Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Thirty-TwoSage

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sage

M y neck ached at the tight tilt of my head as I read the spines of each book down the shelf at eye level. My fingers ticked over them as I passed each book that had nothing to do with Rominium, and continued searching. When I got to a book that didn’t have any markings on the spine, I had to pull it out to see the title on the cover.

I’d spent the entire day like this, far into the night, which hung over us now. The great windows around the entirety of the library proved as much.

“There isn’t going to be anything on it here,” I heard Lauden grumbling a few stacks away.

He was angry with me, he had been since I’d come back from Rominia without Ankin’s book.

“What did you want me to do, Lauden?” I snapped at the spines in front of me. “If I’d taken them, Dean would’ve stopped me.”

I was still as I listened, waiting for a response to call from down the stacks, but when there wasn’t one I huffed out a breath and tilted my head to continue looking.

“You should’ve tried,” he said below his breath, but I still heard it.

I rolled my eyes and straightened.

Fuck this .

It wasn’t my responsibility to find a book that could compare to Ankin’s research on Rominium, because we knew it was impossible. I couldn’t even remember how I’d been guilted into helping.

I stormed out of the stacks and heard Lauden move, poke his head from out between the shelves he stood in.

“Where are you going?”

I didn’t turn around, only wound around the desks that sat in the middle of the library, and aimed for the door.

“Going for a walk,” I snapped, and pushed through the exit.

I was so annoyed by Lauden that I accidentally pushed too hard against the door with my palm, and the friction caused the not yet healed pricks on it to open.

“Fuck,” I whispered as I looked down at the sparkle of my blood beginning to show through the thin scabs that had formed in the last few days.

I tightened my hand into a fist, hoped that the pressure would stop the blood flow since the scabs hadn’t opened completely, and headed down the hallway for mine and Lauden’s bedroom.

My heart raced in my chest from pure frustration alone. The last few days had been so hard. Between Evaline’s absence at dinner since our fight, watching my father fall all over himself to make sure she felt welcomed, and Lauden’s dismay over Ankin’s book, I don’t think I’d had a single moment of peace since I’d come back from Rominia.

I turned a corner and let my hair slide over my shoulders as I walked.

It was pathetic, really, but the only thing that had gotten me through the last few miserable days had been replaying that night with Dean, over and over. He’d been so soft, so kind. He listened when I spoke, and never made me feel like I wasn’t free to say whatever was on my mind.

I was aware that it could’ve been a tactic, a way to get information from me for Wyott, but tried to push that from my mind.

I’d been counting down the days until—

A flash of color passed my vision before I was thrown back into the wall.

I gasped at the impact, at the way my head slammed into the stone behind me, but quickly pinpointed another source of pain as I looked down to see a Vasi’s mouth pressed against my palm, on the wounds I’d reopened, feeding.

The pierce of the bite seared white and hot, and I tried to pull my hand away.

He had me pinned to the wall with one arm cocked, his forearm pressed against my chest, while the other hand held mine to his mouth.

I ripped my nails down the arm that held me, over the hand. Kicked my legs out at him, he had me pressed so high that my feet couldn’t touch the ground. Thrashed my whole body, so he’d let me go.

This was my fault, I knew better than to let myself bleed so close to the new Vasi room.

My fight must’ve worked because I felt his arm loosen off my chest, and I began to let out a breath of relief, but it was quickly lost in my throat as he shifted so that he held my shoulders back, my arms down, and sank his teeth into my neck.

I tried to rip myself away from him but felt the tears prick in my eyes at my mistake. My father had taught me some defensive moves, and all of them involved protecting my throat if a Vasi came at me. But I’d been so caught up in the Vasi’s lock on my hand that I didn’t even think to shield my neck.

I throttled myself against him, swung my arms as best as I could, and kicked out at him, but it was no use.

It was then I realized I needed to call for help, because I hadn’t yet.

My lips parted and I loosed a scream, tears streaming down my face.

This wasn’t the first time one of the new Vasi had lost control around me, but they’d never gotten so far as to sink their teeth into my neck. Usually by the time they were stopped, they’d only been able to pin me, or I’d portaled away fast enough.

My eyes widened and I tried to flex my hand below me, trying to open a portal, but it was no use. He was restricting my reach too much, and besides, I was already too faint. He had drained too much blood through his greedy lips.

A sob scraped up my throat and I screamed again. I thought about how I’d die here, I’d leave this world, and Evaline would still hate me. I would never get to explain what I did, why I did it, to Wyott, to Maddox. I would never see Dean again.

I clenched my eyes shut as the pain intensified, as I knew I was nearing the end, and then the weight was lifted.

The pain of the bite stopped as he was thrown away from me. I fell toward the ground but was caught by a pair of hands, and when I looked up, I saw Broderick’s worried eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me to stand.

Broderick was alone, and as the Vasi he’d thrown down the hall came back for us, he held out a hand to stop him.

I grasped onto Broderick’s shoulder as he held me up, and I looked at the Vasi.

Broderick’s hand was wrapped around his throat, holding him at arm’s length, but he didn’t let that stop his fight. He still reached for me, his fangs gnashed forward, dripping with my blood.

“Stop!” Broderick yelled. “You have to fight it!”

The Vasi’s red eyes were focused on me, and I had to look away. My eyes slid up to his red hair, cut so short against his head as all the human men’s were, and over his shoulder, I saw movement.

My father slid into view at the intersection of the hallways in front of us. His eyes were wide—wild—and landed on me in an instant.

He sprinted forward, closed his hand over the back of the Vasi’s neck, and swung him back. He threw the Vasi into the wall, and the stone shivered at the impact.

I knew what he’d do next, it was what he always did when a Vasi went on a killing spree around the castle, when the hallways were littered with bodies. He’d drag them to the dungeon, keep them in a cell for a few days to force them to adhere to the bloodlust training.

But a surprised sound fell from my lips as my father instead grabbed the Vasi, one hand on the Vasi’s jaw, and the other on his shoulder, and ripped the Vasi’s head off his body.

“Take it,” Broderick said softly beside me, and I looked down to see his cut wrist he offered.

I didn’t hesitate to accept it, I could feel how lightheaded I was, and noticed my father walk toward us in my periphery.

When I finished, I pulled away before my father took my chin in his hand and tilted my head up.

“Are you okay?” he asked, eyes flitting over the skin of my neck before they slid up to meet mine, brows furrowed and eyes wide.

I nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry, it’s my fault. The cuts on my hand opened and I didn’t realize where I was.”

His eyes shifted at my words, his jaw tightened and his hand fell from my chin.

“You’re right,” he said in a hard voice, giving a curt nod. “You know better than that.”

I felt my heart fall at his lecture. I had hoped he’d give me some grace, but I nodded and let my eyes fall to the ground.

“Yes, Father.”

He cleared his throat.

“Take her back to her room,” he said to Broderick, who wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders and helped me down the hallway, my father on my other side.

Broderick was my favorite Vasi here because he was the kindest.

My father split off from us at the end of the hallway, and as Broderick turned us in the opposite direction I heard my father’s feet kick up into a sprint.

Broderick turned to me as we walked.

“You alright?”

I smiled up at him, hoping he couldn’t see the fear that still lingered inside through my fake smile. My heart still raced in my chest, I knew it was why he’d asked the question in the first place. But I couldn’t help it.

It was terrifying to see a Vasi run for you. For them to feed on you. It had never been as bad in the past encounters, but in each of them, I felt just as I did now.

Afraid.

If Broderick had gotten there any later, I wouldn’t be standing here now.

And the terror caused a familiar desire to crawl up into the back of my mind. One that I’d had before, but never spoke aloud.

To be strong. To be fast. To not fear the Vasi. To not fear anyone.

Growing up I’d let the thoughts die in my mind. I knew that if I’d ever spoke them aloud my father would punish me. Not only would I risk losing my magic, since we didn’t know how a change affected a Sorcerer, but he wouldn’t accept who I became if I changed.

Because I would not become a Vasi.

It was why I’d never given it more than a moment’s thought before I left Mortithev the first time. My father raised me to hate the Kova, and I knew if I became one he’d never accept me. But I’d also seen the Vasi all around me, for nearly my entire life. And I knew I did not want to become one of them.

I shivered as we neared my door, at the thought of my attacker’s face tonight. How wild and angry and desperate he’d been for my blood.

I felt Broderick’s eyes on me at the move, but we reached my room and I was able to slip away after saying goodnight.

And when the door closed behind me, I stood there for a moment.

My heart raced as I considered turning.

A small, selfish part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind, to risk my magic, if it meant that I’d feel safe in my own skin.

And tonight reaffirmed that desire I’d had for a long time.