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The king’s perfect smile turned blinding as he commanded, “Cut out his heart.”

“Idris, you bastard!” I screamed, but the words barely left my lips before my body betrayed me. My grip tightened around Milani’s blood-coated dagger, my own hand swinging into motion—an executioner’s strike controlled by another’s will.

Victor vanished in a blur, the blade cutting through empty space where he once stood. Praise Hathor.

Too bad my relief was short-lived.

Radiant energy detonated like a shooting star, the force of Idris’s attack streaking across the dais. A bolt of lethal power struck Victor dead center, the impact a deafening crack that sent him hurtling. He crashed to the ground, landing in a spill of crimson fabric, his golden chest plate scorched and dented—a smoldering crater marking where Idris’s magic had struck.

“No,” I choked, horror constricting my throat. I’d seen similar blasts annihilate entire villages. Idris had used me as a distraction to mask his assault.

Shockwaves reverberated through my body. Above me, the limbs of the sacred arbor shuddered. Bitter pulses of obsidian slithered up the roots of the tree. My bones ached in sympathy. Carcerem cried, forced to commit the false king’s crimes.

Then, a movement—a spark of hope amid the devastation.

Victor groaned, pain-laced butalive. His fingers clawed at the scorched tiles as he shed his ruined cape, tossing aside his dented armor with a grunt. He rose, slow but steady, eyes burning with a fury that turned his golden irises molten.

He’d survived! My shoulders sagged, and my muscles became liquid.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Kill him. And do not stop until he is dead,” Idris barked to someone.

For one heartbeat, I wondered who he’d sent to do his dirty work. Then, my legs started moving.

No. Not me. Not me!

I raced down the steps, launching myself at the dazed vampire. Before he could react, my slashing blade met flesh. Victor reeled back, a bloody gash on his smoking chest.

“Runa, no,” he growled.

“Fight back, damn you,” I shouted. “He has me in his thrall.”All the times I’d wanted to murder the arrogant man, this wasn’t one of them.

I spun and lunged. The blade I yielded sliced under the vampire’s raised arm, along his ribs.

Victor recoiled, clutching his side, crimson leaking between his fingers. The sight of his blood fractured something inside of me. Destroying me from the inside out.

“Protect yourself, use your magic,” I cried, circling, preparing for another attack.

He shook his head, circling as well, keeping me in his sights. “I do that, and I’ll end up killing you. Did you see what I did merely opening the doors?”

“Then kill me!” I screamed, tightening my grip on the knife.

Curse him, but he didn’t even raise his arms to block me. He was making it too easy. With a broken roar, I charged, wielding the dagger that had already claimed Milani’s life. In slow motion, I watched from a place detached from reality. Watched as the bloody blade descended.

Firm hands grasped my wrist, stopping its descent. Thank the goddess. Ligaments twisted, my bones creaking. The skillful press of his fingers against my nerve endings sent an electric jolt through my arm. My fingers went numb, uncurling from my weapon and dropping the dagger.

Before I could dart away, Victor jerked me closer, clamping his arms around me.

I thrashed in my restraints.Kill. Kill. Kill!Idris’s command rippled through my muscles, seizing control.

“Fight him, Runa. My mate. My love,” Victor said.

Nowhe claimed me? Curse the bastard and his horrible timing. How was it possible this millennia-old vampire knew nothing about romance?

“Mate?” I spat. “When I confronted you about the brand, you couldn’t have told me then?”

“You knew. You just didn’t want to admit it.”

Flark the bastard. Yes. Part of me knew.