Page 148 of Tainted Souls
“He doesn’t need to answer.” Lexa trains her crossbow steadily on Ace’s heart, unaware it won’t kill him. “I saw him tear everyone apart with my own eyes.”
“Seraph,” Ace calls, his eyes burning into mine with a desperation I have never seen on him before. “Think.” He tries to rise, but he’s been weakened too much. “I was with you in the cave until sunset. When would I’ve had time?”
“You left,” I say, recalling the fresh blood I smelled on him when he returned from ‘scouting.’ Even if he hadn’t done it with his own hands, he could’ve commanded it—the unspoken agreement passing between them right before our departure. The reason why they split from us.
He coughs, vitae speckling his lips. “For an hour.”
“Vampires can move fast when they want to.” Lexa steps closer, her weapon never wavering. “Especially vampires like you.” The way she’s looking at him, with such fear and loathing,makes me realize how far I have drifted from my Redmoore roots. Just weeks ago, I looked at him the same way.
And I never should have stopped.
“If I wanted them dead,” Ace says, trying to reason with me, “why would I leave them here for you to find? Why not hide the bodies?”
“Have you ever?” I spit, anger flaring, my chest flooding with heat.
“If you didn’t want an alliance,” Lexa says, her gaze cold now, ready to pull the trigger, “you could’ve said so, instead of going behind our backs to save face in front of Seraph. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?You cult leader. This was all a part of your plan to get her on your side.”
Sudden movement erupts from the forest edge. Kale and Palina leap from the shadows to defend their leader.
Lexa reacts instantly, firing her crossbow at Kale while drawing a blade with her free hand. Reece and Irene shouldn’t be too far either.
I’m about to scramble for anything I can use as a weapon when Lexa shouts at me, “Come on!”
She grabs my arm and pulls me away from the chaos. I let her drag me, my instincts screaming that something’s wrong but unable to place what. Behind us, Ace roars in unbridled ferocity despite his injuries, the sounds of combat growing more intense.
We run until the noise fades, stopping in a small hollow surrounded by dense undergrowth. Lexa leans against a tree, breathing hard.
“We don’t have much time,” she says.
I shake my head, struggling to process. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would he do that right before our meeting? When we’re trying to form an alliance?”
“Because they’re not interested in an alliance, Seraph.” She grabs my shoulders, frustration building. “They’re playing you.Using you to get inside Redmoore’s defenses. Think about it. They’ve always hated us. Why change now?”
Her logic makes a twisted kind of sense, but it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that they’d jeopardize Saul’s rescue.
Unless that was never their intention.
“You don’t understand,” I counter, though my argument feels like it’s losing its foundation. “He’s not the type to orchestrate something like this. He’d be way more discreet.”
Stress is evident in her face. And I get it. If anyone has seen as many deaths by vampires as I have, it’d be Lexa. “Are you hearing yourself right now? Nothing about that massacre was discreet, and neither was Operation Wraith. What makes you think this time’d be different?”
She’s right. Why would I take his word over his actions in the past?
My heart sinks. All the times I allowed myself to tune out while they debated strategy—was that my biggest mistake? Should I have seen the signs? Did I ignore them because I decided to give Ace a chance? I feel stupid, embarrassed, naive.
I replay every glance, every word I half-listened to, trying to piece together something I should have known. What is theirrealplan? Was I ever truly part of it, or just a weapon waiting to be pointed?
“What now?” I ask, voice strained.
Lexa’s posture relaxes, though her eyes remain vigilant, scanning the forest around us. “Reinforcements are on the way. General Lee is aware of the situation.” She holsters her weapons with a decisive click. “The deal is off.”
The finality of her words rips away the hope I’d been clinging to.
Everything we’ve worked for, the tenuous alliance that might have saved my brother and mother… gone. I turn away from her, unable to bear the pity in her eyes. My hands find their way tomy hair, fingers digging into my scalp as if I could physically pull the confusion from my mind. My head throbs, each pulse bringing a new wave of doubt and recrimination.
How could I have been so blind? So willing to believe?To trust.
“I’m sorry, Seraph,” Lexa says softly behind me.
