“Why would the Darkness be an illusion?” Michael asked quietly. “To scare us? We all saw the smoke that took Council Elder Anika,” he said with a glance around the room. “Or was that also an illusion?”
“When I dissipated the lie at the foot of the mountain, it took more than my Flare,” Cord told them as he watched Tegan cross the room to take a seat beside her brother. She met and held his gaze, and he felt the Mark tingle, and he failed to hide the warmth in his look. “I needed the Mark, it was only when I was with Leonid that I saw the trickery from the Darkness, but Ialsosaw the trickery of Velvore. The Darkness was outside of the cave, which almost killed me to get through, but there was a barrier, a small shield, that was keeping Leonid safe from the Darkness.”
“And the shield was Velvore?” Lucas asked, leaning forward.
“Yes,” Cord answered and then sighed. “I think so.” His Mark gave a sharp throb, and he winced. “Definitely Velvore,” he grumbled as he adjusted his position.
“Can we just take a moment to appreciate that the Mark of Velvore, thatVelvoretalks to Cord?” Commander Bryce said in wonder. “In all my readings and teachings of this blessèd Mark, I’ve never seen any recording where the bearer was actually openly influenced.”
“That’s because the other bearers were not him,” Tegan mumbled flatly, causing the others to snigger at the truth of her words.
“Meaning?” Cord asked her with a playful smile.
“Meaning you would be the only one who needs a sharp reminder who you are acting on behalf of.”
“Little tiger, you wound me.”
Tegan snorted and shared a look with Salem that Cord could not decipher, but he saw Salem’s wink to his daughter.
“Back to the shield,” Garrick pressed. “It couldn’t let Leonid out, but it kept the Darkness out, and the Darkness fought against you to get in, but the shield allowed you in?”
Cord screwed his face up as he thought about it. “Yes,” he confirmed.“With Leonid’s help. Leonid grabbed me and hauled me in.”
“So Velvore, or another Ancient say, protected you,” Garrick said as he looked at Leonid. “And where you can see the Darkness, Cord can see the influence of the Ancients.”
“Light and dark?” Lucas murmured the question to Garrick, who nodded as he looked between the Vampyre and the young Castor.
“My father is not of Darkness,” Tegan said loudly. “That is not what I was saying.”
“And I was not saying it was your father that was Dark,” Garrick said softly.
“Cord,” Marcus grumbled from the area where the fire spell was occurring. “Bring me back, I have time.”
“I thought you were hunting?” Cord said as he stood.
“I was sleeping,” Marcus said. Cord portalled, and within moments he was back with a half-dressed Lycan. “I didn’t know he would come instantly,” he apologised as he looked around the room.
“Not only a communication device but now a delivery one too,” Cord muttered as he sat back in his space.
“The ease in which you can do that chills me every time,” Lucas told him.
Cord looked at the Dark Prime Castor and dipped his head in acknowledgement. “It scares me sometimes how easily I accept it,” he admitted truthfully.
“Why did you need to be here?” Salem asked Marcus curiously.
“I saw the Darkness, the night that Tegan and I travelled to House Ivanov, it showed itself to us,” he told the room. “It is one of the reasons why I never let Cornelius know I was in his woods, watching his House and letting Tegan handle matters inside. I searched those woods and surrounding area for days, hunting Drakhyn, and their absence should have alerted me to the danger then.”
“I did not know you had seen it,” Leonid said to Tegan.
“It was a little bit unsettling,” Tegan admitted as she shared a look with Marcus.
“Unsettling how?” Leonid asked, turning fully to face her.
“It told us it was coming for me.” Tegan licked her lips quickly. “Much like it did in the hall the other night.”
“It is coming for you?” Leonid asked, his eyes narrowing in fury before he looked at the others in the room. “You knew?” His gaze settled on Salem.
“I did.”