A Beautiful Evil

Page 23

“Athena wants to see you in the garden. This will prevent him from using magic outside the temple. You she doesn’t see as a threat.” She smirked at me and gestured for the guards to continue.
I knew Athena wanted me to use my power, but I had to wonder if she would be able to block me in the first place. Unlike Sebastian, I didn’t draw on energy. I didn’t use magic. My power came from Athena’s words, her curse. Maybe she had no spell or jewelry for that. Or maybe she was just messing with my head.
Beyond the long line of tables were columns that led into the garden, walled on two sides. The sun had just set, leaving the sky a mix of purple, pink, and fading orange. Apparently, my inner clock was way off. A breeze blew over the garden. I drew the clean, fragrant air into my lungs—so welcome after the thick heat of the prison.
Several cherry trees in full bloom dotted the garden. White and pink blossoms floated in the air, landing on my hair and shoulders. Ahead of us columns rose up to form a rectangular gazebo, and beyond it was the lake.
My boots sank into the soft grass. We walked up the three wide steps into the marble gazebo set with chaise lounges, chairs, and tables.
The sound of a splash drew my attention. The guards released us and stepped back to hover just outside the structure. I walked to the other side of the gazebo, staring down the gentle slope of grass dotted with tall trees to the banks of the water.
Athena was walking from the water, hair slicked back and wet, her black one-piece bathing suit glistening. She held a small white alligator cradled in one arm; it practically glowed against the black of her suit. Pascal. Without a doubt, I knew it was him. Athena bent down and let him crawl off her forearm onto the gray rocks.
My breath hitched as he waddled over the rocks toward a small child sitting with her back propped against a rock. I couldn’t see her face, but the tiny pale hands that reached out and gathered the alligator into her lap were unmistakable.
“It’s Violet,” I breathed, goose bumps shooting up my arms and thighs.
No wonder I hadn’t found Pascal; he was here with Violet. Athena must have sent one of her minions to get him and bring him here. She was trying to win Violet over even though the little girl had stabbed her in the heart. The question was, why?
“Don’t turn your head, but look up to your right,” Sebastian said quietly.
A hawk was perched high in a tree overlooking the lake. Second shock of the day. I had to force myself not to gape. “Do you think . . . ?”
“I don’t know. Let’s pray like hell it is.”
If Henri had survived . . . Hope stirred in my chest, but it was a tight, hot feeling, one that was too afraid to believe such a thing was possible.
Athena had approached Violet and was speaking to her in soft, friendly tones, and then she looked up and saw us. She spoke to Violet again, and then Violet vanished, simply gone.
Athena sauntered up the grassy hill. In midstep she went from bathing suit to white Greek gown. The kind you see on ancient statues. Her hair was piled onto her head and set with a simple gold band. The material of the gown brushed the tips of gold sandals. She finally looked the part of Greek goddess.
She lifted the gown and came up the steps, letting it fall once she reached the floor of the gazebo. “Enjoying your stay?” She swept past us, motioning to the guards to bring us along.
We had no choice but to follow her back through the garden. The fires around the temple had been lit, and it was nearly dark now. The light from the temple’s interior glowed brightly. The noise and smells of another feast drifted in the air.
Inside, food and drink were being set onto the tables and guests had already been seated. My blood pressure rose. I knew I couldn’t handle watching my father ripped to shreds again.
When I saw that the pool had been covered with a slab of thick wood, I almost sank to my knees in relief. Then one of the guards yanked Sebastian away from me and my heart dropped like a stone. My guard took me to Athena’s table and shoved me into a chair next to her as Sebastian was led to the covered pool.
The wooden slab was polished and smooth. Bolted into the wood were metal rings. The guards forced Sebastian onto the platform and then to his knees. They chained him to the rings. Once they were done, they left him, ankles and wrists shackled with enough slack for him to move, but not enough to stand.
My throat went dry and thick as dread-laced panic began to gather, pushing my heart rate into overdrive.
Athena dropped down beside me. “I bet you’re dying to know what I plan. It’s going to be good, a stroke of genius, really.” She gave me a smug look and then nodded to her left.
A woman stepped from the shadows. The firelight passed through the sheer material of her gown, outlining the shape of her hips and breasts. Her dark hair was down, falling in waves to her lower back.
She walked toward Sebastian like they were the only ones in existence. The males in the room followed her with lust in their eyes as she circled around the platform and then stopped behind Sebastian.
His eyes found mine and locked on.
Time stopped.
She stepped onto the wood, went down on her knees behind him, and pressed her front against his back, trailing her hands over his arms and finally tilting his head to one side. Exposing his neck.
And then with sickening clarity, I understood.
Athena leaned close to me, her shoulder brushing mine. “Zaria is one of the most gluttonous vampires I’ve ever known. She particularly loves to drink from other vampires.”
Sebastian’s gaze never wavered. He seemed to separate himself from what was happening by latching on to me. I couldn’t look away, wouldn’t look away, not when he needed me.
I sat there, nails digging into my palms and tears blurring my vision. I had power and I was such an amateur loser that I couldn’t control it, couldn’t even concentrate enough to stir anything.
Athena patted my arm. “It’s okay, little gorgon. You’re just a baby. No one expects you to save him. Not that he’ll want to be saved.” She chuckled.
The hate that gripped me was harsher and more vicious than anything I’d ever known. And it stirred the monster in me. My eyelids slid closed and I directed my concentration deep within me.
“Chill, gorgon,” Athena hissed in my ear, “or you’ll miss the best part.”
I shouldn’t have looked. Looking made me lose the tiny hold I’d gained over my power.
From behind, Zaria looped one arm around Sebastian’s chest and the other over his forehead, holding his head back at an angle against her. And then she sank her fangs into his neck.
A moan filled the room. Her moan. A trickle of blood ran down Sebastian’s pale skin. His eyes blinked once with her pierce and then they stayed on me.
My heart hammered so fast, I went dizzy, swaying in my seat and having to grab the table for support.
The beings in the room watched in fascination, some eating slowly as the vampire went on drinking for what seemed like an eternity.
I couldn’t eat, couldn’t do anything but watch. When she lifted her head, her lips were ringed in red and her eyes glowed. The light in Sebastian’s eyes dimmed and they dropped from me.
He was as white as the marble outside. I started to weep.
Zaria’s knees gave out and she sat, pulling Sebastian down with her, cradling him in her lap. He looked up at her. She kissed him softly before motioning to another woman standing nearby—a servant, from the looks of her clothing, and one who appeared to be under Zaria’s spell. The servant stepped onto the platform, sank to her knees, and held out her wrist. Zaria dragged her fingernail across the servant’s skin. Blood flowed against pale skin.
Zaria took the woman’s wrist and held it to Sebastian’s nose, urging him to taste, letting the blood flow over her arms and down the side of his chin to soak his shirt.
The woman must be human, her blood more enticing. . . .
Sebastian trembled; even from this distance I could see it. The chains rattled. My body had turned to steel, every muscle twisted so tight. I willed him to resist.
But I knew the urge was there. He’d told me it was, lurking in every vampire, whether Bloodborn, Dayborn, or like him, Mistborn.
That need was being drawn out of him whether he wanted it or not.
Athena was forcing him to do something he never wanted to do, something that once he did, he could never change. He never wanted to be an Arnaud, never wanted to be a vampire like his mother’s side of the family.
I held my breath, along with what felt like the entire assembly, as he grabbed the woman’s wrist. His eyes shone brightly, his face a mask of pain. She winced. And then he shoved her arm aside, refusing to take what she offered, and collapsed against Zaria.
Twenty
FOR THE NEXT TWO NIGHTS I WATCHED ZARIA AND HER SERVANT tempt Sebastian.
Every night we were returned to our cells and he slumped against the far wall, breathing heavily and nearly completely drained of blood. He wouldn’t speak to me, wouldn’t get near me. He was starved for food and blood, so weak he was losing his hold on reality.
I was growing weaker as well. Athena piled her plate high every night, yet she only allowed me one cup of water and a chunk of bread. I struggled between sickness and horror as I bore witness to Sebastian’s unique form of torture.
I hadn’t been able to stir my power again, and I knew it was because I was too weak and my emotions had dulled. I hadn’t been touched, otherwise. Athena’s brand of torture for me was all mental, all designed—as Bran had said—to mess with me from the inside out.
And Henri—if that had really been Henri out there—had yet to show himself. I had no idea what was happening outside the temple, but I knew Sebastian couldn’t hold out forever.
At the end of the third night the guards had to carry Sebastian back to the cell because he was too weak to walk. They dropped him on the floor of his cell, but this time they shoved me inside with him, locking the door behind us.
Sebastian lifted his head, saw me, and screamed, lunging on his knees with renewed strength, grabbing on to the bars. “NO! GET BACK HERE! GET HER OUT OF HERE!”