Page 39

“Oh good, you’re not all stupid.”

With his hand still on her back, they marched up the front steps of the Lord’s Manor. With a flick of Hel’s fingers, the guards crumpled to the ground, unconscious or dead, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t think about it, or guilt might start eating at her.

A breeze from Hel’s magic threw the doors open, slamming them against the wall with a crack, and they strutted inside.

“Stop right there!” A set of guards stood at the center of the red rug running down the entry to the stairs. They raised their spears and slowly marched forward. A couple of scantily dressed ladies squealed and darted out of sight. She remembered all too well wearing something similar to sneak into this place.

“Where is your Lord?” Hel asked as if he’d just arrived for a dinner party. “He has guests.”

Without anyone summoning him, Aldrich emerged from a room under the stairs with an elf wearing scraps of black that barely covered her private parts, hanging on his arm. By their laughter and general lack of acknowledgment, it was obvious he had no idea that she stood in his home with the Black Mage and a pale one. He palmed the elf’s breast and shoved his hips against her.

“Is he drunk?” Valeen said, arching a brow.

“Well, now he’s ruined my entrance.” Hel threw his hand toward him, and Aldrich was ripped away from the maiden, slammed into the stair railing and dragged toward them like he was pulled by an invisible rope around his neck. A vein in his forehead popped out as he struggled to breathe. His arms were splayed out to his sides as he hung a few inches off the ground before them.

Hel stroked the side of Valeen’s cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you recognize this beautiful face?”

“Layala?” He panted. Whatever magic Hel used to hold him was cutting into his air supply. He looked at Mathekis and then back to Hel.

“This is my wife. I warned your father what would happen if she was harmed.”

“Your… what?”

“I’m sure I didn’t stutter.”

His wide eyes shifted to Valeen, full of questions and something that looked like guilt. “It’s true,” she said. “Waking him turned out to be much different than I previously thought. How are you even Lord here? You were a Prince of Palenor.”

“Because of my experience as a Raven and Lord Brunard was my cousin.”

“And?” It didn’t add up.

Hel flicked his fingers and Aldrich sucked in a sharp pained breath. “Alright, I killed anyone else in line of succession with poison.”

The guards murmured amongst each other.

“You’re one of those cowards. Not that I’d really care or bother myself with your pitiful affairs, but,” Hel lifted her hand with the black diamond ring, “Wife. And I don’t allow anyone to hurt her and live to talk about it.”

“I—I didn’t—hurt her,” he wheezed. “I swear.”

Valeen let out a short laugh. “You’re going to deny it?”

“I was following the order of my father. We were doing it for,” he slowly uncurled a finger to point at Hel, “him. We did it for you, Lord. To wake you. You are awake because of me. I will swear my allegiance to you here and now.”

Just when she thought he couldn’t sink any lower. “He is awake because ofme,not you.”

He turned to Mathekis. “Bite him.”

“What?” Valeen balked.

Without hesitation, Mathekis sunk his teeth into Aldrich’s forearm and a scream tore from his throat. “NO!”

It was a fate worse than death. Valeen’s heart clenched in her chest. “You were supposed to kill him,” she hissed through her teeth.

“I thought you wanted to use him in this war? What does it matter if he is dead or a pale one loyal to me—to us?”

His head thrashed back and forth, and a low belly roar echoed through the manor’s high walls. The guards all slowly backed away. Two of them dropped to their knees and set down their weapons.

Her stomach rolled as Aldrich fell to the ground. His back arched and his arms jerked. The rage that ripped through her, the coldness that seeped into her bones when she was bitten came rushing back to her. Her heart pounded. The hysteria hadbeen uncontrollable, the rage overwhelming. It started to make her sweat even now. If Hel hadn’t intervened for her, she’d have suffered this same fate. The monstrous things she would have been capable of as one of those things scared her.