“Aden,” Victoria prompted.
Right. He needed to comment. See Aden discuss murder as casually as the weather. “Who does that leave?”
Wait, wait, wait, Caleb suddenly said. Go back. I was just waking up and had to have misheard. Did she just say a coven of witches was…murdered?
Victoria was talking, too, but Aden heard only Caleb, the soul’s upset giving him volume. “Yes,” he replied. “I’m so sorry.”
No. She’s wrong, she has to be wrong.
“Caleb—”
No! Elijah. Tell him she’s wrong. Tell him!
I’m sorry, too, Elijah said sadly.
No! A plaintive cry. A cry that must have opened a dam of heartache, because Caleb began sobbing.
The soul had liked the witches from day one, and had thought he was somehow connected to them, that he’d known them in his other life. The one before Aden.
You have to go back in time, Aden. You have to save them from this.
His reply was instant. “No. I can’t.”
You mean you won’t.
“Too many things could go wrong. You know that.” It was the same answer he’d given Victoria, when she’d asked. The same answer he would give anyone, everyone, who asked. When you weighed the risks against the rewards, the risks always tipped the scale.
There was no reason good enough to tip the scale in the other direction.
Please, Aden! Please.
“No. I’m sorry.”
While Elijah and Julian attempted to comfort their friend, Aden met Victoria’s curious gaze. “The news has…” destroyed “…disturbed Caleb.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” And he was, even though Aden had never liked the witches himself. How could he? They’d cast the death spell over Riley, Mary Ann and Victoria, and nearly ruined the life he’d built for himself. But he hated for one of his souls to suffer, and he would have spared the witches for that alone.
“The best thing we can do for him is figure out what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
“I agree. You asked me who could be responsible. I don’t think the goblins or zombies are smart enough, so that leaves…humans.”
All the commotion woke Junior. The beast stretched inside his head, making little mewling noises. Aden tensed. Exactly what he needed. Another fight. Then he recalled what Elijah said, that Junior responded to emotion. If he remained calm, the beast wouldn’t fight him.
Yeah, he could do that. Maybe.
“How could a few humans defeat a coven of witches?” he asked. Good. Right track. “We’ve seen the power of their spells firsthand. And humans, well, they’re uneducated when it comes to magic. Anyone who so much as approached the witches would have been defenseless.”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe one of the races you named wanted humans to be blamed and framed them.”
“It’s possible. But why do so? To send a message?”
“A we-know-what-you-are-and-we’re-coming-after-your-kind sort of thing?”
“Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before. We clean up our battles. All of us. We rarely leave evidence for humans to find. That’s how we’re trained from birth. That’s how we survive.”
“Times change.”
“Yes,” she said flatly. “They do.”
What did that mean? He’d changed, and she no longer liked him?
Junior belted out a hungry roar.
With a sigh, Aden fell back on the mattress, winced and draped his arm over his forehead. “I’m not thinking straight. Let’s talk about the murders after we eat, okay?”
Her hesitant “Okay” gave him pause.
“Did you already eat?” For that matter, “Where did you sleep last night?” He’d taken her room, and she had not been here. And he could have kicked his own butt for simply falling asleep on her, making her feel as if she didn’t belong in her own digs. He knew how important having personal space could be, having been denied his own for most of his life.
Before, Victoria would have felt comfortable enough to snuggle up to him. After the way he’d treated her lately, she probably hadn’t known if he would welcome her or reject her.
“I stayed in Riley’s room,” she said, her hand going back in her pocket to play with the wrapper or whatever it was.
A growl rose up in his throat before he even realized he was having an emotional reaction to those words. Calm down.
He recalled the first time he’d seen Victoria outside one of Elijah’s visions. She’d been standing in a forest clearing just beyond the D and M ranch, Riley towering behind her, protecting her. Aden had wondered what they were to each other—and even when he’d learned they were just friends, thrums of jealousy had refused to leave him.
Closeness was closeness, no matter how you sliced it.
“You could have slept here,” he told her.
“Well, did you, the king of heaven and earth, mention that a single time since coming here?”
No, she hadn’t known. “I’m mentioning it now.”
Crinkle, crinkle. She wasn’t done. “That’s great. Wonderful. Considering you’ve done nothing but push me away for days.”
Annnnd there was the crux of the problem. “I’m sorry for that. I really am. But I’m improving. Right? I mean, you’ve changed, too.” Great. Now he was throwing blame, something she didn’t deserve.
“Meaning I’m more human?” Crinkle, crinkle.
What was that? “Meaning, nothing bad, I swear. But…yes, you have been more human. And again, that’s not a bad thing.”
“Yes, it is. You’re saying I wasn’t good enough as I was.”
“No! That’s not what I’m saying at all.”
Still she wasn’t done. “The fact that you’re improving is great. Wonderful.”
He was going to hate what came next, he just knew it.
“But I’ve decided to hold a grudge,” she finished.
Yep. Hated. “Are you serious?”
“Am I known for my delightful sense of humor?”
When she gave in to the new human side of her, she really gave in. “Why are you holding a grudge?”
“Because I feel like it.”
And how did you argue with that kind of logic? “Fine.”
“Fine.”
“I still need to eat.”
Flames lit up the blue in her eyes. “Do you want me to fetch you a slave?”
No. Yes. “No.” Only one name was etched into his menu of choice, and it was still hers. But he’d had Sorin’s blood. And, hey, why wasn’t he seeing the world through Sorin’s eyes? He asked Victoria.
“The blood only works that way for a limited amount of time, and since you’ve spent an entire day dead to the world, your connection to Sorin, and his to you, has passed.
“Now,” she added. “Why don’t you want a slave?”
“I’ll find someone to chomp on in a minute.” He would force himself. “I need to clean up first.”
Crinkle, crinkle.
“What’s in your pocket?” he asked
Her checks flashed bright red. “Nothing. Now go. Clean up.”
O-kay. He lumbered from the bed and hobbled to the bathroom, certain he resembled an old man with a walker, and yes, he hated that Victoria was seeing him like this.
“Oh, and Aden? Thank you for not killing my brother,” she said just before he shut the door.
“You’re welcome.”
He brushed his teeth, showered quickly, noticed Victoria had already stacked fresh clothes in the corner, and dressed in the plain gray T-shirt, jeans and his own boots. Everything was pressed and a perfect fit.
As Junior’s roars came more frequently and Caleb’s choking sobs finally faded, Aden studied himself in the mirror. It was still a jolt to see himself with blond hair. He’d been dying the mop for years. His eyes jolted him, too. Last time he’d seen them, they were gold. Now, they were a kaleidoscope of colors.