Page 48 of Possess Me at Midnight

Camden’s refusal to accept reality makes my chest tight with frustration. How many Council members will ignore me until Mathias’s blade is at their throat?

“Was in exile. He killed Auropha and George MacKinnett and…and now he’s finished off Thomas. The entire house is in shambles. The Anarki symbol has been branded onto all the women’s bodies.”

Camden hesitates, then shakes his head. “No. How would Mathias possibly have gotten free?”

“I don’t know, and right now, I don’t care. I hailed you and you alone because I think Mathias may be after you next.”

“What? Outrageous! That’s impossible!”

I hold in a grunt of frustration. “It’s not only possible; it’s likely. Look!”

Holding the glass away from me, I retrieve the candle. Using them together, I slowly scan the annihilated bedroom, then make my way out the door, down the hall, to the bodies in the first room. I swallow, hating to show disrespect by using them to prove my point, but I’m running out of options.

Once I point the mirror toward one of the human female’s naked forms, complete with dried blood and the angry brand on her naked, intimate skin, I hear Camden’s indrawn breath.

“Dear god…” he breathes.

I flip the mirror around and face the wizard again. “He attacked my home as well. Destroyed it. Mathias struck Bram with a terrible spell that I cannot reverse. Please…”

“I-I… Mathias cannot be back. I am but an old man. How could I fight such a monster?”

The defeat in his voice breaks my heart, but there’s no time for comfort. “Just keep yourself safe. That’s all I ask. We believe Mathias killed MacKinnett so that he could put himself on the council. You are the only other member without an heir.”

Camden curses, looking decidedly pale now, but he nods.

I weigh my next words carefully. Secrecy has been vital to Bram’s efforts thus far… But MacKinnett’s murder and Mathias’s plans have changed everything. I only hope honesty will reassure Camden and underscore the urgency of the situation.

“Before his illness, Bram began quietly gathering a fighting force to destroy Mathias, the Doomsday Brethren. Let them do their work. Help us by hiding well.”

He seems relieved that we don’t expect him to fight and blows out a shaky breath. “Indeed. Can I do anything to help?”

“If there are others on the Council who you know without any shred of doubt would never support Mathias, would you wish to warn them?”

Camden pauses for a long moment. “No. The elders above me will never believe he’s returned without proof. I would suffer what Bram has endured since he began talking about Mathias’s return, I’m sure.”

I bite my tongue to stop myself from pointing out that he, too, ostracized my brother when it counted. But that’s not the battle I need to fight in this moment. “Then keep the information to yourself for now. We’ll deal with the rest of the Council later. I have to get Bram healed—somehow—and protect MacKinnett’s mirror.” There is the matter of keeping the Doomsday Diary safe as well, but no need to stun Camden with more huge news, in case Bram has never told the rest of the Council about the diary’s rediscovery.

“Yes. Yes, of course. Check in with me, girl. Keep yourself safe. You’re doing a very brave thing. I’m only sorry that…”

He called my brother a liar for the past month? Rubbing his face in that won’t help now. “Thank you. I’m sure Bram will appreciate it once he’s up and about again.”

“Yes. Well… Take care of yourself, then.”

“Contact me periodically to let me know when you’re well and safe.”

“You do the same.”

We end the contact, and I snap the mirror shut, tucking it safely into my backpack beside the diary. Two of magickind’s most precious artifacts, now both in my care. The weight of responsibility threatens to crush me.

I back out of the room piled high with corpses and tragedy, then run down the stairs. “Ice?”

Silence greets me. I jog toward the cellar and call his name again. Fear prickles up my spine. After everything we’ve been through, he wouldn’t just disappear.

As I approach, my footsteps echoing, he growls a skin-crawling, blood-chilling scream of pain so rife with torture, my heart stops.

“Ice!” I scream as I fling open the cellar door.

Chapter