Page 28 of Awakened and Betrayed
“We both panicked when the Chosen marks showed up. It meant that what Adriel had been trying to do for decades was actually possible. Up until that point, Grier had thought that no matter what he did to her, there was no way he could take from her what he wanted. But I was suddenly proof that everything she had been told was wrong."
Sorik's eyes fill with a deep sadness, and it reaches into me and tugs at my own.
"I tried to cut off the runes on my fingers. All the others could be hidden, but those runes gave us away. My skin kept regenerating until I finally burned the runes off and sealed the injury with shifter saliva, which is toxic to us."
Sorik's admission sends me back to the night that Talon died, when he told me something similar. ‘They've been dosing me with shifter toxin. It's keeping me from healing.’Talon’s voice echoes around my head, and I have to shake myself out of the memory and refocus. Sorik’s runes on his ribs are the same as mine, and it dawns on me that he must have weapons like I do. It seems my mother also passed Defensive magic on to him, too, judging by the good-sized barrier we’re currently standing under.
I let go of my short swords, letting the magic in them get reabsorbed by my runes. I run my hands over my face, exhausted and exasperated, and not at all sure what to think about any of this. A howl breaks the silence surrounding us, and our meeting takes on a more urgent tone.
"Is my dad still alive?"
"I honestly don't know. I felt it when Grier passed, but I never felt anything like that after. Maybe the connection only works from Grier to her Chosen. If that’s the case, I wouldn't have felt if anything had happened to Vaughn. I just don't know. I haven't seen him in all these years, nor have I heard Adriel talk about him at all.”
At the mention of Adriel's name, I stiffen.
Another howl pierces the night, this one closer than the last. Are they done hunting already?
"Vinna, you're not safe here," Sorik tells me. "He's coming for you. I don't know how, but he's arranging something. You need to leave."
I look at Sorik for a minute and then out into the shadows just to the left of him, sensing something there.
"I have nowhere to go. Even if I did, what's to keep him from finding me? Tell me where I am one hundred percent safe, and I’ll consider running, but until then...”
Sorik looks away, and I’m not sure if it’s because the answer is nowhere, or because he’s trying to think of somewhere.
“Let Adriel come. I’m not without my defenses. I’ll work and train. I'll be ready for him."
Sorik steps closer to me, causing me to automatically tense. I can see that the reaction bothers him and he doesn’t come any closer.
"You look so much like them both. I still can’t decide which you take after more, Vaughn or Grier. The first time I saw you I couldn't stop staring. You were laughing and dancing with your Chosen. It’s good that you have them. Your mother hoped that somehow, someday you would be surrounded by such strength.”
Sorik’s voice grows softer as he talks about my mother. It makes me ache for not only my loss of her but his too. He lifts his hand as if he’s going to touch me but immediately drops it. To his left, out of the shadows, another lamia appears. He’s the epitome of the unsettling perfect beauty that all lamia are. This one has olive-toned skin, stunning crystal-blue eyes, and brown hair that’s short on the sides and spiked up and slightly over. I instantly flash my short swords back into my hands and crouch defensively.
“Sorik, we need to go,” the new lamia warns.
“Who the fuck is this?” I ask, my tone accusing and suspicious.
“He’s a friend, Vinna, and you can trust him.”
“I’m not even sure I can trust you. So you vouching for some other lamia, who just crept in on our conversation, is not doing a whole lot for me,” I challenge.
Sorik seems unfazed by my words, as his head snaps to the right and tilts in a way that tells me he's listening to something. I look in the same direction, my runes on the helix of my ear still activated. I try to pinpoint what has him pausing. I hear a couple growls and the soft sound of padded paws hitting damp dirt.
“Sorik, you need to go. If they find you on their land, they will probably tear you to shreds without question.”
Sorik looks at his friend and then back to me, his face is filled with an impenetrable sadness.
“I'm sorry about Talon,” he whispers. “I couldn't stop them. Not without giving myself away.”
Images of Sorik standing by, while Faron tortured Talon in that cellar, stab at my mind and heart. I stare at the big, golden-haired lamia, and I question if anything he says can be trusted. Why would it matter if he gave himself away? My mother is dead. Vaughn probably is too. Who is left to protect? I push down all the sudden doubts and suspicions that fill me. I’ll look at them later, but right now Sorik and his buddy need to leave. Slowly, I nod my head in understanding, hoping the action will give him what he needs to go.
"I’ll come back. When I have a better plan for how to keep you safe, I’ll send for you. I have some things set in motion, but unfortunately, it’s going to take more time.”
“Sorik, now!” The blue-eyed lamia demands.
Multiple wolf howls pierce through the other lamia’s order, and Sorik pulls his shirt on back over his head. He stares at me like he wants to say something else. But instead, he turns and runs through the barrier and out into the shadows of the night. The magic of the barrier shatters all around him, and the darkness gradually overtakes the light of the fading magic.
I release my hold on my weapons. I have no idea how to process what the fuck just happened or what Sorik’s revelation means for me. Sentinels can transfer magic outside of Sentinel and caster bloodlines.
