’d come.

“Nifty,” I said, watching her leave.

“Not that I’m in any hurry to have you change.” Sebastian smiled devilishly before turning and walking away. “Aren’t you coming, Syn?”

I dumbly jogged after him, following him into his room. It hadn’t changed a bit. He’d even kept his twin bed shoved in the corner. Weapons covered the walls. Blades, staves, even a medieval-looking flail.

Sebastian opened a window and swung his leg over the sill.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.” Sebastian held his hand out to me.

I pulled the hem of his shirt down my legs. “I’m not exactly dressed to sneak out like we used to. If I climbed the wall in this, I’d flash the whole compound.”

“I’d kill any who looked at you.”

“It—it was just a joke.” I shook my head and stepped closer, taking his hand. The darkness bled from his eyes as our skin touched. “No need to go killing anyone just because they’d seen my underwear.”

Sebastian climbed out the window and pulled me with him onto the small patch of roof.

My bare feet slipped on the sloped shingles, but Sebastian caught me and helped me sit. He sat beside me.

“Sorry.” I pressed my palm hand against my spinning head. “I’m still a bit weak, I guess.”

How the hell was I supposed to execute my super important, super dangerous mission when I couldn’t even climb out a window?

“Take my mana like I told you to.” Sebastian wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in his heat, protecting me from the biting wind. “My power is yours. As am I. Forever.”

My corruption rose up to meet his, answering his call. I reached for my barriers, but the mana was already flowing. My corruption was choosing for me.

Our auras wove together. Black shadows entwining around us. His aura pulled me closer to him like shadowy arms that wrapped around my neck. I was powerless to resist.

Sebastian’s dark power filled me, flooding my body with warmth. It sparked up my nerves like a burning wick. The last of my pure hunter mana was like a flickering candle in the night. One strong breeze, and it would go out forever.

Sebastian’s hand traced a path up my knee as his power flowed into me. Desire flushed my cheeks.

He would snuff out the lingering flames of my hunter blood if I let him.

I wanted to.

My body moved on its own. I leaned in until my lips brushed his. Sebastian closed the distance, pressing his mouth to mine in a bruising kiss. My back hit the rough shingles, and Sebastian’s strong body covered mine. Sharp pain lanced through me as his fangs pierced my bottom lip. Blood filled my mouth, and Sebastian sucked greedily.

We were sharing mana. A closed circle. His bite on the rooftop in Qaanir started my descent. Now we were dancing together at the bottom.

Confusion clouded my thoughts. I was here for a reason. I shouldn’t be kissing Sebastian like this. There were others who waited for me. A hooded face flashed in my mind. His lilac eyes opened before shadows swallowed him.

Nothing else existed.

Just darkness. Just Sebastian.

I reached between our flush bodies, searching for the hem of his pants. Sebastian broke the kiss.

“Not yet. I’ve been imagining this for years. I want to enjoy every inch of you. Every sigh of pleasure.” His bloody lips trailed a path of kisses down my neck. “Your beautiful face pressed against my pillow ...” His fingers dug into my waist.

I gasped. Pain mingled with the haze of desire that captured me.

Sebastian’s mouth paused over my artery. His fangs scraped my sensitive skin. “The taste of your blood on my tongue.” He inhaled deeply. “Your intoxicating scent. You’ve occupied every dream I’ve had since I met you, Arsyn Morgan. I’m in no rush.” He sat up again. The pale light of the moon caught his intense silver eyes. Shadows swirled in their depths. “But when it’s time ... we’ll play out every single one of those fantasies.”

The cold breeze caressed my face as Sebastian pulled back. What was I doing? This was Sebastian. The man who ravaged Draqaar, raised undead, and hurt Ari.

I couldn’t look at him while he adjusted himself to lie beside me, looking up at the stars. We stayed like that for a few minutes while I caught my breath.

I ran my tongue along my lip where Sebastian’s fangs had pierced my skin. It was already healed. There wasn’t even the bump of a scar. Strength had returned to my body, but it was different from raw mana. Raw mana left me feeling like I’d drunk a pot of coffee while this felt more like the shot of adrenaline that courses through you when you stand on the edge of a cliff.

“Something’s been bothering me,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?”

“Something you said when I arrived. What did you mean when you said everything you did was for me?”

Sebastian sighed. He was quiet for so long that I thought he wouldn’t answer.

“Valeria found me right after I heard about what happened at the Morgan compound, and what they said happened to you. She told me a lot of things that the hunters had kept us ignorant of. She told me of a way to bring you back from the dead. But I needed more power. Magic that was forbidden since the Corrupt Luminary. First, I needed to sow the seed of corruption. I had to twist mana so much that it was unrecognizable. I had to do something so evil that my blood turned black.”

My stomach churned. “That’s why you …”

I couldn’t say it. It happened here in this compound. In this great hall. Maybe right where we were sitting, looking at the stars.

Sebastian draped his arm over his eyes. “Yes. That’s why I killed my family. Valeria gave me a reason to keep on living. For you. To bring you back and reshape the world so it would give us the freedom we always dreamed of.”

I’d faked my death when I ran.

He wanted to bring me back. That was why he did it.

It was all my fault .

“Was that why you were raising the dead?” I asked, my mouth dry.

“I was experimenting with different runes and combinations of magic. I never could recreate the magic from the legend of the Wraith. All of the undead we raised were mindless.”

“Soulless.”

“Yes. They were perfect for our army, but I wanted you whole. Body and soul.”

I bit my tongue. He hadn’t seemed so concerned about my soul when he’d tried to steal it from me at the Morgan compound, but whatever.

I nudged Sebastian’s arm until he removed it from his eyes. “Well, as you can see, you don’t need to resurrect me now. Why do you continue to work for her?”

“Valeria has shown me the truth of the worlds.” Sebastian finally looked at me. “The Ancients and the bennu have reigned for too long. The people have weakened and shriveled under their watch. It’s time for a new age. One of freedom.” He pushed himself up to sit. “Freedom for the hunters who fear their elders. Freedom for those who dedicate their lives to Ancients who neglect them. Freedom from the bennu who enforce draconian rules on those who have no say in the laws. It’s the only way we can truly be free.”

“Did you just use the word ‘draconian?’” I wrinkled my nose. Any doubt that Valeria had brainwashed him was gone. Sebastian had been smart, not the kind of smart that would use words like ‘draconian.’ “You sound like you have so much conviction, but you said earlier that you would leave with me.”

“I would,” Sebastian said immediately. “I want all that, sure. But I need you more than I need air to breathe. Being away from you for these years has slowly killed me.”

I couldn’t say anything else. What was there to say? In another life, maybe we’d have been married. Hell, maybe we’d have escaped together and joined the circus. But in this life, I’d run, and Sebastian had chosen darkness.

We climbed back through the window into Seb’s room. The scattered moonlight gave the room a peacefulness that didn’t quite suit it.

I stood awkwardly while Sebastian climbed under the covers of his bed and held them open. “C’mere.”

I slid into bed as he pulled the blankets over us. After everything that happened on the roof, I scooted back, trying to put some distance between us, but the bed was tiny. After I almost fell off for the second time, Sebastian wrapped his arms around me and brought me to his chest.

“Is it true?” I asked. “What the others have said about the dark mana. That it will be with me until I die?”

“The gift becomes part of you. You can no easier cut out your heart than separate yourself from the dark gift.” Sebastian pulled me closer. “Don’t worry. If the Aegis tries to do anything to you, I will kill them all.”

Comforting.

Sebastian’s determined expression melted away as sleep took him. But his embrace didn’t loosen. He held me like if he let me go, his world would come crashing down.

The faintest rose scent tickled my nose. Was Sebastian’s pure hunter mana rising to the surface now that he had lost consciousness?

His soft breathing stirred my hair. He looked peaceful. Almost like he did all those years ago in the moments we would sneak to the forest or hide in the closet to steal kisses. The brief moments we could forget the burdens of our blood.

I did things I never thought I would under the influence of the corruption. Maybe the Sebastian I’d known was still in there.

Exhaustion from the day weighted my eyelids, but I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. There was too much work to do if I was going to be ready for the attack by morning.

I reached out with my awareness, searching for auras. With Sebastian’s mana empowering me, I could sense every living thing in the whole damn compound. Dark mana filled my awareness, speckled with the faint auras of the captured hunters. The elementals were nearby, likely inside the great hall, but not close enough to be an immediate threat. I could barely sense the weak auras of the daeva servants below.

Genny’s aura was like a blinding light in the darkness. She was uninjured. Good.

Valeria’s aura scraped against my awareness like a dull blade against stone. Her magic was everywhere. It formed the wards around the compound, filling the air inside with her magic.

But there was no one on this floor, at least.

I waited a few more minutes to make sure Sebastian was asleep before slowly lifting his arm from my waist and slipping out of bed. He stirred, and I froze. His brow furrowed as his hands ran over the bed where I’d just been. I pulled a pillow down and Sebastian cuddled it, mumbling something I couldn’t make out.

I hesitated at the side of the bed. Sebastian was asleep, and we were literally surrounded by weapons. It would be so easy to strike right now.

I clenched and unclenched my hands at my sides.

It was too dangerous. Though I was at full strength again, Sebastian had been wielding corruption for much longer than I had. If I didn’t kill him in one blow, he’d be unbeatable, and I’d alert the whole compound before I had a chance to find the staff or absorb the wards.

I crept to the door and opened it slowly. The old hinges creaked, forcing me to move it inch by agonizing inch. I slipped through the crack and tripped on a pile of clothes.

“Shit!” I whispered, catching myself before I collided with one of the many statues lining the narrow hallway.

Upon closer inspection, the pile of clothes was mine.

Damn. Those servants worked quickly.

Perfect timing. I certainly wasn’t leaving the great hall in nothing but Sebastian’s shirt.

I gathered my clothes and changed in the bathroom. I pulled on my combat boots and donned my leather duster. I left Sebastian’s T-shirt on the counter.

If he woke up before I could find the staff and absorb the wards, I’d tell him I couldn’t sleep and needed some fresh air.

My hunter daggers were still on the counter in their sheaths where I’d left them. I strapped them to my hips. Couldn’t be too careful with dark hunters milling about.

I crept out of the bathroom and turned down the hallway away from Sebastian’s bedroom. I peeked into the next room. Glittering artifacts and polished relics filled the cramped space. It seemed Valeria had taken her wealth with her when they came to Earth.

I stepped into the room, running my eyes over the piles of golden items, jewels, vases, paintings, and furs. A cylindrical rod caught my eye, and I rushed to it.

A sigh escaped me. Not the staff, just a ridiculous jeweled cane.

Shit. I was searching for a needle in a dark hunter-infested haystack. But I couldn’t give up.

I left the treasure room and continued my search.

I’d felt something strange in the presence of a reaper weapon. I recalled the chill all those months ago when I’d faced my first reaper blade in Cyrus’s car on the way to Emerald Lake.

I’d felt something similar, a sort of resonance, with Benoi’s staff during the battle at the Morgan compound and again when Enoch had retrieved his scythe from the broom closet.

I reached out with my awareness, ignoring the dark energy and Valeria’s strong magic. I was searching for something more subtle.

There.

Like a vibration in my chest. A muted version of the pull I felt to Enoch. It was coming from somewhere deeper in the great hall.

I turned at the end of the corridor. The paintings and sculptures abruptly ended, leaving a bare hall ahead, lit only by dim moonlight streaming in from the open window at the end of it.

The plush rugs turned into old wood under my boots. I winced as it creaked, slowly shifting my weight to avoid the spot. I had to be more careful here.

I touched the next step, testing the floor for noise before shifting my weight. A droplet of sweat slid down my forehead. This was wasting a lot of time. Time I didn’t have. But hunters had superior hearing. And corruption only sharpened the senses.

Each door I came to was closed. I opened the first door, slowing again when the hinges groaned. Empty. I moved to the next.

I peeked inside each of the dusty rooms, but the staff wasn’t there. It was ahead.

I followed the feeling. I was getting closer. I barely registered the dark stains and slashes marring the walls, the peeling wallpaper.

The glint of a doorknob caught the pale light. Another closed door. I stopped outside. The staff had to be inside. I turned the knob, but the door wouldn’t open.

I pulled my lockpick set out of my pocket, knelt, and got to work. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as the first pin clicked into place. I glanced back down the hall. I was still alone. For now.

Time ticked by as I felt for the next pin with my pick. I lifted it slightly and turned, meeting resistance. I had to focus. Listen to the lock like Elias taught me. I blew out a breath and tried again. This time, the pin lifted and stayed there. Onto the next.

I pushed my pick further, tapping each pin. My heart sank with each new pin. There were too many for me to pick this lock before sunrise. I pulled my tools from the lock.

I ground my teeth together. I was so close.

I bowed my head. My silver hair fell around my face.

Think .

A thick black line peeked out of my leather sleeve above my wrist. My masking rune.

Rune.

That’s it!

Cyrus had unlocked the Qaanir mausoleum with a rune. My eyes squeezed shut as I conjured the image of the rune in my mind. When I’d seen him draw the same rune on the lock at the daeva warehouse, I’d been amazed he’d just been able to draw it with a pen. The sharp, blocky lines came into focus. It was a simple one compared to the runes on Ted and Cyrus.

I opened my eyes. I didn’t have a pen, so I’d have to make do. I pulled my knife and pressed it to the tip of my finger. I sucked in a breath as I sliced my skin and the blood welled. I dragged my finger along the rough surface of the door, leaving a line of black blood. I drew a square, the first part of the rune, from memory. Sunny magic crept down my arm and poured out of my finger, filling the rune with molten gold. I let the magic flow as it guided my movement through the rest of the weaving lines of the rune.

A sense of completeness washed over me as I drew the final stroke. Brilliant golden light flooded the hallway as I activated the rune, fading as quickly as it flared.

I glanced around, wide-eyed. Maybe a bennu rune wasn’t as inconspicuous as I thought it would be. I could only hope none of the dark hunters noticed the flash of light in the window.

The door opened easily. I slipped inside.

Heavy curtains covered the windows, but I could make out the forms of furniture with my improved eyesight. Shadowed bookshelves lined the walls. I went to the large wooden desk where an aged map was spread over the surface.

This must have been the Castelle Patriarch’s office.

My knees nearly gave out. Leaning against the patriarch’s leather wingback chair was the staff. The pointed tips seemed to swallow the little light that filtered into the room, but the engraved silver shaft gleamed.

My boots crunched on glass. At my feet, I saw a pearlescent stain in the dim light that filtered in from the hall. I followed the trail. More stains covered the walls. Silver splattered the curtains.

Hunter blood. The blood of the Castelle family.

Those stains in the hallway ...

The slashes and holes in the walls ...

Everything I did was for you.

“Well, now,” a deep voice said.

I spun around.

Ren smiled. “Arsyn Morgan. What a pleasant surprise”