Chapter 53 Night 2
Sebastian POV
The fire crackles softly in the center of the small campsite we chose for the night. It seemed to come quickly. Honestly, I thought I’d have gotten to Amara by now. But it would seem that isn’t the case.
It’s night 2 in the dark forest.
The fire's orange light pushed back the darkness just enough to make the clearing feel safe. Not warm exactly, but safe enough to breathe again.
After the cavern.. I’ll take it. That was goddess awful. I swear it to the moons.
My clothes have fully dried, now. We’ve hunted and found ourselves a quiet nook right at the top of a waterfall. What looks like steam curls faintly from the edge of the waterfall.
It’s quite beautiful. For it being the dark forest and all.
I rub my hands together and lean closer to the fire.
“Remind me again,” Luther mutters from across the flames, poking at a log with a stick, “why we let you be the one to dive?”
I shoot him a look. “Because none of you volunteered first. Besides. It’s my mate we’re all putting our lives on the line for.”
“And she’s our QUEEN.” Aven snorts quietly beside him, and he nods in agreement. “I might not have gotten the chance to know her personally, but I can tell she’s made you softer. And that takes a special kind of person. She is your goddess-given mate, after all.“
I swallow at the idea. Have I become softer? Is it a bad thing? Is that why she’s been taken?
I sigh and look at Sybil.
She sits cross-legged near the fire, the two artifacts laid carefully on a folded piece of cloth in front of her. The flickering light dances across the objects, making them look even stranger than they did before.
Even now, it makes the hair on my arms stand up.
The thing looks like a lump of blackened crystal the size of my fist, but the crimson veins trapped inside it glow faintly beneath the surface.
I could feel the heart pulsating, though.. like it’s alive.
Alive in a way that doesn’t make any sense.
Sybil studies the heart with the quiet focus she always brings to magic. Her fingers hover just above it but never quite touch it.
“Two,” Luther says after a moment, leaning back against a fallen log. “That makes two artifacts.”
He glances at Sybil.
“Out of three.”
The fire pops loudly.
Sybil finally nods.
“Yes. I feel like this one is going to be quite easy to find. Everyone should get some rest soon. I’ve created a shield around us using the energy from the earth here. It’s quite potent by this waterfall.”
For a moment, nobody says anything.
“What do you mean? Because of the connection to the first two?” Aven asked.
“Well, I believe I may already know where it is,” Sybil says, eyeing everyone.
And somehow that thought makes my stomach twist instead of relax.
Aven pulls her cloak tighter around her shoulders, staring into the flames. “You know where it is?”
“I am about nine-hundred and ninety-nine point nine-nine-seven percent sure,” she says.
Her eyes flick toward me. “We will get your mate back soon.”
I nod in agreement. I could sense her seriousness.
Breaking the seriousness, Luther chimes in.
“I bet it was scary, yeah?”
“Terrifying,” I correct.
The memory of it flashes through my mind again. That enormous body coiled through the cavern like a living mountain. The way the water moved when it breathed.
And those teeth.
“Trust me,” I mutter. “You don’t want to meet it awake.”
Aven shudders slightly and looks back to the fire.
Sybil finally lifts the Petrified Heart carefully, turning it in the light. The red veins inside it shimmer faintly as it moves.
“The magic in this thing is ancient,” she murmurs.
“Older than the crown fragment?”
“Much. I wonder how Cassian was able to do this spell. With such objects.. I don’t know. Something about it is off.”
That gets everyone’s attention.
Luther leans forward slightly. “How do you mean?”
Sybil hesitates.
“I’m not really sure just yet. But I’m working on that,” she says quietly.
The fire pops again, sending sparks twisting up into the night.
I know I have wondered the same thing.
I shift slightly, stretching my legs toward the warmth.
Before she can say anything else, a low groan comes from somewhere just beyond the edge of the firelight.
All of us freeze.
Luther’s head snaps toward the darkness.
“Who was that?”
For a second nobody answers.
Then Aven turns slowly, peering toward the shadowed edge of the clearing.
“Edgar?”
I frown.
Now that I think about it, he hasn’t said a word since we made camp.
He’s sitting a few feet outside the circle of firelight, his back leaning against a big rock. His head is bowed slightly, dark hair hanging forward and hiding most of his face.
I assumed he was resting.
“You good over there, Eddy?” Luther calls.
Still nothing.
Aven pushes herself to her feet.
“I’ll check on him.”
“Probably asleep,” I say, though something about the way Edgar is sitting feels.. wrong.
Too still.
Aven walks across the clearing, boots crunching softly over dry leaves. The firelight fades around her as she steps closer to the shadows.
“Edgar?” she says again, quieter this time.
She reaches him and crouches down slightly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then she shifts his arm slightly to get a better look at him.
The firelight finally touches his face.
And Aven screams.
The sound rips through the clearing like a blade.
Every one of us jumps to our feet instantly.
“What—”
Edgar’s head snaps upward.
Not slowly.
Not groggily.
Violently.
His eyes catch the firelight and something inside them glows faintly.
Not the warm gold of a lycan.
Something darker.
Something wrong. Familiar though.
Aven stumbles backward as Edgar lunges forward with a snarl that doesn’t sound even remotely human.
Teeth bared.
Hands clawing.
“Aven!” Luther shouts.
He reaches her just as Edgar launches out of the shadows, his movement jerky and animalistic. His lips peel back from his teeth in a savage growl as he swipes at her.
I move without thinking.
In two strides I’m between them, grabbing Edgar’s arm and shoving him back.
“Edgar! What the hell are you doing?!”
He slams into me with surprising strength.
His head jerks wildly, eyes rolling as his gaze locks onto my throat like a predator tracking prey.
Recognition doesn’t touch his face.
Not even a flicker.
The smell hits me then.
Rot.
I grab his shoulder to shove him back again.
My hand lands directly on something wet.
The sleeve of his shirt is torn open.
And the bite beneath it is.. wrong.
Black veins spiderweb across his skin from the wound, crawling up his neck like dark roots beneath the flesh.
The flesh around the bite looks gray.
Dead.
“Luther..” Aven whispers behind me.
Edgar snarls again, snapping his teeth inches from my face.
That’s when it hits me.
The rogues.
Did the one who jumped on him from behind get him?
I thought it was nothing.
I was wrong.
Edgar thrashes violently in my grip, muscles jerking like his body is fighting itself.
For a split second his eyes flicker.
Something human flashes through them.
Pain.
Confusion.
Then his mouth opens.
“Kill.. me..”
The words barely leave his lips before the darkness swallows him again.
Edgar screams.
And launches straight for us.