Page 9 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)

Creed’s and Mallyn’s eyes narrow toward Annex, pushing for further explanation.

Annex sighs. “Sarah— or whatever the evil cow’s name is —gave Micai a bracelet made of that shit.” He gestures toward the box being carried off in the distance. “It was hurting Micai?—”

“It was draining her strength,” Ezra corrects, cutting Annex off as he intertwines our fingers. “Maybe even taking her power.” He pulls me softly into his embrace, warming up the parts of me that had run cold with the thoughts of my past life and calming me instantly.

“What the fuck?” Creed barks with a tone filled with more shock and anger than I would have expected from him.

“Why the hell would someone ...” Mallyn starts, his voice laced in anger and ... pain?

I turn toward him and our eyes meet, the rest of his words shrivelling on his lips. I’m not sure what he sees in my expression, but it makes them all fall silent.

“Where the hell is that bitch right now? I’ll shove all the chains and blades I can find down her throat—” Annex reaches for his Bowie before I stop him with my hand, holding him before he takes a step away.

Seria wasn’t our only problem right now. There was a definite connection between her and The Facility, and that was now a fact, even if it was that she just got the bracelet from them. But this attack and The Facility’s connection are the ones we need to worry about now.

If it truly is them and they’re aware of the guys and are the ones attacking them, then the guys need to know what they’re up against.

It couldn’t be a mere coincidence that these attackers had the same metal cuff-like restraints or that they were taking supes with no trace left behind.

I felt it with every fibre of my being. It was them.

And I needed to tell the guys as much as I could so we could tackle this together. Everything except that this isn’t my first life.

I don’t think even they would believe me if I told them that. You would have to be crazy to believe a story like mine. And I don’t think even Annex’s brand of madness would accept that so easily.

I pull myself reluctantly from Ezra’s warmth and meet each set of eyes on me. “I think we should talk.”

I glance around the space. “This attack ... I think I might have an idea about who was behind it.” I raise my hand, stopping Creed from interrupting me. “And I’ll tell you as much as I can, but I’m not sure if you’ll believe me.”

To ordinary people, telling them the fairy tale they were told as children to scare them is real, and that it was behind all these attacks on them would probably just sound like a joke.

“You wanted to know my secrets ...” I turn toward Creed, an unreadable look taking over his expression as I continue. “I’ll give you as much of them as I can now.”

He slowly nods before leading the way back to their place and into the kitchen, each of us following quietly until the door is closed tightly behind us.

I take a seat at the table with Annex, Ezra, and Mallyn taking the closest spots nearest me as Creed takes a seat opposite me.

“You don’t have to tell us anything if you’re not ready—” Mallyn starts, but I shake my head, cutting him off.

“I want to. I need to. I’m not sure if it will even help, but I don’t want secrets between us.” I look to each of them. “I trust you.”

I brush a hand down my face and sigh.

“Where do I start?” There was so much to say to them, not just about Seria and The Facility, but about me as well. My past wasn’t a pretty one. And not one I wanted to dredge up. But I didn’t want to hold back with them.

“I guess I’ll start with Seria since she seems to have some connection in all this.” They each nod, giving me the time to compose myself without interruption or questions and allowing me to move at my own pace with them. I take a deep breath and begin.

“As you know, she’s my half-sister and she came to the Bane Clan when I was fourteen years old, and she was thirteen.

Back then, I was naive and thought the world of her .

.. and she used that and every chance she could to place me beneath her.

” A bitter smirk tilts my lips. “I thought the bracelet was her way of connecting us together as sisters, and that we both wanted the same thing. How wrong I was, about her and everything back then.” I shake my head before quickly pushing those thoughts and feelings to one side and try to sift through past information and memories.

“I don’t know much about what her life was like or where she was before she arrived ... it was a bit of a taboo subject. And it was seen that if my father had accepted her, then nothing else mattered. She was a lost heir that was found, and that was it.”

“Did Greere Bane know the details of where she was before?” Ezra asks, his brows furrowed and slight annoyance in his tone as he speaks of my so-called father.

A soft smile tilts my lips toward my knowing Mate.

“I’m not sure. I don’t exactly have what you would call a ‘ good relationship’ with him.

We never talked or ate meals together or went anywhere like he did with Seria.

Even when I was younger, he never really .

.. enjoyed my company.” I shrug gently, my eyes falling to the table.

A part of me worried that they would pity me.

But I don’t want pity, especially not theirs.

That isn’t why I am telling them all this.

Before anyone can talk or ask me anything, I continue my story.

“Seria gave me the bracelet not long after she arrived and said it was a ‘sister gift.’ She had a matching one too. It was slightly different, but I never thought much of it back then.” My brows tighten, a frown pulling at my lips as memories resurface.

“That was when it all started: the weakness, feeling constantly frail and sick. I used to climb trees, hike up hills, and swim laps in the lake nearby our home, but after she gave me that bracelet ... I couldn’t even run for more than a couple of minutes without being out of breath.

” My shoulders fall slightly. “And it only got worse with time.”

A shaky breath leaves my lips as a bitter smile tilts them. She took so much from me. My youth, my childhood, and for what?

“Micai?” Creed calls my name, pulling my thoughts back to the present.

A beat passes between us as I look into his deep amber eyes, them seeing more than I want them to in this moment. I turn away, clearing my throat before I continue my story.

“I never realised that it was connected to the bracelet. She was always so ‘sweet’ back then. I didn’t think that it was all some scheme or plot to drain me or take my power.

” A bitter laugh leaves my lips. “I didn’t even have much power back then.

I wasn’t some all-powerful witch, if I was they wouldn’t have treated me so horrib?—”

I stop, the words on my lips cutting off quickly as I realise my mistake and try to swiftly move on from that topic. Not willing to unpack all that baggage today with them.

I ignore the narrowed looks growing around me as well as Annex asking “ who ” in a deathly tone.

“I wore that bracelet for over three years,” I continue, turning toward Creed as Ezra and Mallyn join Annex in his persistent prodding, “never knowing what it was doing to me or why I was so weak.”

“What changed? Why did you stop wearing it?” Creed asks, his voice sounding genuinely curious, but his gaze still unreadable.

“ I did. I woke up one morning and finally saw the truth ... It felt like I had gone through hell and back before I did, though.” My lips crook into a weak smile, the real truth hidden in my vague words.

It took me ten years and death before I came to my senses.

I took too long, gave too much of myself away to them all, and let them eat away at my very core. They took one life from me ... they won’t take this one.

I shake the building emotions away.

“Once I stopped wearing that bracelet, I felt better and got stronger with each passing day. It was around the same time that my first marks appeared, although I’m not sure if they’re connected?—”

“Marks?” Mallyn asks, cutting me off as Creed echoes his words.

Ezra and Annex give me a small knowing smile as I slowly pull myself up and lift my top, showing them the small black shapes on both of my hips. And then the ones on my ankles.

“Aren’t they tattoos?” Mallyn asks, his gaze flitting to my feet. “I thought you had them done yourself.”

“You saw them?” My eyes widen. I thought I had hidden them well.

A small grin traces Mallyn’s lips. “You were running through the forest the night the academy was attacked with no shoes or socks on, Micai.”

A small heat creeps into my cheeks with the memory.

I looked an absolute mess that night, especially with Mallyn’s beast chasing me through the forest. Covering the marks on my ankles never even entered my mind. And with Annex dying, I guess my mind was a little otherwise preoccupied.

But if anybody else saw them that night, hopefully they would think the same as Mallyn. Tattoos were a more plausible explanation.

I push the memories of that night away and continue, twisting back and forth slowly so Mallyn and Creed can see them well.

“They appeared not long after the marks on my hips, and these ...” I lift my hands, showing off the new marks on my wrists. “I’m sure you’ve all seen these on the day of the attack. That’s when they appeared.”

“These marks, what do they mean? What do they do?” Creed leans forward, his eyes tracing each mark intently, almost as if memorising them.