“What?” She whirls on me.
I brush a wing over her, the closest I can come to stroking her in this form. “You’ll have to return to the mortal realm tonight.”
“Why?” Her brows crumple. “It isn’t—is it?”
“Tonight, near midnight, Maaz wins,” I say, nodding. “I’ll send you through the portal before the curse takes me and my people. You’ll be safe from Maaz in the human realm.”
“No.” Verity shakes her head. “Why didn’t you tell me it was this soon?”
I meet her gaze. The once vibrant blue is the gloomy shade of a stormy sea. “I thought it was best that you didn’t know.”
“You can’t decide what’s best for me, Altair,” she whispers.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I drop my head, fatigue and exhaustion weighing on me. Years of dreading this day, and now it’s finally arrived. It’s all very surreal.
“I wish we had more time,” she breathes, her voice breaking.
I look up as she drops to her knees beside me. Her arms wrap around my neck and she nuzzles her face into my fur. I purr, closing my eyes. “Why?”
She shakes her head against me. “I didn’t get my fill of your incessant teasing.”
“Verity,” I murmur. “Tell me, please. Why do you want more time?”
“I told you,” she says into my fur. “I just didn’t get enough of you.”
“What more do you want?” I say as her arms tighten around me. “I will give you everything.”
Verity pulls away, her eyes wide. She flushes slightly and bites her lip. “You don’t mean that.”
Before I can speak, she jumps to her feet and runs from the garden. My heart clenches painfully in my chest as her slim figure disappears around one of the hedges. “Everything,” I say aloud, wishing she could hear me. “I will give you everything.”
Chapter 20
Verity
Altair’s words echo through my head as I run through the library. My fingers drift over countless spines, searching for any tome that could help me to break the curse. I will give you everything. My breath hitches in my throat, heart pounding wildly.
It wasn’t like Altair. Sarcastic and mysterious, he wouldn’t be so honest. Would he? My heart clenches as I remember the moment; the sincerity in his eyes. Those gorgeous hazel eyes. I scan text after text, hoping for anything to scream out at me. But there’s nothing here. Nothing that I haven’t read or checked already.
Frustration and despair sweep through me, like a roiling cloud. I toss a book to the ground with a shout, and then stand, panting, over it. His last day. His last day and he didn’t tell me. If I had known, I would have spent every waking minute I had in this library, rather than at his side, flirting with him. How could I be so stupid? How could I have taken is so lightly?
I drop into a crouch and clutch at my head. It pounds steadily, painfully. But what can I do?
“Child,” the librarian’s wizened voice reaches me as the sun sets.
I glance up, surprise arching my brows. “I thought everyone had left.”
“Everyone else,” the librarian confirms, sweeping towards me. “But this library is my home.”
“You live in here?” I ask, dropping my hands from my face.
“You look troubled,” she says.
I heave a sigh. “Today is the last day, and I can’t do anything to help Altair or the Fae. They’re all going to die because of me.”
“They’ll die because of Maaz,” she corrects, her tone light. “Listen to me now.”
“Why?” I ask warily.
Her eyes flash. “The Bloodbane witches covenant with the Dark God, Sadal Melik. It is he who gives them their powers.”
“Yes.” I nod exasperatedly. “It’s called the Blood Rite, they become his brides. And they never turn away. If they do, they die.”
“Indeed. You, my little mortal, are a Bloodbane witch. But when did you make your covenant?” She cocks a brow.
“I didn’t,” I whisper. “I was born with it.”
“Were you?” She asks, turning away.
I scramble to my feet, skin tingling. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t expect me to reveal everything, do you?” The librarian flashes me a sly smile. “Good luck, dear.”
I bite my lip, pondering her words. Maybe my magic doesn’t work because I haven’t made the covenant with Sadal Melik. I grimace. I don’t know that I want to become the bride of an evil god from this dimension. But if it’s the only way to save Altair, I would do it. I would give him everything.
There was a reason Altair brought me here, a reason that he needed a woman with the power to become a Bloodbane witch. But if he only needed the covenant, surely any Bloodbane would do. But they wouldn’t help him, I realize. Any Bloodbane that helps a sworn enemy would lose their place in the Sisterhood at Maaz’s command. Maybe even Sadal Melik’s command.
I rush from the library as the castle is cast in darkness. There are no servants to light the candles and lamps that fill the halls. I run through the shadows to Altair’s room. I burst in, stubbing my toe on the door. “Damn!” I shout, hissing in pain.
But the room is empty. His bed carefully made, and the fire burnt out. My heart lurches in my chest and my breath quickens. What if he’s already been taken from me? What if I’m alone in the castle? Breathing shakily, I whirl away from his room and back through the halls. Every shadow and every object in the darkness looks like Maaz.
“Altair?” I shout, sprinting as I feel the darkness at my back. Fear sweeps through me, stabbing my heart like a lance. “Altair!”
But the castle is silent. My feet slap against the stone floor loudly as I jump from the stairs onto the landing. My eyes are rimmed with tears, my throat swollen with grief. I can hardly breathe, but I run on anyway. I have to find him. Altair. Altair. Altair.
A tear slips from my eyes and I wipe it away furiously. I have never felt more alone
