Page 35 of Grave Devil
My stomach turns, and I have to fight to keep the bile down. “What a fucking monster. Those poor girls…”
Draven wraps his arms around my waist and presses his cheek to my chest. “The thought of him, or anyone close to him, tormenting you makes me want to do monstrous things. We need to lure him out, Mia. I can’t kill him if he’s only in your head.”
Another flutter of nerves swarms in my belly. I hadn’t even given it that much thought. “The voice started a few weeks after I carved my oath into the Wishing Tree. I thought it was exhaustion or the remnants left over from living all my life in two worlds. No one has any idea what it’s like to have a nightmare man visit you every time you close your eyes. I was so used to it. I love Nox, but there were times when I wanted him gone. I’m ashamed to even say that.”
Draven holds me tighter, his embrace a cocoon I never want to leave. “I understand, my love. He does, too, by the way. Don’t feel shame. You have had a really hard fucking life. It’s not fair that the devil’s doing this to you. You’ve given him so much already.”
I blink back tears, refusing to feel sorry for myself. There are those who have had it far worse than me. When I think about Aries’s sister, the way she grew up getting passed around by her father to his business associates… it makes me sick. Sometimes I think I was better off being an orphan. At least the nuns were kind to me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t want to burden you when I could see you were going through something too. Plus, you’ve been so busy with the poison fields and the gin company. I thought I could handle it alone.”
He squeezes me tighter. “Never. You canalwayscome to me, Trouble. But even if you feel you can’t, go to Bones or Aries or Nox. Fuck, even Lettie. But please don’t try to go at it alone. Especially when it comes to the shadows of Ever Graves. We alsoknow a thing or two about monsters. No one is better equipped to help you with them than us.”
I nod and thread my fingers through his thick black strands, loving the way he softly mewls at my touch. “I know. Never again. No more secrets. I promise.”
“Good.”
“Speaking of Lettie, I’m meeting her tonight for dinner. We should probably wrap up our tour soon so I can go home and shower first. She’ll be mortified if I walk into Duff’s smelling like dusty cobwebs.” I wrinkle my nose as I catch a whiff of them.
Draven chuckles. “We should head back then. Better to not incur the wrath of a Crane.”
As we shuffle out the door, a hint of blue catches my eye. “Wait. What is this?” I reach down between the cot and the bedside table to find a baby-blue ribbon. It’s crimped as if it used to be part of a braid or loop. It’s got a little dirt smudged on it, but other than that, the ribbon is still in good condition.
I hold it up. “Do you think this belonged to one of the girls who was murdered here?”
Draven’s eyes widen. He shakes his head. “I think I’ve seen it in a portrait. It might have belonged to one of the Bishop sisters.”
My breath hitches, excitement coursing through my veins. “Can I keep it? I can’t imagine they’d want this lying on the floor of a creepy old cabin.”
He nods. “Whatever you want, Trouble. I’m sure they’d be honored that it’s with a descendant of one of their friends.”
I stuff it into the pocket of my leather jacket and zip it closed. For some reason, having it makes me feel stronger. Like I’m somehow more capable of dealing with the Skelker now.
Thebefore, before.
Evigheden, early 1600s.
LUCY BISHOP
Adebt owed and etched in blood is unbreakable. No good will ever come from deals made in the dark. But I will not break my promise. It’s the only thing that will keep me, my sister, and my lovers safe.
I hold the torch unsteadily. The flame spits at me, warning me to turn back. But I’ve come too far into the woods. That is the story I tell myself. The one I will continue to tell myself long past this evening when I’m eaten alive by guilt in the middle of the night.
It seems a lifetime ago that we were children playing on the edges of these very tree lines. I can almost smell Mama’s porridge bubbling in the cauldron. That same metal pot that kept me safe from the flames when his vengeance destroyed the town.
Oh, how I wish Imogen and I had run away. I don’t regret falling in love. The gods only know where I might be without my precious Vale, Cage, and Atreus, but there was a time when I had wanted something different for myself. And for my older sister…
But like little white lies that compound upon each other, so do oaths and promises as they twist and grow. They become curses, circling us like a pit of snakes. I tell myself it is for the good of all. For survival. But as I scurry past Devil’s Rock in the middle of the night like a grifter, I find my way into the very forest I used to fear. The deal I intend to make is the one that will cross a line I can never come back from.
For survival isn’t just about food and water and shelter. No, it’s so much greater than that. It’s about power and autonomy. Without either of those, we stay enslaved. And I’d rather die than be at the mercy of the gods. So I must serve one devil in order to free us from those who do not serve us.
May my future children, and their children, forgive me for what I’m about to do.
Not far from the warded house of the Four Horsemen lies a cottage. It’s old and unkempt. The windows are boarded up and the floorboards broken. Even now, after all these centuries, I can sense the death in this place.
The acrid scent of blood still lingers in the musty rooms. I don’t like being in here. The imprints of those who have been tortured claw at my skin, my bones; they scrape and tear at the fibers of my soul. Not quite ghosts, but lingering particles of energy still clinging to the life they were taken from.
I grab onto the railing and try to steady my pulse as I make my way upstairs to the bedroom. This is where my sister Imogen and one of her horsemen came during the last Wild Hunt. He did things to her here… But their pleasure could not erase the tragedies that had taken place inside these walls before them.
