Page 102 of Cruelly Bitten

I would wake up Cronus, too, but I doubted I had enough of Cam’s blood to pull it off. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I had enough to wake up Cane.

“It doesn’t take much,” Cam had told me as he’d held his wrist out for Cane to drink. “Our blood is powerful and old. A few drops should do.”

I had no idea how much Cane had actually imbibed, though, since it hadn’t been measured out. However, he’d only been attached to Cam for thirty seconds or so before he’d let go and lain down in his coffin.

“I’m ready,” Cane had said, his accent similar to his brother’s. At least at the time, anyway.

Cam’s lilt had evolved over the last few centuries, and it had oddly been the same today despite his lacking memories.

Although, I supposed when Cane woke up, he’d have a thicker English accent, perhaps even a different vocabulary entirely.

Cronus would be even worse.Would he even know English?

I wasn’t sure. I’d never met the ancient; he’d been asleep for well over a millennium. But Cam had always spoken highly of him, and he’d slept because he’d wanted to maintain his connection to humanity.

I approached his casket first, noting the crest etched into the ornate marble. It matched the one on the door, just as it rivaled the ones decorating his sons’ coffins. Only the names along the ribbon at the bottom differed. This one saidCronus. The one beside him readCam. And the last one belonged toCane.

All of them had that crown on top and an infinity symbol in the middle, along with two flags and various other details to form the entirety of the family emblem.

These crests weren’t commonly seen outside of the vampire community, the royals having kept them close to the chest for millennia.

Fen’s was perhaps the most notable with his wolf and claw mark embellishments.

Johan’s contained a scale, which made sense for his lineage—Jace had always been notably fair in his judgments.

Meanwhile, Relios’s was a tree, which didn’t exactly match his son, Ryder. But I could probably make some sort of profound statement regarding roots and Ryder being a sturdy presence in my life.

Not that I had time for that right now.

No, I needed to focus on Cane.

The caskets weren’t sealed, but the marble tops were heavy. Or I assumed they were, anyway. Solid stone couldn’t belight.

I glanced around for something I could use to perhaps pry the top open and found a crowbar near the door, almost as though someone knew I’d need it. But I suspected each tomb had one for this very purpose.

Or it was there from when they “woke up” Cam.

Rather than ponder over it too much, I grabbed the tool and headed back to Cane’s resting place. There was a slight gap between the top and the side, allowing me to slip the slender iron inside to create a lever of sorts.

With a deep breath, and a quick glance at the door, I pushed on the metal handle. The rock grated as it shifted slightly, my efforts only moving the slab a few inches.

It took four more tries to create a larger gap up top.

I held my breath, almost anticipating some sort of decrepit stench to hit my nose.

Yet nothing came.

Just air.

Slipping the bar down a little, I continued my ministrations until the top slab was a few inches off the tomb.

Only then did I peek inside, half expecting to find a decayed corpse.

But that… that would have required a body.

What the fuck?

The coffin was empty.