“No, don’t you say what you are about to say,” I shouted. “Gwenn will be okay.” My voice was thin.
“Do not care for mortals, Sinclair. You will find yourself mourning them for the rest of eternity,” Dorian said, looking directly at me. This was the guy that was friends with my grandparents?
“Dorian, is there any way we can find Nero?” Blake said, turning to him.
“Nero,” Dorian said flatly. “Nero will not be summoned, not even by a prince.”
“So, what do you suggest?” Tristan massaged his neck. “Leave Evelyn out in the wild, rub her down with tasty immortal abilities, and hope Nero comes for her?” he finished sarcastically.
“There are only a handful of people who would ever lure Nero and Servilia to Greyhaven: Viktor, whom he’s wanted to kill for a millennium; Markus, whom he hates just as much; and of course, Aurelius. Aurelius cannot be overpowered by any immortal living, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he won’t work for bait,” Blake said, rolling his eyes.
I need to get to the shack. I have to find Nero and get Gwenn back. Where would she have taken Gwenn?
My stomach clenched, and my heart fell. If Gwenn got hurt or died, I would never forgive myself. Why did Blake let her come here in the first place?
“No, but I do not suspect that this is the aim of the game,” Dorian said, studying my face, oblivious to my inner monologue. “I believe your little mortal here has something lying dormant in her that Nero wants, but, of course, she will have to become immortal in the first place.” He turned his head to Blake again.
“So, what do you suggest?” I replied before Tristan or Blake could. “That I become immortal in the hopes that he’ll want to kill me enough to come after me?” I finished a bit more aggressively than Dorian deserved.
“I suggest you do what you want to do,” Dorian replied with a twinge of spite. “Whether any of you live or die does not matter to me. You know what they say. There will only be two left, and of the four of us, I’m not one of those.” Dorian looked at me and then to Blake before walking away. He paused and turned back to us. “Mina hunted down Servilia for years after Servilia killed her son. If Mina can’t find her, I can guarantee that you won’t.”
We watched as he walked down the glass steps. Victoria, whom we had forgotten, tried to lift herself. Tristan was next to her within seconds, helping her up.
“What the hell happened? she groaned, rubbing her neck and moving her head from side to side.
“I need to get back to Greyhaven.” I turned back to Blake. “And to Lorenzo’s shack, and I will do this with or without your help,” I said, my voice level. Serena had been right, taking Gwenn had lit a fire in me that I didn’t even know existed anymore since my family died.
“We should go,” Tristan replied before Blake could. “Back to Greyhaven tonight. She knows we’re in Austria. Evelyn is much safer behind the borders of Greyhaven, and so are we.”
Blake turned to Tristan. “I’m going to go ahead with Evelyn. Can you follow tomorrow? I’ll send the jet back.” He spoke quickly.
“I don’t know if she’s going to be able to take that many miles of travel,” Tristan said, looking directly at me, now completely serious.
“You need to hold on to me and not let go. It’s going to get freezing, and you’re going to feel sick, and at some point, you may pass out,” Blake said.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, determined to see all of this through and get Gwenn back. “Let’s go.”
Blake turned to Tristan. “The jet will be back tomorrow morning. Don’t delay.”
Tristan nodded.
“Wait,” Victoria cried as she walked to Blake and me, followed by Tristan. “In the moments before Serena snapped my neck, I could see her subconscious. This isn’t what we think it is.”
“What did you see?” Blake asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Evelyn. There is some sort of fate that has been tied to Evelyn for a thousand years. Returning Astara would be a mere catalyst for something much bigger. I think it’s something that involves Aurelius. Blake, if your mother returns, it will start a series of events that we won’t be able to stop.”
Blake glanced at me and then back to Victoria. “And if we don’t help Serena in this plan, everyone in Greyhaven will die.”
Victoria looked at me now. “Evelyn, you can’t do this, you can’t help her.” Her voice shook.
I bit my bottom lip and looked to Blake and then back to Victoria. “Did you see what would happen if I did?”
“No, but I could feel Serena’s madness, her lust for this fate to come to pass, and I do not believe that it’s going to be anything good for any of us.”
“Could it be tied to the prophecy that there will be only two?” Tristan asked.
“Enough,” Blake spat. “We will not be bound by a megalomaniacal witch’s hallucination from a thousand years past. I’m taking Evelyn back to Greyhaven; we’re going to track down Nero and put an end to this madness, and then I’m going to burn that little witch at the stake.”
“Evelyn, let’s go. The sooner we get back to Greyhaven, the sooner we can end this,” he said, holding out his hand. I glanced at Victoria and hesitated. What if she was right? What if this really was the catalyst to end all immortals?
Gwenn.
“I’m sorry, I can’t let Gwenn die,” I whispered to Victoria.
I took Blake’s hand and followed him down the glass stairs, not looking back at Tristan or Victoria, who I knew were watching and judging me. The club was morbidly silent. People had dropped their drinks, and shattered glass littered the floor. Blake led me to the coat rack. I watched as he picked up a long black coat and held it out to me.
“I’ll be fine,” I insisted, shaking my head, not really wanting to take a stranger’s coat.
“You really won’t,” Blake said, wrapping the coat around my shoulders, practically forcing me to wear it. “You’re about to travel at a speed that mortals can’t and shouldn’t reach. You’re going to want another coat.” He threw yet another coat over my shoulder.
“How many miles an hour is that?” I asked, taking the coat without argument now.
“About three hundred and ninety,” he replied, now wrapping a scarf tightly around my neck.
“The faster I get to Lorenzo’s, the better,” I said, fastening the coat buttons.
“You’ll be okay,” he added. “I’m going to carry you to the jet, and we’ll fly from there.”
“Ready?”
I nodded as he scooped me up in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and linked my fingers.
Before I could think or do anything else, I felt the cold wind press against my back. At first, it was okay, but then it started to feel heavier and heavier, so much so that I could hardly breathe because my lungs couldn’t fight the force on my ribcage. My legs felt like lead. In fact, my entire body felt like lead. About a minute passed, and I felt more force on my back. If it wasn’t for Blake’s warmth, I was pretty sure that I would have had hypothermia. I wanted to start screaming and crying for him to stop, but I couldn’t.
Oh God, please let this be over soon.
Another few moments passed, and my head felt so heavy, I could barely think anymore. It was like the world had slowed down. I shut my eyes and tried to force myself to count to ten. I think I made it to three before I lost consciousness.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Evelyn,” I heard someone’s voice call.
Visions of Serena, Astara, and Blake penetrated the darkness.
“Mr. Greyson, shall we bring her a glass of water?” I heard a concerned woman’s voice say.
“No, take off immediately, and at forty-two thousand feet,” he ordered, and I heard something that sounded like a seat belt clicking.
I felt the ground moving and immediately lurched forward, every
fiber in my body feeling sick. I heaved and retched as I slowly opened my eyes.
“It will take a minute or two to recover,” I heard Blake’s voice say. I continued retching until the plane finally reached the altitude Blake had ordered.
“Why forty-two thousand feet?” I asked, my entire body still shaking uncontrollably.
“Thinner the air, faster the flight,” he replied simply. “We’re landing in about two hours. Try your best to stay awake.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to control my shaking body. Gwenn’s frightened face appeared in my mind, and my chest constricted. “Where do you think she’s taken Gwenn?” I asked, my voice thin.
“I don’t know, Evelyn. We’ll do everything we can to get her back.” He coulnd’t look into my eyes. Did he think we would never get Gwenn back?
I bit my bottom lip and looked out of the small window.
“The nights are always so long now,” I mumbled to my reflection. I turned back to Blake. “Maybe I should sleep? Another dream couldn’t possibly hurt at this point?” I thought about how Astara might be able to give me more information.
“Evelyn, by going to sleep, you’re granting Astara more influence over you, and over the long course of my life, nothing good has ever come from allowing yourself to be led by someone else.”
“But what if she shows me where Nero is?”
“If she knew where Nero was, she would have already shown you. Evelyn, you must start understanding that you can get hurt.”
I leaned toward him, trying to read his eyes. “You’re so afraid that something is going to happen to me. Why? If I do die, really die, everything will be okay, there will be nothing left to worry about.”
He spent a moment looking out of the window and then turned back to me. “Perhaps I’m simply unwilling to sacrifice your life to save others.”
“Isn’t that exactly what the prophecy warns us against?” I whispered, now looking away from Blake and out of the window. “I just need to find Gwenn, make sure everyone is safe, and then get as far away from Greyhaven and the immortals as possible.”
“You seem to know what you are fighting against, Evelyn, but do not forget what you fight for.”
I was about to reply when I noticed a flashing light in the corner of my eye.
“What was that?” I asked, turning to the empty seats next to us.
“I didn’t see anything.” Blake’s eyes darted around.
“I don’t feel very well,” I whispered as a sensation of sickness made its way from my stomach to my throat. Heat rose to my cheeks, as if a sudden fever had taken hold.
“Evelyn?” Blake said, kneeling next to my seat.
“I think I’m going to pass out.” I coughed as my chest heaved.
“Evelyn?” Blakes voice melted into the darkness.
-
“You know, you really should be more careful,” a voice drawled in my direction.
I sneered and turned to face the man who was talking. “And you should go back to your little hovel and leave me alone,” I replied, realizing that the voice wasn’t my own but Astara’s. The man standing in front of me was tall and dark, his eyes black as the night.
The man laughed a hollow, deafening laugh. “Those nomads,” he spat. “I gave them everything, and they left me. You and I are not as loved as we once were, or have you forgotten?” He narrowed his eyes.
“You and I have had to do things for the greater good. No one can see that now, but believe me, some day they will thank us for our efforts,” I replied in my oddly beautiful voice.
The man laughed again. “Yes, someday, but the question is, will they allow us to live for that long?” he asked, leering. His long black moth-eaten coat and shabby brown leather boots told me everything I needed to know about how my brother was currently living, exactly how Lorenzo had once done before Aurelius allowed him back into The Divine.
I shook my head and felt my long silver hair fall over my shoulders. “Not with those eyes they won’t. You’re going to have to stop hunting nomads for a while, Nero, if you ever want to stand in front of the Arbitrium and explain your concerns, you’ll have to—” I broke off, sensing the tension in the air as Nero sneered.
“Have to what, look like the rest of them? This is how we are meant to look, Astara; this is who we are meant to be. I will not shy away from those death-fearing cowards,” he cried, his voice strained.
“We are all death fearing,” I said, rolling my eyes now. “Why do you think we all try so hard to protect our immortal lives? As much as we say that living forever is a punishment and not a gift, deep inside, all of us are cowering from death, afraid of losing the only thing we have left to us. Ourselves.” I looked out into the darkness of the forest.
Nero was the element of the plan that struck me with the most fear and anxiety. Besides Aurelius, no one had any influence or control over him. He was, in every sense of the term, a free agent.
“You should go. I will have to go back to Greyhaven before anyone knows that I’m missing,” I said, turning my back on Nero.
“Your witch is still agreeable to the cause?” he asked.
I turned around to face him one more time. “Serena will do as she’s told. She loves me more every day,” I explained, thinking about the red-headed witch that would do anything and everything for me.
“People have always loved you, Astara, because they do not know you.”
“And you? Even your own coven made up of nomads kicked you out, which reflects rather badly on you, having founded them and all,” I said, smirking.
“They cower from me, and they are right to do so.”
What on earth could Nero have done to provoke his merry band of killers to expel him?
“I will see you a month from now. Remember not to kill anymore, Nero. Your eyes must be blue,” I ordered, walking away from him. I heard him groan in frustration, but a few seconds later I heard him turn around and run through the forest in the opposite direction. I would have to move quickly before Viktor noticed my absence.
“Evelyn,” Blake’s voice broke through the image of the dark forest.
I opened my eyes, my mind still reflecting the vision of Nero.
“I just had another memory,” I whispered, meeting Blake’s blue eyes.
“Of what?”
“Astara and Nero. I think they were meeting outside the border of Greyhaven. It must have been just before she died,” I mumbled, trying to remember the dream in more detail. “They mentioned a plan, something Serena was going to help them with.”
The figure of Nero drove fear into me like nothing else ever had. I would welcome Serena into my life a thousand times over rather than ever see him once.
“Did they speak of anything else?” Blake asked. He was still kneeling next to me.
I looked into his blue eyes. “She told him to stop killing mortals, that his eyes needed to be blue,” I replied. “I always struggle to remember the details of these dreams.” I shook my head.
“We’ll be in Greyhaven in an hour. We’ll go straight to Lorenzo’s shack,” Blake said, standing.
“I should have gone there days ago, when Astara first asked me to,” I said, shaking my head, frustrated with my own stupidity.
“In my experience, a suggestion from my mother always comes with a catch. Do not think walking into that shack will be a walk in the park, Evelyn.”
“I literally don’t care if I have to walk through the nine circles of hell with Dante pining over Beatrice for company, I will get Gwenn back,” I said, looking out of the window again. We seemed to be flying over the dark of the ocean. “Are you actually planning to burn Serena at the stake?”
“This may come as a surprise to you, Evelyn, but I’m not a terribly nice person.”
“I don’t think you’re a terribly bad person either.”
> He grinned slightly. “That’s because you don’t know me, little mortal.”
Before I could retort, his phone rang. I couldn’t even remember where the phone Tristan had given me was.
“Ravenna,” Blake answered. He paused and listened to her. No speaker phone this time.
“She does. Serena took her.”
Ravenna probably just discovered what happed to Gwenn. My chest constricted, and my nerves clenched.
“I’m on my way back with Evelyn. The plan remains the same: find Nero, kill the witch.
“No, we’re going straight to Lorenzo’s. It appears Evelyn has to go herself. We’ll see you at the manor later. Keep Bastian with you in case Serena decides she needs more leverage.”
“You don’t think she’ll come for Bastian, do you?” I asked as he put down the phone.
“If I could predict what Serena was planning, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he replied as the plane started descending.
I grabbed the edge of my seat as we hit some turbulence. “I feel like I’m on this jet more than I am on the ground lately,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Mr. Greyson,” the pilot’s voice called over the intercom. “Brace yourselves for a turbulent landing. We have to fly through a storm to make it back.”
“Oh God,” I mumbled and clenched my jaw. Why did flying bother me so much?
“It’s going to be okay, don’t think about it,” Blake said in a level tone. He looked completely relaxed.
He would be, Ev, even if this plane came down, he would brush himself off and walk away. Well, so would you, technically.
I closed my eyes as we hit another lot of turbulence. Fifteen minutes later, we finally landed at Greyhaven Airport. I unfastened my seat belt with shaking hands and followed Blake out of the jet and onto the runway where his Range Rover was still parked. We drove back to Greyhaven in silence, clearly both lost in thought. I shut my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath when we reached the bridge and wondered if anyone had told Rebecca that a psychotic witch had kidnapped her granddaughter.
Please let her be okay.
The Eternal Page 29
