Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Nine
DAEMON POV
Her blood tasted every ounce human. I pulled back, suppressing the urge to gag. It’s been a long time since I tasted something so painfully plain–I’d almost prefer the sting of venom–tainted blood to this.
“What’s wrong?” Kaida’s worried voice cut through the haze.
“Nothing. She’s saying the truth–at least one truth. She’s no more than a human now.”
“Now that you know that,” she said, placing her palm on her neck as if to shield it from me. The empresses had this issue with being fed from–they felt tainted, violated. The fact that she offered told me she was desperate. Can you now listen to what I have to say?” she asked.
I wanted to consider the possibility that she was telling the truth, but reconciling her past actions with her words now was difficult.
“Speak.” Alexander urged.
“The High Regents have taken over from the empresses. They are far more ruthless, and I fear they won’t be as hesitant as I am if they lay their hands on her.”
“They won’t find her.” I said.
“You don’t understand, they would do anything in their power just so they could be rewarded by the goddess. You need to go to her and make sure she’s safe. I came as soon as I could to warn you before it’s too late.”
A strange kind of panic settled over me. The room disappeared, and suddenly, I stood before Bruce’s house.
He was a warlock, and his house had been enchanted so no one unwelcome could get inside. Inside, Aliyah should be safe, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
I walked into the house, and Sebastian’s voice rang out from his room.
“Couldn’t stay away from her for a few minutes, huh?”
“Where is she?” I asked.
He appeared, walking down the stairs. “She’s with the boy, he said, and I nodded, heading toward the room.
I paused by the door.
I didn’t know if she was ready to see me. I had told myself I would give her more time, but here I was.
I walked into the room, but only Ash was lying on the bed. He stirred and then awoke.
“Where is she?” I asked, but he looked around, as if trying to register where he was.
The panic I had felt earlier only intensified.
“She’s not in there.” I said to Sebastian.
“I didn’t see her leave. I thought she’d been in there the whole time.”
“Well, she’s not.”
I burst through the door, leaving it wide open in my hurry.
“Aliyah!” I called into the night. There was no response.
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Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Nine
I would have traced her scent, but the recent rain had washed away all traces of it.
Maybe she had run away after our conversation. Maybe she had enough of me and wanted out of it all. But something told me that wasn’t the case. She knew it wasn’t safe. She was smart enough to understand that going out there would be dangerous.
And then I spotted it.
It was tiny, almost nonexistent. Blood.
The soil had absorbed most of it, but there was still the faintest trace. Her blood.
She hadn’t run away. She had been taken–by force.
I returned back to the Nightshade pack; I’d never been so–furious in my life.
“Where is she?” I demanded, staring down at Julia.
“I… they’ve taken her?”
My hands clenched around her neck, just a little more pressure and it would snap.
“What is your plan, Julia?” I’growled. But with my grip around her neck, she couldn’t respond. She thrashed beneath my hands, gasping for air, but I didn’t relent. Her face flushed, her body writhing with no supernatural power to save her. She was just like any other human now, stripped of her gifts. I finally released her, and she dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, her head smacking against the hard floor. There was no point in killing
her.
“You said she was safe, but clearly not safe enough,” Julia croaked, her voice strained.
She was right.
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