Page 12 of The Prophecy
If he was honest—yes?
It had seemed such a simple way out of the problem of the Council demanding her death and the fulfillment of the prophecy in their favor. Once she was no longer a virgin, then there would be no point in sacrificing her. And the sooner the better. He didn’t trust Lukas.
But he clearly hadn’t taken into account what Raven had been though in the last few years. And he suspected that she had some major guilt in her mind. Had blamed herself for some of the things she had been forced to do.
He’d seen a flash of shame in her face.
Likely, it wasn’t so much having sex with him she was against—or was that just wishful thinking on his part?—but, rather, she didn’t feel she deserved to be free and maybe she was afraid and ashamed to face the world outside, especially her father.
How could he convince her that she had nothing to be ashamed of?
“What aren’t you telling me?” Darius knew him so well. They’d once been friends. Before that friendship had been torn apart. Kael blamed the witches. As he blamed them for so much else. Though if he was totally honest, so much could have been avoided if only he’d kept his temper that day, had behaved differently. Or if Darius hadn’t stolen the witch in the first place and then gotten her with child. There was blame enough to spread around.
He took a deep breath, trying to decide what to tell the vampire. How much to reveal. There were some things a man should not hear about his daughter. Like his ex-best friend had offered to relieve her of her virginity. But it must have occurred to Darius, even if he had never spoken the words out loud.
“She’s…damaged. She been there for seven years; it would be surprising if it hadn’t affected her. They brought her humans. Forced her to drink. Then killed them in front of her.”
“Jesus.”
“She blames herself for their deaths.”
“I once told her that she should never take the blood of innocents,” Darius murmured. He turned away, pressed his fingers to his scalp.
“She had no choice,” Kael said.
Darius swung around, fury on his face. He snarled, revealing the tip of one sharp white fang, and his eyes bled to crimson. “You think I don’t fucking know that?”
“Control yourself.” Kael could hold his own against the vampire, but it would hardly help things if they came to blows.
Darius breathed slowly, and the rage left his face. “Can we get her out?”
“Yes. If we go in after darkness. We’ll stage an attack as soon as night falls. In the chaos, I’ll free her. Just be ready to get her away. I don’t trust some of the Council.”
“Thank you.”
“We all hold some of the blame for this. I just hope she agrees to come with me. She has no love of the Council.”
Darius moved toward him, rested a hand on his shoulder. “Just do what you have to. Get my daughter out, and we’ll worry about the rest afterward. Death is the only real finality. As long as she’s alive, somehow I’ll make things right.”
