And stress made her weaker.

She was clinging to life by a thread as it was, and she needed to be stronger than ever before for what lay ahead of us.

No, I had to visit her now, even if my recovery wasn’t complete.

Throwing aside my sheets, I got out of bed and pulled on my cloak, careful to not knock my fragile palms against anything in the process.

Leaving my quarters, I sought out my aunt.

She was down in the kitchens, stirring a pot of blood.

As soon as she saw me, she reached for a goblet and offered me some.

I shook my head, brushing her away.

“I need to leave now,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed on my palms.

I thought she might protest and try to convince me to wait at least a couple of days longer, but she seemed to realize why I ought not delay the visit further.

“I’ll escort you there,” she said.

“Yes, but I will deliver the news.

There’s no need for you to enter the cave.

This task was my responsibility.” “Of course.” Covering the pot with a lid, she laid down the spoon and removed her apron.

Picking up her cloak from the coat hanger in the corner and wrapping it around herself, she walked back over to me.

Placing a hand on my shoulder, she asked, “Are you ready?” “Let’s go.” She vanished us first to the dungeon of the castle where the gate led to our island in the supernatural realm, and then once we’d travelled through the gate, she vanished us once again to the small island Lilith resided on.

Isolde waited outside the cave as I made my way toward the Ancient’s inner sanctum.

To my surprise, Lilith’s head was above the surface of her liquid resting place as I entered.

That worried me.

I wondered how long she had been positioned in that way.

The liquid was what helped to preserve her.

Keeping my hands hidden deep within the pockets of my cloak, I walked over to the edge of the pond and knelt down.

Her shining black eyes shot open and fixed on me.

“Why are you so late?” she hissed in ancient tongue.

“I apologize,” I replied in her language.

Deep lines crisscrossed every part of her shrunken face.

Her skin looked much drier than usual.

“How long have you been waiting like this?” I dared ask.

Her lips pursed, eyes narrowing, to form a scowl.

“Too long.” “Please, duck down for a moment,” I urged.

“You need moisture.” She hacked and spat.

“The girl is what I need.

Where is she?” I bowed my head.

“I lost her.” A deathly silence filled the chamber.

I hardly dared even look at her.

I expected her to start throwing a fit of rage, but what she did terrified me far more than if she’d become violent and cursed me.

She winced and closed her eyes.

She appeared too weak to even chastise me.

“You know what this means,” she wheezed.

I nodded, my gaze still downcast.

“Without the girl’s blood,” she continued, “I stand less of a chance of surviving the final ritual.

And if I fade away before it is complete, everything we have been working toward will be in vain.” I clenched my jaw.

“I know.” “Yet you still managed to let her slip between your fingers.” She clucked her tongue softly.

“Sometimes I wonder if you want what you say you want.” I glared at her, wanting to throw back a retort, and yet in that moment of shame, I could think of none.

“So, for now,” Lilith continued after a pause, “we will forget about finding the girl.

We’ve wasted enough time on her already.” “I agree,” I managed.

“But all is not lost.

I suggest that we continue with our original plan—take control of The Shade and its inhabitants.

There are many different types of blood there—human, vampire, wolf, ogre, and don’t forget Anna, the immune.

Her blood alone should provide you with much sustenance, even if it won’t match what the Novak girl’s could have brought you.

Claim The Shade, and we claim a sea of blood in one fell swoop.” She raised a hand in the air and clicked her bony fingers.

“So do it immediately.

We can’t afford to wait longer.” I grimaced before finally pulling out my hands from my pockets and revealing to her my injured palms.

Fury sparked in her eyes as she looked from one palm to the other.

Hissing a curse, she sent me flying back until my back thudded against the stone wall with force that shook the whole room.

Taking that as my cue to leave, I picked myself up from the floor and walked to the door.

Before exiting, I called back.

“Isolde is working hard to heal my palms.

My powers will return in a matter of days.

And then I will see to it that your order is done, your grace.

That I swear.” As I left the chamber, I should have been wincing from the pain.

But I wasn’t.

I was smiling.

She’d just shown me that she still had some sting in her.

Enough, I hoped, for our final blood ritual to be successful.

Because if it was, we would no longer need to depend on her as we did now.

She would no longer be the only one of her kind.

We’d have many more—enough to make up for our lack of numbers.

Enough to reclaim The Sanctuary and our dominion over all lesser creatures.

Enough to return to the way of our Ancients and reinstate our kind’s true glory.