Page 68 of Grave Devil
We stand in each other’s presence without speaking, listening to the rain pour down on the grass and the stone veranda. It’s one of my favorite things about Nox and me that we can relish these small things together.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you and your father, but I didn’t want to intrude, and I didn’t want to go back inside. Aries and Bones are insufferable right now. And Mia is resting.”
I clasp his warm hand in mine. “Don’t be silly. I have no secrets from you. You’re welcome anywhere I am.”
“What will you call him?” The nightmare men do not have names until they are given one.
“My mother called him Fate, but I will call him Father.” It felt strange saying it out loud, but I’ve been screaming it in my head since I first encountered his shadow. “Besides, it feels more natural than when I used to say it to Noble Blackwell. That pathetic leech didn’t deserve the title.” I want to wallow again,tempted by the heaviness in the air. Sadness is like breathing for me. It feels as right as this rain.
Nox murmurs something under his breath. A sympathetic gurgle for my plight. “You’ve had many men in your life who have let you down. But more who have had your back. Rodrick, Bones, Aries, and now me… But as your father said, it is the divine energy of women that is needed now. And one last sacrifice…”
“I’ll do it. I’ll make the deal. A soul for a soul. I don’t care about the After anyway. If Mia is not in it, then I won’t be either. I’ll give up my place there in exchange for Sonny to remain here with us.” I slip my tie completely off and stuff it into my pocket. But the sensation of the noose remains.
Nox shakes his head. “You can’t, beautiful one. I’m sorry, but it has to be a Crane. Only Bones, Lettie, or Felix can trade their soul for his. Blood begets blood.”
My stomach curdles. Fuck. I down the rest of my drink. “Damn. Bones will not let them sacrifice themselves. And that’s going to break Aries’s heart.”
“It breaks mine thinking about it. That they won’t be together in the After or here…” Nox laments.
I step out from under the veranda and turn my head up to the sky. I close my eyes as the rain pounds against my face and drenches me. There has to be a way to keep us all together forever.
“I will not accept this!” I yell. The thunder roars above us, shaking the ground beneath our feet. I open my eyes just as an electric bolt lights up the sky. It’s enough to reveal what lurks in the dark. Beyond the trees, shadowy figures gather. Fuck.
Nox pulls me back. “Come. Let’s go back inside before those things get any closer.”
I’m tempted to run toward it. The same way one feels the pull of gravity on top of a high-rise building. It’s unexplainable and ridiculous, but it beckons, all the same.
“Draven, please. They aren’t like us,” Nox pleads as he tugs me back.
I shake my head and pull myself out of my stupor. “I will not accept this,” I repeat.
As soon as we’re back inside, I spin around and press my face to the window. There’s nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. As if those things were never even there.
A burning pit of dread sits in my stomach. All our lives are about to change forever…
ARIES
We don’t keep secrets from each other.Oh yes, we fucking do. But I only like them if they’re mine.
This need to know what they’re talking about is overwhelming. I’m gone for five minutes, and they’re huddling in the corner, whispering about fuck knows what. I had to peek in on Mia to make sure Bones’s psycho brother hadn’t broken free and strangled her to death. Although, by the feral looks he was giving her, he’s more likely to choke her with his cock first.
I amble over to their little trust circle and insert myself in true Thorn fashion. “What have I missed?”
“How’s Mia?” Nox asks a little too quickly for my liking.
“She’s fine. What are you three discussing behind my back?” I don’t beat around the bush. Never have.
Bones and Draven exchange a pensive look. But before I can ask what the fuck that was for, Bones grabs my arm and leads me toward the sweeping staircase. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere private.”
We settle on one of the lavish guest rooms. The bed is draped in burgundy velvet blankets, black satin sheets, and golden ropes that hang from the black lace canopy. The bedposts aredark cherrywood, etched with carvings of ancient symbols, most likely Nocturnus markings.
Back when Nocturnus was first formed, all of the families were members. So it’s not surprising that Harker Mansion has evidence of that. Eventually, they, along with the Wickfords and the Bishops, broke away from Nocturnus due to disagreements and power struggles.
In the present day, the members are few, with only the Graves, some Thorns,me not included, plus Maureen Blackwell—the first woman to hold a high rank—and the addition of the Erebus family, who came along much later in our history.
“We need all of the founding families in order to close the veil,” Bones blurts out as soon as he closes the door behind us.
I guess I’m not the only one with old Melancholia lore on the brain. “That’s what you brought me up here to talk about?” I snap.
