Page 69 of A Curse So Vile
Brenna didn’t have it in her to crush the girl’s soul.
“May your birthing go well.”
“My Ossorian mate seems to think it will.”
“And who is he?”
“Julian, one of the four sent to get you.”
Brenna’s brow lifted in surprise, but she said nothing.
Knowing that her people were once like Constantine’s disgusted her. Eventually, their blood would water down further, and while that would make the Ossorians more prolific in their mating, it would also make them less savage. They were already taking on human customs they would have snubbed their nose at half a century ago, another half century from now they may grow to love their human mates.
She wondered if Cole made it to the Den, and if Fiona was getting along well with her new pack.
Then she thought of Icaries. She couldn’t feel him here, when typically, even over great distances, he was everywhere.
He’d like Cole. Of that, she was certain. She may not always agree with Icaries’s every thought, but she knew them better than she knew her own, as he was much more predictable than herself.
She loathed to think what would become of him, but there was a small shred of hope that he could latch on to Fiona. After all, the girl had her blood and Icaries would be keen to nurture that.
The door opened and in came several women in sheer white gowns carrying a blood-red garment. One of the women held the garment up, revealing an exquisite dress laced with rubies, fit for a princess.
Which she was clearly not. Her mother was weak in the blood and always had been and her grandmother hadn’t a drop.
Unless Constantine spoke the truth.
Was it possible that her grandmother wasn’t as human as she’d thought? Hailing from Cresite Terras, the most prejudiced against magical blood, she would have had to hide her powers, if she even knew she had any at all. If a talisman had been passed down to dampen her powers, she may not have even known she was different…
And when she coupled with her grandfather, who was powerful in the blood, it would have resulted in a powerful seed.
Except her mother was ever so weak in the blood. She transformed late, but if she were dampened by the same talisman as her grandmother had been, it’s a wonder she transformed at all.
She thought back to her mother, tan of flesh, green of eyes, with a gorgeous blue-stone necklace that had been in her grandmother’s line for generations.
Could that be it? The power dampener.
Brenna had always been weakest around her mother, but that was said to be because there was some emotion involved in shifting, and her mother had a way of calming her, making her feel safe.
Perhaps that wasn’t the truth of it. Perhaps it wasn’t comfort or safety that stayed her claws. What if she was physically weaker whenever she was around her mother because of the necklace?
Her father had passed a few years back, and she couldn’t remember his shifts, or rather, she’d never paid attention to them.
A sickening feeling twisted in her gut. Knowledge she wished she’d never stumbled upon, because while she’d thought the curse was the worst she’d have to endure, she knew that was wrong. Going feral would be a blessing compared to what was to come.
“How does my bride like her dress?”
Brenna looked over to see Constantine standing in the doorway, looking down at her in the bath.
“The Denithians will put a stop to this—to you.”
He smiled, his lips straining around the expanse of his large teeth. “Oh, my love, you don’t have to worry about them causing us any trouble. Not after our feast tonight.” He looked at the serving girls, his brow narrowing into a tight glare. “Dress her and get her ready for me. It shan’t be long now.”
* * *
BRENNA
To dress or not to dress?Brenna thought as she toyed with the rich fabric of the gown intended for her. She enjoyed the thought of Constantine’s ire, but she knew it would be taken out on the humans tending to her, and while she had no love for her vacuous handmaidens, she did not wish them harm.