Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)- Kristy Cunning Page 0,130

Even with her magic dried up, I’m still no match for Pandora on my own, much to my dismay. If it hadn’t been for Violet, Vance would have successfully been lost today. Consider that.”

She looks back out the window, as though that somehow qualifies as a response.

“Violet lured them into a trap the day they beheaded her. They had no idea her head would stitch itself back on. She’s a girl who doesn’t fear death. Or at least she didn’t. Not until she lost me,” she continues, her tone still cold and emotionless.

I look back, finding Violet turned over to her other side, and return my attention to Marta, as she wipes a stray tear from her eye.

My phone chimes with a text, and I glance down, seeing it’s from Vance.

VANCE: If you see Anna, salt her. It’s not a ghost. It’s some sort of mystical spirit that haunts the mind and drives it mad. Usually it can’t be seen, which is why I didn’t realize it sooner. It’s always been trapped inside the mind, but it’s found a way to somehow show itself, using the ghost plane.

Bloody fucking hell. I can’t handle a revelation of that magnitude right now, because I don’t have the energy to feel one more single, exhausting bit of fury.

Not tonight.

Not when I’m so close to possibly losing it all.

And Marta is pointless right now.

I’ve never heard her so detached. Marta Portocale is a relentless, spitfire pistol. Not even an eternity as long as ours has slowed her down.

“I never should have come here. I knew this would happen,” Marta confesses on a quiet breath.

We missed all the signs that Violet was turning into a mutinous beta. It’s completely understandable as to why she would want to rise against Idun, but…Idun can’t be overthrown by alphas, let alone betas.

“Betrayal does have a way of riling a monster’s instincts, but Violet isn’t betraying anyone. She never agreed to pledge loyalty to Idun, and she’s not just a Neopry monster.”

“None of which is relevant, because this is Idun we’re dealing with. And—”

“And none of it matters,” she butts in, standing and going to stare out the window, as the lightning crashes harder and harder. “I don’t need it explained to me.”

“I planned. I plotted. I came up with an abundance of wild ideas to prevent this from happening,” Marta adds. “Still, it happened. It’s as though I lost all my influence over Violet the moment I died.”

She tilts her head, staring into the storm.

“Now it’s too late. I never should have brought her here. I was scared, which is a damn near novel feeling for me these days. I let my emotions get the better of me for the first time in centuries, and now my daughter is a part of this world. I doubted myself and her. I relied on what I knew. I came back here, even though I should have stayed gone. She’d still be blissfully unaware and mildly lost.”

Wolves break out into a panicked set of barks somewhere in the far distance. Or maybe we’re just hearing them since the storm isn’t quite as loud at the moment.

Lightning strikes twice as hard in the next instant, drowning out the distant sounds to a certain degree.

“The shifters have simply been waiting for battle,” Marta says on a tired sigh.

“Van Helsing knights love a good battle,” I remind her. “The entire Van Helsing family has been diligently grooming those knights for centuries.”

“How many of your family will stand behind you after your Flame picked a fight with Idun? No one was ready for this to be so abrupt. Everyone may hate and fear Idun, but they still back the winning side because of that fear, Damien. How many alphas will you have at your side tonight?”

I don’t answer, because I honestly don’t know. It’s very unlikely I’ll have many allies.

I never planned to do battle with Idun ever again. “I detached myself from my flocks and other people in general, cutting any ties to collateral power Idun could loom over me. Survival was no longer a priority of mine, and I was done fighting—”

My words end on a sudden hiss, because an excruciating, high-pitched ringing sounds in my ears. The searing pain is so intense and jarring, that my stomach revolts. Bile rises to my throat, a reaction to the outrageous pain that feels to be splitting my skull open for a burning, miserable moment.

My knees give, and I crash to the ground, while Marta