Chapter 33

The next time I opened my eyes I was in motion again. But not on a cart or even in a bed. I was in someone’s arms, being carried at laser speed through a blur of trees and brush and foliage. The skies were a hazy grey with the promise of rain. Cold air stung my nostrils, and my skin was coated in tiny shiver bumps.

Zanthiel glanced down at me. “We’re almost home.”

That was all he said, but there was a cloud in his eyes, turning them from their usual brilliant silver to more of a tarnished metal grey. He looked…sad? Not possible. But I leaned back against the cool firmness of his chest, letting him carry me deeper into the forest.

It was then that I noticed my pain was gone. I felt nothing, not even the hint of discomfort, any longer.

He’d healed me. He must have. I couldn’t have done it on my own.

Zanthiel’s steps slowed and then stopped.

He glanced down at me. “Can you stand?”

I nodded my head. “Of course I can stand. Thanks to your healing.”

He set me down on my feet. I wobbled a little but managed to remain upright. All traces of pain were gone, so why was he continuing to look at me like that?

“What? What is it? What’s wrong?” I demanded. “You are making me nervous with that stare.”

“It’s nothing,” he said quietly. “Tell me why they did this to you, Venus.”

Venus. The name echoed inside me. I was her. She was me. We were reunited, joined once again in body, spirit, and deed. Part of me wept all over again for all she’d done and lost.

"I’m a message. That’s all I know,” I said, swallowing the bile that rose in my throat. “Were you able to undo it?”

He shook his head. “I’ve alleviated the pain, but not its source. They've placed some sort of parasite under your skin. It carves messages into your flesh to communicate. We need to get it out. But I can't be sure removing it won't kill you.”

I smiled weakly. “Then you'll bring me back, right? It’s what you do,” I whispered.

He didn't respond with anything other than a deep frown.

My hair hung in dark red, matted curls, stuck to my face. I pushed a tangled mess behind my shoulder. That was when I noticed the glow coming from my chest. I tugged the collar of my hospital gown forward and glanced down. A glowing emblem was carved across my skin. My stomach opened like a volcanic pit, and my eyes shot back to Zanthiel’s, full of fear and questions. Was there an inch of my body left that hadn’t been carved into? Any part of me that was still mine?

He shook his head gravely before I even spoke a word. “I don’t know what it means. But I suspect Oberon will.”

I’d been branded with a glowing message, only decipherable by my father. A father who will exact his own brand of punishment once he discovers my escape. I couldn’t even process the depths of despondence I was feeling. In every story the villain gets what’s coming. I’d been the wicked witch, and now I was as hideous as the storybooks had painted her. I’d numbed out any possibility of feeling something for Oberon. If I let in feelings, I’d feel violated, betrayed, enraged. Filled with so much anger and hatred that I might do something that could not be undone. I’d forged a connection with my mother yet couldn’t see her. And now I had to face the father I’d wished never to see again. To grovel for forgiveness and beg him to collaborate with us in this quest to undo the MBD.

“Fun times,” I said, fighting back the urge to completely give up. I breathed a sigh. “Let’s just keep going.”

There was no time to discuss this, but mostly I didn’t want to. It was too horrible to discuss. I wanted to sink into a hole and never come out. I wanted to cut all humans to the ground and punish them for everything that was wrong in my life. But not all humans were bad. Many, like the hospital staff and my mother, Lorelei’s friends, had some redeemable qualities. I’d never had friends before. Abby was loyal, kind, full of such unconditional love for Lorelei that she endured me just because we were related.

Those humans didn’t deserve what I’d done to them. More so, they didn’t deserve what was coming. I had no choice but to deliver the MDB’s message to King Oberon. It was the very least that I could do for them.

My father might be many things, but I had to believe he wouldn’t let further harm come to Vivienne. He’d loved her once. Perhaps he loved her still. He’d seen fit to save my life when Lorelei wanted to end it. There was hope left still, now that we understood what was at stake.

War was coming, and I was its harbinger.

How fitting.

Zanthiel glanced back at me. “You still all right?”

I nodded, rolling my eyes. “Do I look like I need coddling?” I bit back a small smile.

He paused, then turned suddenly to face me. “There is something you should know, Venus. I was the one who restored your life,” he began slowly.

“Yes, yes I know this, and I’ve said thanks already, so if you’re pandering for more gratitude—"

“Just listen to me. I know you already knew that, but the part you do not know is I was ordered to do so.”

My eyes widened. “Ordered? By whom?”

“Oberon was enraged by the incident and commanded me to seek the aid of the Necromancers to restore your life. I cared for you and felt obliged to do so. I just felt you needed to know that I would not have put you through all of that, had I not been forced. I just—” He scratched his brow with his knuckle, “—thought you deserved the truth.”

I nodded, swallowing back the bile rising in my throat. “So…my father? This was his doing? He commanded you to restore my life? You... didn’t do it out of love, or the inability to go on without me?”

He looked uneasy. “I cared for you, Venus. Once. But...” He shook his head slowly. “No. It wasn’t my choice.”

My chest burned all over again, like it had that day, only this time deeper. And I was fully awake and cognizant of every sizzle of searing flesh.

“Well. Now we know. This was my father's choice,” I repeated, still sickened by the taste of the words on my tongue. He’d been taking liberties in my life he had no place taking, for years. Who was he to decide if I should live or die? A daughter he’d abandoned, forsaken, ignored. And to command another to invoke the Necromancers on his behalf. He was a coward not to exact the command himself.

“Whatever it is you’re feeling right now,” Zanthiel began, “you must know that he did what he did from a place of love.”

I moved in front of him, blocking his way. “His love—” I stared up at him, “—but not yours.” I nodded.

He merely looked away as he stepped around me and continued onwards.

Zanthiel… I’d thought he loved me more than Adrius, and that I'd loved Adrius more, but the truth was he loved Lorelei more than he'd ever loved me. They both did. And part of me began hating her all over again.

“Not much farther,” he said. He did not offer his hand, and I was glad for that.

I followed behind him, reeling in my inner turmoil. “You’d think you would have at least brought me something decent to wear.” I scowled lightly.

He chuckled, raising a puff of white cold in the night. “Of course you would complain over having nothing to wear to your rescue. Remind me to discuss your ill-timed vanity later.”

I frowned as he fished into his pack and pulled out a gown. The same one I’d worn when I left Oberon’s tower.

“You’re welcome,” he said, his silver eyes smirking.

“Well, well, aren’t you full of surprises?”

I didn’t bother to take shelter to change. I just tugged off the scrap of green fabric barely covering me and tugged the gown over my head. He laced it up from behind. But as he did, I noticed the long pause.

The markings on my back must be as disturbing as the rest. Perhaps more so. I shook it off.

“Let’s go,” I said, pulling away. Then I paused, putting my hand on his cold forearm. My voice dropped to just above a whisper. “Thank you, Zanthiel. Truly. Were it not for you, we would all be in far greater danger.”

He gave a stiff nod and led me through the cloud of mist that took us from one world, straight into another.

****

I studied our surroundings, so very different from those of the human world. White frost, alive and carnivorous, spread slowly across the land, eating away at everything in its path. Dry cold filled my lungs, and it felt familiar. Safe and suffocating at once. I longed for the temperate climate of Mythlandria. Lush foliage, green and robust with life. I’d had my fill of cold.

“I don’t envy Adrius, breaking the news about Greenbalm to his father,” I murmured as we neared my father’s fortress. “His own brother plotting to end the Nevermore’s existence, with loyal henchmen sitting dutifully at his feet.”

Zanthiel’s brows tightened. “The man you and Abby met with, what did he look like?”

“Peterson? He was tall. Large. Smug. An unnatural affection for gold. But it was his eyes I remember the most,” I finally replied.

“How so?”

“They were dead. And full of hatred. I'd never seen such eyes. And the incredible part is how he managed to hide that hatred behind a façade of detached interest. As big a fool as Lorelei is, it’s understandable that she might be willing to trust him.”

“She didn’t trust him. Only considered his offer.”

“Humanity. To live out the rest of her days as a dull and powerless mortal. Truly, has a more appealing offer ever been made?” I sneered. “Sign me up.”

“It was momentary, a fleeting weakness before she realized how flawed his plans were.”

“Well, he doesn’t see it that way. They do have plans. A lot of them. And now they're using me as their signpost. You realize, of course, for that they must die.”

He shrugged lightly, then handed me his water canteen. “Of course. But timing is key here. Our lives are being juggled by others right now, and until we regain full control of our futures, we must tread lightly.”

I choked on my mouthful of water. “What? Since when do you ever tread lightly?” I mocked. “You storm the fort and take no prisoners. That's the Shadow Faerie I need by my side right now. The one ready and willing to slice off every head on this monster.”

Zanthiel’s cold eyes grew colder, and so did the temperature around us. “I am still that being, Venus. I understand your need for vengeance. What they did to you...” His eyes grazed the scars etched into my skin and softened. “It will not go unpunished. But we have more urgent matters to untangle first. If we do not return you to Oberon's tower, neither of us will have any allies to aid us in this war. What we need is power. Real power, and I know of only one way to get it.”

Zanthiel didn't elaborate any further. Typical. He was always keeping the juiciest parts of his secrets to himself. But in that moment, I didn’t care. I had what I needed. A plan. A plan that included destroying those who'd sought to destroy me. If the Shades and the MBD wanted a war, they would have one. But not before I waged a war of my own.