Page 70 of Ascendant King
The burning in my throat intensified. I couldn’t even think of anything to say. Cade’s fingers tightened on my arm, but I couldn’t look away from Miriam. I would even have surrendered to the woods again if it got me away from this conversation, away from the horrible agony of her disdain.
“You just had to be so perfect, and everyone lovedyou. It wasalwaysabout you. You were going to go to college like Mom and Dad, and they couldn’t even give me tutoring with someone I liked. Just that old woman.” Her eyes lit brightly. “Benji actually listened to me. He acted like I had something to say. They just waved me off, because oh no, what ifMileshas some thoughts?”
I tried to see the memory of our parents through her eyes, tried to see how she might have felt like second best, but all I could remember was Mom taking Miriam dress shopping for prom and Mom putting her poetry on the fridge even though it embarrassed her.
“You let your boyfriend kill our family. I don’t care how jealous you were, Albert didn’t have anything to do with it. Nina didn’t have anything to do with it.” I stared at her, watching to see if she had any reaction to the names of our baby brother and sister.
She looked down before pulling her shoulders back, her expression easing into a familiar curled lip, a narrowing of her eyes. “Maybe they didn’t deserve it. But Batel and Jorge, they were weak. They were fine being betas in Mom’s pack. Carlo was older than you, and he was fine beingyoursecond. I heard him telling Batel. Why wereyouso special?”
She lunged at me, her nails touching my cheek as she clawed at me, but before she could do any damage, dark magic wrappedaround her. It pulled her taut, lacing around her neck in a row of perfect swords. Two drew blood as the tattoo dug into her skin.
She gasped, trying to grab at the ink, but it was nothing but magic, her fingers unable to touch it.
I wanted to let him kill her, but I turned away, closing my eyes. “Let her go.”
Cade was still beside me. I blinked open my eyes and found his expression dark and unyielding. He flicked a glance at me, tilting his head in question.
I nodded. The magic fell from her neck, and she dropped to her knees, gasping. I spared her one glance over my shoulder.
“Take anyone left from Ghost Pack and secure them.” I searched the crowd of wolves, some shifted, some human. When I found Heather, I made eye contact. “Heather, we’ll take them with us when we leave.”
We were barely set up for a single mage prisoner; I had no idea what we were supposed to do with a few dozen wolves.
I went up the front stairs, Cade a half step behind me.
When we reached the front door, I waited for Cade. It was hard not to feel the echoes of the past in our skin. The first time I had been here, late at night, confused and in pain after being attacked by the werewolf hunters, Cade’s chilliness had almost been refreshing, even as it was confusing.
I hadn’t been sure where I stood with him, which left me weak. Now, I returned back to House Bartlett with its rightful prince at my side, my place secure with a pack behind me.
But just like when I had killed Benji, there was something disquieting about it, dissatisfying. House Bartlett was empty, its king absent.
I let the back of my hand brush Cade’s and saw him turn his head sharply out of the corner of my eye. Then I stepped forward, and he was with me. I was no longer walking a half stepbehind him, playacting at being the good consort. Now I was walking with him, his partner.
At least until we took care of Leon. After that, we would be nothing more than strangers.
The front hall was empty, a stillness wrapped around the rooms. At the slightest hint of noise, my head snapped to the left, and I strode down the hall. Cade kept up with me, and I heard quiet footsteps behind me. My pack wasn’t going to let me face whatever was here alone. We passed empty rooms, a cavernous feel to the hallway, as though we were in a mausoleum.
There was a quiet noise again, a hushed whisper that even with my sensitive hearing, I couldn’t quite make out. Still, it gave us direction. The doors of each room we passed were open.
When we reached the ballroom doors, they were closed.
In front of them, I glanced at Cade, and he nodded. A tattooed vine slithered down his forearm, dropping from his fingers to the floor. It ate into the carpet, climbing up the freshly painted drywall before seeping into the cracks of the door.
“Do you want help?” Lily asked.
“No.” Cade closed his eyes, sensing something that I couldn’t feel. My chest ached, his ink pressing on my skin.
When his eyes opened, they were dark, small flickers of light the only evidence of the whites of his eyes. The magic fell away from the door, crawling back up his skin, disappearing under his clothes.
“I can feel people behind the door, but it isn’t a trap.” Cade blinked at me, the blue of his eyes pushing away the darkness.
I looked behind me, gesturing to three members of the pack. Two flanked me, while the third stood where the door would open in case something sprang out at us. I turned the handle.
The scent of sickness hit me as soon as the door cracked open.
Vomit, dried sweat, and human waste were strong enough that I saw a couple members of our number take a step back. I didn’t flinch, moving through the door quickly. We would lose the advantage of surprise almost instantly.
Inside, skeletal consorts were laid out on makeshift bedding, their mages next to them. One of the mages could still stand, and she struggled to put up her hands.