Chapter 29
Hatred seethed through Evangeline. She was tempted to go into her father’s head and fuck all his shit up. It would be better than sitting there, trying to pretend any of this was a good idea. None of it was.
Blowing the air out of her lungs, she turned to Robert. “Same way I saw this place?”
He nodded. “I’ll be right there. You’ll be able to communicate with me. We need to find out what his plans were with the dagger, why he sent your sister down in that cave, and you. We need answers, so follow my lead, please.”
“Yeah, you got it.” She stepped closer to her father, and he ducked away from her, not that he could get much farther, considering he was chained to the metal chair.
She was so tempted to kick the fucker.
Counting to ten, she touched her father’s sweaty head and watched as his eyes went wide. “You can’t dive into my head. No! NOOOO!”
“Watch me. You won’t give up answers, and even if you did, they would be full of lies. Shut up and deal with it.”
Robert joined her and made eye contact. Then he nodded and touched Olivier.
They sank into his mind and she walked through his memories set up like paintings in an exhibit. She walked to one of Genevieve, standing in front of the cave with her father.
Evangeline touched the surface.
The scene wrapped around them in 3D. Dad was talking in hushed tones. “If you want your sister back in our home, go down to the bottom of the cave and retrieve the Dagger of Change. You’re the only one who can do this for me.”
“Why, Father?” Genevieve asked.
“If I have the dagger, I can control the outcome and sever ties that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to sever.”
“But she says she’s mated and happy.”
“Don’t you miss her?”
“If she’s happy, why not let her have her love?”
“Killian is a cold-blooded murderer. Do you really believe his son is going to be any different? We can save her. She’s too young and foolish to understand what he wants from her.”
“If they are mated, then she knows what he wants.”
He shook his head, pacing away. “With the blade, you can Dreamwalk the same way Evangeline does. Don’t you want that?”
“Used to, except she knows my nightmares, and I don’t want to tread into other people’s bad dreams.”
“What about your mother? You could bring her back. Whatever you want you can gain with that blade. Bring it to me, and I’ll grant your every wish.”
Frowning, Genevieve stared at the opening of the cave. “I have a bad feeling about this. I’m not as strong as Evangeline. I don’t even know what to do.”
“Reach the altar, take the dagger, and that’s it.”
No more arguments. Instead, Genevieve stepped into the cave.
The mouth closed and he sighed in relief and sat down on the steps leading out of the cave. “With that dagger, I’ll finally have the power that was denied to me by Madeline.”
Zariha appeared before him. “You realize if your dearest child doesn’t make it back with the blade, I will feed on her.”
“She will make it to the dagger. She will claim it. Sooner or later. She’s the only hope we have.”
“I won’t kill her. The journey to the altar will be difficult, and she is young, but that also means you must keep me well fed. Otherwise, I will take your life force as payment.”
“How often must you feed?”
“Monthly at least.”
“Twice monthly then. Sooner or later, I will have that blade, and sever your bond to Merova.”
The image faded. Father knowingly doomed Genevieve to wither and die.
Then she walked through the paintings, searching for the memory of the bastard sending her alone, on a train to Killian, and what led up to it.
She found him talking to Killian in a seedy bar down the road from where she grew up.
She touched the painting and once again the scene opened up. At the corner table, her father leaned over the table. “I need information about the relics on Whiteface Mountain. I understand you have some dealings here.”
One brow quirked on Killian’s face. “I do. Are you looking for the Dagger of Change?”
“That and other artifacts. I understand there are a number of relics located on the mountain. What can you tell me about them?”
“They’re all tied to the Merovingians. The dagger can only be claimed by a female of a particular witch’s bloodline.” He droned on about a dozen different artifacts that had been on the mountain, and how a few of them had already been claimed or moved for various reasons.
Then, he got to what she wanted to know.
Killian looked around the bar and leaned closer. “I have a proposition. I’m in need of an ally that can be trained to help the pack. Most of the witches in Silvertail Ridge don’t trust us. Perhaps one of your daughters could be persuaded to join us for a time, in exchange for the rest of what I know.”
Her father scrubbed a hand over his face, leaned back, and closed his eyes. She could hear his thoughts.
Genevieve still respects me. Evangeline started to hate me the moment her mother got died. Besides, she can glean information. Perhaps, if I reward her for a job well done once she gets back, I can gain back her love.
“You must protect her if she goes with you.”
“Of course, but send her in a few weeks. Give me time to prepare the wolves.”
“You have my word.”
There was more talk, preparations, and her father gave it no more thought.
“I could destroy his mind,” she seethed.
“Calm down,” Robert murmured. “We need his memories intact to find more. Follow me, I have an idea of what might be useful to us.”
“Wait, my mother,” she whispered and dragged Robert to the painting of her mother bleeding out on a stone pathway, her father off in the distance.
Evangeline placed her hand on the painting and moved the memory back.
Mother stood in a garden on a pathway before rose bushes. A man Evangeline didn’t recognize walked up behind her.
He purred, his accent Spanish. “You’re the only one who can unlock the power of Endringsblad. Have you?”
She didn’t turn, only stared at the flowers. “I told you I wouldn’t help you. Your goals align with my husband’s.”
“You have one last chance.”
“I won’t bother Merova. I will refuse the blade every time Olivier sends me into the cave. No one will ever unlock the power of Endringsblad as long as I live.”
“Then you won’t.” He slid the dagger between her ribs and yanked it out, walking away.
Her mother fell and stared up at the stars. “You’ll never have the axe,” she promised with her dying breath.
Olivier never made a move toward her. He watched her die with a smile on his lips.
Evangeline closed her eyes.
“He will pay,” Robert promised. “First, we need to find more information.” He led her further into her father’s memories while she wondered what relic the man wanted.
* * * *
Bran placed his forehead against the glass, continuing to watch, but there was no change. Evangeline and Robert stood there, their hands on Olivier. None of them moved, at all.
Disturbing. At the moment, Bran was trying to smother the instinct to kill the bastard. Not a single thing that asshole did could be forgiven. Nothing.
“Relax. They shouldn’t be much longer,” Preston told him.
“Yeah, easier said than done. Don’t want Evangeline upset. And I can’t see a single outcome in there where she isn’t. And I don’t blame her. But it doesn’t make it right.”
“No, of course not. That doesn’t change much, though. We need to take the information they learn and figure out what needs to be done,” Tremaine explained.
Preston took a seat. “He’s supposed to have some kind of surveying company up there, but there are rumors that Laurent LLC is more like a group of mercenaries searching for something. We’ve been looking into it, but he will be able to provide the proof we need to shut it down, and possibly remove dangerous artifacts from the likes of him.”
“But not Evangeline?” Bran countered.
Tremaine shook his head. “I don’t believe she’s going to abuse the weapon.”
“She’s not an evil prick like her father.”
He caught the slightest movement from the corner of his eye and spun to watch Evangeline leave interrogation room. Finally, she rejoined him.
“He’s a serial murderer. He fed someone to that thing twice a month for over a hundred years.”
“What?” Tremaine demanded. “Fucking bastard.”
“Neil was one of them. Only he managed to live because of the werelynxes.”
Bran held his arms open, and she went to him. Pulling her close, he kissed her head. “You okay?”
“I knew he was pure evil, but not that bad.” Evangeline held on tight.
“If you two want to go, we can figure out what to do about the lighthouse tomorrow.”
“Yeah. If I stay, I’ll be tempted to do something I shouldn’t.” She glared at her father through the window. “Let’s go home,” she whispered.
“Take me away.” He winked.
A smile cracked her lips, and then they were gone and back in his room.
“Want me to take your mind off him?”
“Please,” she whispered, staring up at him with those stunning crystal green eyes.
“Have I mentioned how impossibly beautiful you are?”
“A few times,” she murmured.
He kissed her, taking her clothes off her body. “Let me show you.”