Page 158

Foreign emotion welled in my chest. I snapped my attention to him. “Stop that,” I hissed. “You don’t get to show me what you’re feeling anymore. You lost that right.”

“We are still bonded, Huntyr. Let me show you how sorry I am,” he pleaded, gripping the bars of my cell.

I shook my head and built invisible walls around my heart, shutting him out. “I don’t care how sorry you are,” I whispered. “It fixes nothing.”

“Maybe not,” he replied. “But I can help you out of this. I can fix this.”

“What do they want with me?” I pushed myself up and stepped into the small amount of light filtering into the cell so Wolf could see my face, so he could look at the person he had betrayed.

His brows drew together. “He wants to control the vampyre kingdom.”

“But there is no vampyre kingdom. Not since the king and queen died.”

“That’s what you’ve been made to believe. The truth is that the kingdom has risen from the ashes. What he said is true. We have known this for years; it only took us some time to find you. You are half-fae, half-vampyre, and your mother was the vampyre queen. Your real name is not Huntyr Gwenevive, it is Huntyraina Fullmall Gawerula, daughter of Claudia Fullmall Gawerula.”

I scoffed, shaking my head. Huntyraina Fullmall Gawerula. It didn’t make any fucking sense. The vampire queen had no heirs. It was part of the reason the kingdom fell. Lord saved me from dying, he didn’t take me from the vampyre kingdom. “That’s not possible.”

“You are twenty-four years of age, Huntress. Your vampyre cravings for blood won’t kick in for another year. You’re stronger than any mere fae. You don’t remember who your parents really were—”

“It isn’t possible!” Panic clawed at my chest, digging a hole and tunneling deep inside of me.

“It is.” His words held a certain tenderness that made me hate him even more. “I can even taste it in your blood. Your blood magic is more powerful than anything I have ever seen. You are the heir to the vampyre kingdom, Huntress. Youmusthelp him take control, or he will kill you for standing in his way.”

Chapter

Forty-Six

WOLF

Cherries.

That smell of her sweet, alluring blood ripped through me with every goddess-damned breath, igniting my senses and squeezing my heart until I was sure it would cease to beat. Her specific scent wafted through the air, even from corridors away.

My father didn’t seem to notice it the same way I did. He wouldn’t. He didn’t crave her blood. He wasn’t utterly obsessed with her.

Well, he was, but for different reasons. He talked and talked and talked, droning on about his plans for us over the next few days.

I paid no attention to that. Huntyr’s agony, hatred, and betrayal ripped through the funnel of our bond.Good.I focused on that instead of the cherries, trying to remind myself of those sad, blue eyes when she found out who I really was, what I had done to her.

She fucking hated me. I could live with that for now. At least she was still alive.

Above the ground, vampyres crawled throughout the city. It was the reason I agreed to keep her locked in that cell. If anyother vampyre even dared to come close to her, even smelled her for a second, I would eradicate them.

Her blood belonged to me.

My father stopped talking. “Are you listening to me, Wolf?”

Fuck.I slid my gaze to his. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

His face contorted in disapproval, but he continued anyway. “Did she show any signs of her power while training in Moira Seminary? Have you seen anything?”

Goddess, yes, I saw something. I saw her ripping herself to shreds, bleeding herself dry in an uncontrollable draw of power that nearly burned the castle down. I tasted it, too. Drinking her blood was like drinking life itself. She did not know how rare her abilities were. We were damn lucky that nobody else in that academy saw what she could really do.

Another wave of Huntyr’s emotions infiltrated my gut.

I never planned on falling for her. I never planned on everything getting so fucked up.

My father wanted to control her, wanted to wield her special power for his own good. I already dragged her through this nightmare, delivered her to these monsters. I would not give them that, too.