Chapter 47 Seed

Chapter 47 Seed
The silence that followed Vesper’s ultimatum was heavy.

Senator Bianchi stared at his son. For a moment, the red  in his eyes threatened to flare up again. But he maintained his cool.

He also looked at me, and down at my arm. He had felt that power. He knew he couldn't fight us both in a confined space and win.

The Senator made a noise in his throat—a sound of pure disgust. He didn't offer a parting threat. He didn't look back. He turned on his heel and stalked up the stone stairs, pushing past a stunned Julian. We heard his heavy footsteps crossing the cottage floor, followed by the slam of the front door and the roar of his SUV engine peeling away into the night.

He was gone. But the vacuum he left behind sucked the remaining adrenaline right out of the room.

My knees buckled. The agony in my shoulder, held at bay by sheer terror, crashed down on me. I cried out, stumbling.

Vesper caught me. His grip was firm, his hands hot against my skin, but he moved with a careful, agonizing slowness. He was in no better shape than I was. Up close, I could see the damage his father had inflicted on gimself while in his feral state. One eye was swelling shut, his lip was split, and his torso was a map of burgeoning bruises and claw marks.

"I've got you," he rasped, his voice wrecked from the screaming. He looked down at me. "Sylvania, I’m so sorry. The wolf... I couldn't stop it."

"You came back," I whispered, leaning my forehead against his bloody chest. "That's all that matters."

"Upstairs. Both of you. Now," Estava’s voice floated down, sharp and pragmatic.

Getting up the stairs was a torture session. Vesper insisted on taking the side with my bad shoulder, taking most of my weight even though every step made him hiss through his teeth.

Julian was waiting at the top. He looked at Vesper—naked, battered—with wide, shell-shocked eyes. Julian had just defied his Alpha for the first time in his life.

"Ves," Julian breathed. "Man, are you..."

"I'm here, Jules," Vesper said, his voice flat. He paused, looking at his friend. "You stood against him."

"He was going to kill you," Julian said, his voice shaking.

Vesper nodded slowly. A silent communication passed between them—a shifting of loyalty. 

We emerged into the firelit cottage. Aleera was waiting with blankets and a basin of hot water, her face pale with terror. When she saw Vesper, she quickly averted her eyes, blushing, and threw a large wool blanket around his shoulders.

Estava pointed to the low cot near the fire. "Sit him down. Girl, you on the bench. Let me see that shoulder."

Vesper guided me to the bench before collapsing onto the cot. He leaned his head back against the stone hearth, closing his eyes. The sheer exhaustion rolling off him was palpable.

Estava cut away the shoulder of my borrowed sweater with a small knife. I gritted my teeth against the pain as her gnarled fingers probed the area.

"Broken collarbone," she pronounced grimly. "Clean break, fortunately. I can set it, but it’s going to hurt like hell."

She looked across at Vesper. "And you. Three cracked ribs, a concussion, and enough soft tissue damage to keep a normal man down for a month. Your hybrid healing is already working, but you'll be useless for at least twenty-four hours."

She bustled off to her shelves, mixing up a concoction in her usual manner. Aleera began tentatively cleaning the blood and mud from Vesper’s arms with a warm rag. He didn't move, just let her work, his eyes still closed.

"The vision," he murmured, the words barely audible.

I looked over at him, ignoring the throbbing in my shoulder. "What about it?"

His eyes opened, fixing on mine.

“I think it’s incomplete,” he stated, causing all eyes to be focused on him. “That shouldn’t have been it. I mean, how did our souls reincarnate if that was just it? A lot of mates have gotten killed in that manner, but I don’t hear stories of them being reincarnated, talk less of being conduits for psycho witches.”

There was a pregnant pause in the room. Estava walked towards him, extending a warm cup of her new concoction to him.

“That would depend on what you saw,” she said, then turned her back on him back to the cauldron. “Tell me what you saw in full details.”

Vesper explained all he had seen, and I did the same. What we had watched through our lenses was similar, except for the the differences in our points of view.

“What happened after we both died? How did our souls reincarnate? How did Hera get to… possess me? Why is Sylvania a vessel? I mean… it’s not adding up. And I have so many questions."

“Yeah,” Julian voiced. “Something sounds like it is definitely missing.”

"I suppose you only saw that far because it was all the ritual could let you see," Elara said, returning with a foul-smelling paste and linen bandages. "Or, she found a way to edit the memories."

“You got to be kidding me,” Aleera said, throwing her head back.

Estava moved towards me and slapped the paste onto my shoulder. I cried out at the stinging cold.

"Hold her still, boy," Estava barked at Julian. He hurried over, placing his hands firmly on my good shoulder and my head.

Estava gripped my arm. "On three. One, two, three."

There was a sickening crunch. The world went white at the edges.

When the room came back into focus, my arm was strapped tight against my chest in a sling, and a dull, throbbing ache had replaced the sharp agony.

Vesper was sitting up on the cot, watching me with naked concern, looking ready to bolt to my side if I so much as whimpered.

Estava wiped her hands on her apron and turned to face me, her expression graver than I had ever seen it.

"Now," the old seer said, her voice low. "Let’s talk about that light show in the cellar."

The room went very quiet. Even Julian stopped fidgeting.

"I... I don't know what happened," I stammered, fear icing my veins. "I just needed him to stop. I needed to protect Vesper. And it just... exploded out of me."

"Violet energy," Estava said and leaned in close, her bird-like eyes boring into mine. "That wasn't your magic, girl. That was hers."

My blood ran cold. "Hera's?"

"You tapped into the seed," Estava confirmed grimly. "You used her power to defend your mate. It was effective. It saved your lives."

She turned away, walking to the frosted window, looking out into the dark, misty night where the Senator's SUV had been.

"But every time you draw on that well, Sylvania, you thin the walls of the prison. You gave her an opening tonight. You let her taste the air."

Estava turned back, her face stark in the firelight.

"Before tonight, we had maybe a week before the Onyx Moon, before she was strong enough to try and take you. But after that display?"

She shook her head slowly.

"You just rang the dinner bell. She knows you're awakening, your body learning to channel power. She knows he's awake. And she's coming for you both. My wards won't hold her now. We have to leave this mountain at dawn."