Chapter 225: Dripping Poison
Chapter 225: Dripping Poison
Claire and Kira were setting the table for dinner, the maids moving around them with dishes and cutlery.
"Put the large forks on the left, darling," Claire said, without looking up as she adjusted a glass bowl. "And mentally prepare yourself. Your training begins tomorrow."
She smoothed a napkin into place.
"I want you well rested tonight, because from tomorrow, I’m going to teach you how to cultivate your power. How to reach for it, how to use it, and most importantly, how to control it. An untrained Nexus is a danger to herself as much as to anyone else."
Kira set down a plate. "Can you tell me?" she asked. "The full extent of it. What a Nexus can actually do?"
Claire paused, and looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I can’t tell you much," she admitted. "Not because I want to keep it from you. But because so much of it is unknown, even to those of us who carry the half of it."
She looked at her daughter. "What I do know is this. You are the source. The wellspring of all power. That is why we cannot, under any circumstances, allow you to fall into the wrong hands. Into the hands of evil people. Or worse, into the hands of the Shadow King before you’re ready."
Kira’s brow creased. "But if I’m the only one who can kill the Shadow King," she said slowly, "then why am I the one who has to hide from him? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?"
Claire’s expression turned grave. "Because your power is only just beginning to manifest. You’re new to it, raw and untrained."
"And if the Shadow King were to capture you now and merge his own dark energy with your blood, you would free his essence. You would become the vessel that releases him fully into the world. He will corrupt your mind, turn your soul inside out, and use you as his personal weapon to do whatever he wishes."
Her voice dropped. "And you know what his single goal is. To rule the world. We cannot let that happen. We cannot let him happen."
She set down the dish in her hands and looked at Kira directly.
"The last Nexus," she said quietly, "was captured by the Shadow King. He used her. Over and over, drained her, bent her to his will, until she could bear it no longer. In the end, she took her own life. It was the only escape left to her."
Kira felt a chill move through her.
"So you must learn," Claire went on. "You must understand the full extent of your power, and master it, before you ever face the Shadow King. Him, and his wife."
Kira’s brows knitted together. "His wife?"
Claire nodded. "Not everyone knows he has one. But he does. And she is no less dangerous than he is. Perhaps more."
As they spoke and laid out the last of the dinner things, Braxton came striding in, Oliver and Gavin flanking him, all three of them flushed and damp from their evening training.
Ever since Kira had arrived, the three of them had been drilling harder than ever, putting in extra hours, determined to be ready for any sudden Umbra attack.
"Good evening, ladies," Oliver said.
"Mother. Sister." Braxton dipped his head to them both with a tired smile.
Kira immediately abandoned the plates and rushed over to her brother, her eyes filled with a sudden, anxious hope. She asked the exact same question she had asked every single evening for the past week.
"Did you manage it? Did Jessica’s line connect?"
Since the day she’d arrived at Crystal Moon, Kira had dialled her best friend’s number every single day, praying that just once it might ring through. But every time, the same flat message. The number was switched off.
Braxton’s face softened with sympathy, and he shook his head. "Nothing yet. I’m sorry. We’re still trying."
Kira’s whole expression fell. She let out a long, heavy breath.
"I shouldn’t have dragged her into any of this," she said quietly. "None of it was her fight. She only ever tried to help me, and now she and her whole family are out there somewhere, hiding, frightened, because of my problems."
Her voice cracked. "I feel like a terrible person. My mess is costing my best friend her happiness, her whole life. How is that fair?"
Braxton crossed to her. "Kira, you can’t carry all of that—"
His phone pinged.
He pulled it from his pocket and glanced down at the screen. As he read, his brows slowly drew together, and his jaw tightened.
"Bloody hell," he muttered.
"What is it?" Kira asked, straightening. "What’s wrong?"
Braxton looked up at her, and there was something heavy in his eyes.
"You were right," he said. "About all of it. Connor’s just sent me a message. It’s confirmed."
He paused. "Crane Wolfe was the true orchestrator of the dinner banquet massacre eight years ago. It was him all along. He did it, and he let Rolf take the blame for it."
Kira’s jaw dropped.
***
Back in Dravengard, Connor walked into the living room and found Declan seated alone at the bar, throwing back glass after glass of strong liquor.
Connor approached slowly and lowered himself onto the stool beside him. He reached for the bottle, poured himself a measure, and tossed it back in one go.
"You’re not looking your best, you know," Connor said.
Declan let out a slow breath. "That’s because I feel like a piece of shit right now."
Connor said nothing. He simply poured another.
"Maybe," Declan went on, staring into his glass, "if I hadn’t been so paranoid all this time, Derek wouldn’t be in the state he’s in. Have you seen him? He looks like a man who’s already half dead."
He swirled the drink. "We blamed the wrong people for years, Connor. And just when he was finally letting himself feel something. Just when he was starting to actually love her. I kept dripping poison in his ear. Don’t trust her. She’s playing you. She’s going to break you the way Sarah did. I planted every one of those seeds, and—"
"Alright. Stop." Connor cut him off gently but firmly. "You can’t take all of this onto yourself, Declan. You weren’t being cruel. You were looking out for him. Protecting him. That’s all you’ve ever done. You were being a good friend, the kind of friend who watches a man’s back even when he doesn’t want it watched. There’s no shame in that."
Declan took another sip and shook his head. "I owe her an apology. A huge one." He stared at the bottles lined up behind the bar. "I just wish we could find where she is. So we could begin to put this right. So I could look her in the eye and tell her I was wrong about her."
Connor turned his glass slowly in his fingers. "I think," he said carefully, "that wherever she is right now, she might want some time to herself. To heal properly."
He hesitated. "Derek’s words were... they were so cruel, Declan. So cruel that they triggered her first shift. Words like that don’t mend overnight. Sometimes a person needs to be far away from the thing that wounded them before they can even begin to recover."
Declan was quiet for a long moment. Then he set his glass down on the counter with a soft clink.
"I fear for the fate of Dravengard right now," he said heavily. I truly do. I just pray our enemies don’t catch wind of all this. Of the state we’re in."
He stared ahead. "Because Derek is at his most vulnerable he’s ever been. And if he’s vulnerable, then so are we. Dravengard is wide open right now. And all it would take is one enemy who’s paying attention."