Chapter 194: Join me, Adelaide

How in the name of the heavenly Moon Goddess was Katherine still alive? She died many years ago, didn’t she? Selene had sent that stake right through her heart after the Moonfire explosion!!

It felt so weird to see someone else like her, but dark in their own haunted and rotten way.

"It’s nice to finally meet you, Adelaide,"

God, her voice sounded so endearing and soft.

"Aren’t you supposed to be dead?" Della didn’t mind filtering her words or her tone.

Katherine tilted her head a bit and threw the question back, "Aren’t you?"

"I am... but I awakened,"

The knowing, small, vile smirk that touched Katherine’s face was enough to make Della realise the truth.

Katherine had also awakened...after death.

Just like her.

"What do you want from me?" Della asked, then pointed at the lying rogue, "Why’d you ask your not-so-little lackey to bring me here?"

"I’ll be honest with you, Adelaide," Katherine said softly, "I really like you. The way you’ve changed. The way you think now. The way you mapped out all your revenge plan and how it’s all been working out,"

"Have you been watching me?" Della’s eyes narrowed.

"Of course. I’m curious about the only other rotblood that’s alive apart from me," The woman replied with a simple, casual shrug, "And let’s not forget the fact that you were also mated, and married to the same man as me. Of course you interest me,"

Della’s alarm quadrupled.

"So what exactly did you get out of watching me?"

"Satisfaction," She said.

"What?"

"The way you lived, the way you hoped, the way you loved, the ways you were betrayed each and every time. And the way you started to come after them all...it all satiated me,"

Della suddenly felt like she’d been sucked into one of those stories she read back at IronRidge when she couldn’t sleep when the hero finally meets the unknown villain. Unless in this case, she wasn’t a hero.

"And as it satisfied you, what do you hope to gain from it?" Della asked tightly.

Katherine never blinked, "You," She answered.

Silence.

Then, Della blinked, "Me?"

"Yes, Adelaide. You." She repeated, and then she reached out for a firefly with a finger, but the thing completely avoided her like a plague.

It wasn’t fast enough but it was pretty obvious that it kept trying to dodge her touch.

"Because you have experienced what I have experienced," She explained and looked back at her, "You know what torture means. What hate means. What disbelief means. How deep betrayal feels,"

"Who betrayed you?"

"My people." Katherine said, "My mother tried to kill me after I was born, and my father...did the same. It’s a miracle I survived all their attempts. After growing up isolated, mocked, hated, stoned, without a pack, I swore that I would rise to the highest of ranks and spit down back at them,"

The life of a rotblood has always been filled with blood and pain.

"And that was when I met Malachi,"

The name made Della’s hand start to twitch again, but she quickly hid it again.

"He was calm and gentle and... trusted me so easily. I tried so hard to love him as much as he loved me. Poor Malachi, he was even thrown into the Iron Pits because he said he wanted to marry me, a rotblood,"

Oh wow.

So that was the real story of how Malachi once experienced the Iron Pits no one else has survived before.

"We had a little girl together, and Malachi had his perfect life set out to him...and he thought I was happy too." She lowered her voice a little, "But love cannot erase years of tears and hate...and I had to take what I wanted. So I did what I had to do,"

"You killed your daughter...and tried to make his wolf yours!" Della whispered roughly.

"The latter was a huge mistake," The woman chuckled. Like she actually laughed, like it was the silliest thing ever. She didn’t even react to the part where she killed her daughter. Not even a cut in breath, "Turns out you cannot merge with another wolf when you already have one inside of you,"

Della frowned, but it made sense.

Rotbloods were made to believe they were wolfless.

No one said their wolves were simply... asleep. Not until the first awakening.

"Because we share such a tortured life, is why I have chosen to recruit you,"

The words, ’No, thank you,’ were right there at the top of Della’s tongue but she stopped herself.

"You share my pain, and I share yours," Katherine continued, "Let not just one... but two rotbloods set the whole world aflame!"

That sounded very, very tempting.

It’d be Della’s utmost pleasure to listen to wolves’ screaming as Moonfire melted away their chest and began chewing into their bones.

"You’ve stolen all the Moonfire you need. You also have an army of rogues you control. Tell me why...you want me to join you?" Della questioned

"Because, Adelaide, I do not want you getting in my way in the future,"

"And joining you keeps me from getting in your way?" She retorted.

"No, but it keeps you under stricter surveillance and helps me determine if you can be trusted,"

Della almost laughed, "I’ll tell you right now that I do not care if you trust me or not. I can also assure you that you are very free to burn this world down to its last ashes. Everything that mattered to me is now six feet deep,"

"That is good to know," She reached for another firefly, but this one picked up some speed and flew away from her.

Her gaze returned to Della, and whatever she saw made her eyes darken.

"When do you plan to reveal to your family that you are still alive?"

"I don’t think that’s any of your business,"

"It isn’t. I was merely curious. I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun by approaching your father again and letting the words fall out,"

Della was about to say a curse word when she froze completely, "What do you mean... approach my father again? You know him?"

"Oh, yes," Katherine said, "Who do you think gave him the Moonfire he used to condemn you that night beneath the altar?"