Vanquished Gods (Hallowed Games #2)

Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

I ’m in my father’s garden. His voice carries on the breeze as he lifts a flower with pale blue petals—a forget-me-not.

“Knights give them to their most favored ladies before they go into battle, a promise to return.”

I glance at a patch of bright yellow flowers. “Are these buttercups?” I ask.

“That’s celandine. They bring joy, but sorrow, too.”

“Because someday we all die?”

My father goes still, staring at me. I’m sure that sometimes the things I say bother him, but I don’t know why. Mum died. Someday, we’ll all die, and it makes everyone sad, but it’s just the truth. People don’t like to be reminded of it, I think…and that’s why they don’t like to be told they look old, that they’re closer to the end of it all.

I point to a ghostly white flower that blooms farther in the garden. “And what’s that one? What does it mean?”

“A white poppy—forgetfulness and sleep. That one pulls you under and makes the pain go away. A balm for hurt minds…”

I like that one the best.

He turns, walks a few paces, and plucks a lavender flower from the ground, handing it to me. “The violet—sweetness, mournfulness, and a broken heart…” His voice trails off, and I wonder if he’s thinking about Mum, so far away from him in the afterworld.

I twirl the little violet stem between my fingertips.

He points across the garden. “The marigolds bloom like the sun, but sometimes, the sun is too hot, and they wilt under its fiery rays.”

I look up to see the sky the sky painted with lurid shades of twilight, streaks of periwinkle and coral.

From behind me, Lydia calls my name.

I turn to see her and Anselm marching closer, smiling. I know they’ll say that night is falling and they’re going to sleep, but I don’t want to go yet. It’s too pretty out here in the light.

I woke in the dark, and I knew Father was gone.

We’re all waiting for everyone to go, one by one .

My father…

Who was he? I couldn’t remember anymore.

I didn’t have a clue where I was.

My name…

Was I somewhere with flowers? It was far too dark here for that, and I’d just been in the sun.

Pain shot through my temples, and I gasped. A headache exploded in my skull, sending jagged pulses through my jaw, shattering my thoughts.

Darkness pressed in around me, thick and suffocating, and the sharp scent of mahogany flooded my senses. My head felt hollow, as if pieces of myself had been scooped out and scattered in the dark.

I reached out, and my hands brushed against smooth, cold wood just six inches above me. Panic wended its way into my thoughts.

I needed to get out of here.

I pressed on the wood, then started to bang on it.

Fear fully clouded my mind, my breath coming in ragged bursts as I tried to move in the small, tight space.

Someone had trapped me in here. The air reeked of wood, damp soil, and moldering rocks. Flecks of dirt fell on my face.

Buried.

Something was deeply wrong with my body.

I couldn’t stay in here, buried alive.

Was I even alive?

I slammed my palms against the wood, desperation seeping into my every movement. I had no idea who to call for. Who was I?

The sharp sound of my nails scraping against wood rang in my ears, frantic, hollow.

Then—a noise from above. Metal hitting wood.

Someone was coming for me, but I couldn’t wait. I slammed on the mahogany with my fists furiously, desperately, until I finally splintered the wood.

Cold air and dirt washed over me, and I sat up in the soil, the world above suddenly blinding in its brightness. Silver light poured over me—too bright, too sharp. My vision swam as my eyes struggled to adjust, and when they finally did, they landed on him.

A man, his beautiful features sculpted by shadows and moonlight. He was reaching for me. His eyes—golden, piercing—locked onto mine as he pulled me up.

Instinctively, I know he was one who had done this to me. The one who made me into something else.

Hatred surged through me, hotter than blood, fiercer than anything I’d ever felt. I jerked my hand away from his grasp, fury searing under my skin. My tongue flicked out, brushing over the sharp points of my teeth. Without thinking, I lunged. I sank my teeth into his neck, tasting cold blood, the same as what now pulsed through my veins.

“Elowen.” Gently, he pulled me off him, his fingers tangled in my hair.

Blood streaked down his throat.

What was I?

He cupped my face in his hands, drawing my gaze to his, his eyes searching mine. “Elowen, you’re safe. You’re with me. Sion.”

The names came back to me, and I tasted the blood in my mouth.

“What did you do to me?” I whispered.

Pure panic splintered through my thoughts. What was happening to me?

Sion’s arms closed around me, pulling me to him, and for just a moment, I felt comfort against the hard steel of his chest. Familiarity, too.

“You’re back in Gwethel.” His low voice deepened the empty ache inside me. “You were shot with an arrow. We saved Maelor, but you were shot with an arrow…I had no choice.”

Those last memories flooded back to me, those last frantic moments in the dark, a bolt of pain ripping through my neck.

I leaned away from him and touched my throat. “An arrow.”

“I didn’t have time to get you to Lydia. I had no choice. I gave you my blood, just as you were dying. It was so close, Elowen. Too close.”

The words hit me like a blade carving into my chest.

I sucked in a deep breath, the air feeling sharp and foreign in my throat, as if I wasn’t meant to breathe anymore.

“I’m a vampire,” I whispered, my voice brittle.

“You’re alive again.”

My gaze found his once more, and memories surged again—too fast, overwhelming.

“I was with my father. Just there, underground. Like it was happening, like I was just there…” My words spilled out in a jumble. Was I making any sense at all?

Tears stung my eyes, but they weren’t flowing. Everything in my body felt wrong.

“I was just with my father…”

The memories slammed into me of that day in the forest, when the vampires had arrived. Father’s blood stained the white flowers, streamed all over Sion.

“You killed him.” My voice cracked, and the wind roared in my ears. “And now, what am I? I’m like you? I spent ten years fighting not to take lives. And I only just started to master my magic, to stop myself from hurting people like Leo, and now…” I swallowed hard, my throat tight with grief. “Now I have to kill to live? I’m an even worse threat to Leo?”

Sion’s grip tightened around my waist, pulling me closer once again, but that time, it only made the emptiness inside me swell.

My eyes drifted to the castle in the distance, a dark, looming shadow against the sky, and I felt its coldness settle in my bones. “There’ll be time for all that later, Elowen,” he said quietly, though his words barely reached me. “Emotions and senses will overwhelm you. I’m just going to get you back to your room.”

I wiped my fingertips over my mouth, and they came away stained with Sion’s dark red blood. I knew what needed to happen next, but… “What happens if I don’t drink from a human?”

“Then, my love, you will die. I will make it easy for you…”

But the sound of the waves drowned out his voice. They were deafening, pounding in my skull, relentless—so loud when my heart was so still and quiet.

It wasn’t just the waves, though. Voices echoed from within the castle, piercing the stone.

I glanced up at the stars and flinched at the way their light hurt my eyes.

I leaned into him, slumping in exhaustion.