Page 112 of Cryptic Dreams
“I love you,”I send with a sigh.
“And I, you, my gentle breeze.” Then my mate kisses my lips sweetly before issuing orders to my cousins to stay close to me then turning to face the masses again. “I’ll have order here or else you’ll all be tucking tail and returning home to report on nothing but your ridiculous behavior in front of your soon-to-be queen. And I’m sure that’ll have your armies tickled fucking pink.”
No one says a word—in their heads or otherwise—but bow in submission then wait eagerly for my wicked prince to speak.
“The first order of business pertains to weaponry.” Wraith picks up a small remote from the podium and points it over his shoulder where a large screen flickers to life. “Upon detaining the individuals responsible for killing Jonatha and making an attempt on mine and my mate’s life, we discovered they were moving mass quantities of the UVS serum as well as a new, more lethal one.”
He presses the button again and an image I don’t need to see comes up on the screen, a picture of Gwendolyn seconds before Wraith injected her with XVS-3791. Pushing the button again, he turns as he projects a series of photos taken throughout the interrogation, rapid fire shots that practically show the progression of the liquid from the time it entered her veins until I walked into the room, and instead of looking at that, I watch the crowd.
They’re horrified.
Horrified, disgusted, scared, and anxious.
And they’re riveted to the screen behind me, so focused that their thoughts remain silent and I’m able to push aside my own unease so I can attempt to get a read on them.
I know Wraith trusts these people but I don’t, and I’ve had concerns ever since the inner circle meeting the night we mated.
Not about the core group, those closest to my mate that are here now as well, but something just feels off about all of this and I don’t like it one bit.
“Good god, man. What in the blazing hell is doing that?” the stocky man asks.
“XVS-3791. The latest in vampire slaying weapons and technology.” Wraith turns as he stops on the final slide, facing him as well as everyone else. “This all happened within a matter of minutes, less than ten I’d say. Prior to injecting her, the female only sustained minor injuries and nothing that would have created a true vulnerability. It wasn’t until I gave her a relatively small dose that she started to deteriorate before our eyes.”
The blonde woman shivers and rubs her arms as if she has a chill, her shoulders lifting toward her ears while she takes a deep breath. “That looks like what happens when someone is put to death in The Pit.”
Wraith nods. “Except it’s as though the sun wasinsidethe body, working its way outward.”
“Why is it so powerful? What makes it so different?”
“We’re currently working on deconstructing the serum. It was only just discovered yesterday but we’re on top of it, as well as a new casing we found to turn it into bullets.” My mate sets the remote down and lifts his hands in a calming gesture as the crowd grows restless again. “Lydia is on it. We will have more answers within the next day or two but until then you need to make sure you’re letting your soldiers know that something like this exists, and it could be circulating amongst the general population as we speak.”
“My lord,” says a small voice from the back of the room. One that seems to part the crowd and allows us a clear view of the female it belongs to.
“Ah, Lorna, I wasn’t sure if you would be able to make it.” Wraith motions for her to come forward. “You have a question, yeah?”
She nods as she makes her way down to the front, her many skirts flowing as she moves, the beads and bells at the edges of the layers of fabric softly jingling with each step. She looks between us as she stops, the ancient female searching my mate’s face before landing on mine and when she does, I nearly gasp.
I know her.
Not in the way Wraith or anyone else here does, not because she must have been the one to treat me after I blacked out, but I do. Something inside me recognizes this female on a deeper level and when we lock eyes it’s all I can do to not weep over the unusual connection.
“Oracles born of flesh and bone. Prophecies created from blood and sunlight. Vicious claws dig at poisoned roots, unburying the savage king. Wretched beasts rise on flightless wings, reaching for their brutal queen. The moon and sun, the courts unite, sifting ashes from the sand, awakening he who forever sleeps. Death and sorrow, love and rebirth. They wait for you, Zephyr. They are all waiting for you.”
My heart starts hammering inside my chest as I move toward her, the healer holding out her hand for me to take as her thoughts resound in my head.
And so help me, I do. I slide my gloveless palm against hers and the second we’re skin to skin, a thousand memories—myownmemories—slam to the forefront of my mind.
My parents, my life from the time I was little. I see moments in time I must have forgotten, days I buried deep down. Over two hundred years rush through my mind and I sway on my feet from the speed alone, right up until they come to a screeching halt and I’m thrown into that horrible dream.
Flames. Violence. Destruction.
Pain, loss, and devastation.
It’s still unclear and terrifying, still abstract and confusing, but through the chaos I see a figure come into focus.
I seeme.
Probably three or four years old, there is no doubt the little girl walking amongst the wreckage is me and when I’m only a few feet away, she starts chanting the words the healer spoke in my mind.
