I took another step back and he rushed me. His fingers wrapped around my wrist, smearing them black with blood. Votan’s. My stomach churned as I breathed it in, metallic and still hot.
Just like he taught me, I spun to break his grasp. He looked surprised when I did it, like he couldn’t imagine that I’d managed to break free of him like that.
Idiot. What was the point of him teaching me anything at all, if I wasn’t supposed to use it?
“Atlanta,” he growled, moving toward me.
Before he could grab me all over again, I raised my hand to him and slapped him across the face. Not hard enough to hurt him, I was sure. Nothing could hurt Apex, least of all my hand.
Still, when he raised his fingers to the flushed skin on his cheek where my hand had connected with his skin, he looked wounded just the same.
Good. I left him standing there, looking stunned, as I took off through the gardens. Thanks to Apex, I knew every twist and turn. Every path, exactly where it took.
It was a nice change for once.
But at the same time, I knew everything was changing here, more quickly than I could stop it.
For the worst.
14
Apex
I let her go.
She was not the first female to be afraid of me. She would likely not be the last. The dealings I did on Lady Idria’s behalf had always been dark ones. Murder. Betrayal. Assassination. Sin. These were the mediums I worked in. The weight of Votan’s and Razael’s dead bodies as I dragged them beneath the cover of the bushes was proof enough of that.
Was Atlanta right to be scared of me? Of course. I was a monster. I always had been. Every specter was.
Did I wish she wasn’t?
Of course. But we did not live in a world where wishes came true. If we did, Razael and Votan would have taken what they wanted from Atlanta as they wished. As soon as their true intentions had been announced, though, I had made a wish of my own. A deadly one, and one that I had made good on.
It was action, not wishes, that ruled our world. It was the way things had to be.
And through action, I knew, in the end I would get what I wanted. It was that, or it was death for us all.
I took my time hiding the bodies. Atlanta would need time to cool down, as would I. Without Razael and Votan stalking the palace’s halls, she would be safer than ever now. I could take come solace in that. Thanks to Ronan and Gallix, Atlanta would not be unguarded even as she ran from me. I had tasked the two of them with trailing her these last few days during moments when I could not. I could rest assured in the knowledge that they were watching over her even now.
She could take the time she needed, and so could I.
I stepped back from the bushes. The blood on my hands, I wiped on my trousers. It was, among other things, the reason why we specters wore black. Unless I was under close inspection, it would go unnoticed until I had a chance to change—and if anyone was close enough to see the way the cloth over my thighs were stained, I would have more to worry about than detection.
I had soaked up the blood on the ground with fresh dirt and covered the area with scattered leaves. I had hidden the bodies well. Unless someone knew exactly where to look, they were invisible. It was as if Votan and Razael had never been there at all. Would Lieja miss them? Perhaps. But she had other harem members to spend her days tormenting and her nights in bed with. Enough that the disappearances of these two could easily go unnoticed. Maybe for a few days, even, if we were lucky.
Luck would not be enough here on Nightmoor, though. I sighed as I took my communicator from my pocket and placed the call.
“Apex. How good to hear from you.” Lady Idria’s face bloomed from the communicator. She smiled as she always did, blood-red lips pulled tight. “I assume everything is still going according to plan.”
“Yes. Or, it was.”
Idria’s smile faded in an instant. “Atlanta is not warming to your charms?”
“She was. But there was…a situation.”
“One that you have dealt with, I trust.” Idria frowned. “Or perhaps not, if you are calling me. Tell me now, and I will do my best to help you fix it.”
I explained to her the interest that Lieja’s lovers had taken in Atlanta, and the murders I had been forced to commit as a result. I kept the report of events as brief as I could but spared no important details. It was only the kiss that I omitted. Idria could know anything she wanted, but that kiss…
That was not for her. That was only for Atlanta, and for myself.
“You are catastrophizing, Apex.” Idria rolled her eyes as I finished regaling her with what had happened. “What are two dead male sluts compared to the grandeur of our goals?”
Our goals, she called them. I stiffened at that. Idria’s goals were her own. I was only her hand here. I had no part to play in what she desired except for ensuring that her will would be done.
“Lieja may feel otherwise.”
“Lieja will be fine. She has other playthings, and I will be sure to appease her well enough when I arrive. You have hidden the bodies well, I take it?”
“Of course.”
“Then put it from your mind, Apex.” Idria’s smile returned with an eerie swiftness. “What is important is that you have done all that I have asked. If anything, you have gone above and beyond your duty to me—and to Atlanta as well. You had to do it, did you not? They threatened her. You kept her safe. Most females would smile upon such swift justice being done
