Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Only if you feed her the right blood. Casey sounded so obnoxiously sure of himself. It’s a trick I’ve learned Myrddin uses on his inner circle. I’d heard rumors about it before, but I had it confirmed a few hours ago. I asked Henri to test the blood we took from Liv right after we captured her. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t carrying anything that could hurt us, but looking at it again, he managed to ID the actual demonic blood that was in her veins after her last use.
He continued speaking, explaining that Myrddin gave me blood to make me submissive. Bile rose to the back of my throat. He was lying. He had to be lying. I wasn’t going to sit here and let them talk about me this way. I threw open the door and stalked down the hall. Where were they?
I started for the salon. That seemed to be where Kelsey liked to plot and plan.
I could still hear them. Somehow the house was feeding me their conversation. They were talking about how dumb I was. They speculated that I was too stupid to do the things I’d done, so obviously Myrddin had used my body.
I jogged, my anger rising with every word they said. Evan had used Eddie’s blood not because it was the easiest to get, but because of the effect it would have on me. Because satan blood would break me down and force me to question everything I knew.
I wasn’t even sure of where I was going. The house seemed to nudge me this way or that, and then I found myself standing at the door to the library and I knew where it wanted me.
The voices stopped but not before I heard about how they would stuff that piece of my soul back inside once they found it.
The soul needs to be complete. My anxiety rose with each word Gray said. If we release it close to Liv, it’ll find its way back in whether she wants it or not.
All that pain I felt had been held in that piece of soul Myrddin had excised. They wanted me to be in pain.
Oh, I’ll hold her down if I have to. Casey’s words confirmed my every worry. I’m sick of that asshole having control over her. I want my wife back.
The man who was supposed to love me would force me to feel that pain again. He would hold me down and violate me like the witches.
He’s trying to make you whole again. He’s trying to break the hold Myrddin forced on you. How can you make any decisions without your soul? It’s your pain. Yours. It’s as important as love and joy and contentment. You feel nothing because there’s no happiness without pain to contrast it.
That voice hadn’t come from somewhere else in the house. No. That voice came from me.
Stupid satan blood.
I pressed through the doors and made my way up the stairs to the third level. The house wanted me here? Well, here I was. I hoped she’d made some progress because I couldn’t go on this way. I needed my power. Not my pain.
If I had my pain, I had my guilt, my remorse, my regret. If they forced that piece of my soul back, I would have to deal with the last dozen years of fucking trauma. If they were right about what had happened, I would have to acknowledge how stupid I’d been.
Not happening. They could go fuck themselves.
I shoved through the door that only seemed to open for me and the woman stood there, staring down at a bowl which seemed to glow. Her fair skin was illuminated by the reddish hue that came from the bowl. It looked like she was bathed in blood.
Her face turned my way, and the moment was broken. “You heard? It didn’t seem fair that they were discussing your future without a single thought to including you.”
“You can hear everything?” Something about the room felt off to me. There was a chill that went through the air, and I could feel the magic she was using prickling against my skin.
“Of course,” she said absently. “I am the house and the house is me. Nothing occurs here that I am not aware of. I know you are a prisoner here, and I can hear you crying out to be free.”
I wouldn’t have said I was crying about it, exactly. There were some things that were nice.
But there would be a price for comfortable beds and warm hugs and a vampire who told me he loved me.
“Are you closer to freeing my magic?” I didn’t want to talk about feelings with this being.
Her eyes were pitch black and her hair looked light, almost white, in the eerie glow of the room. “See for yourself.”