Page 24 of A Bond in Blood (Blood Bound Duet #1)

Chapter 24

S cowling at the fae that had grasped me, I turned my attention to the king, offering him a sweet and tempting smile.

“I am enjoying your festivities, your grace.”

Ulrich’s eyes widened when my body was before him. His gaze went right to my barely covered breasts.

“Go back to the room. Now,” he ordered.

I glared. “No, your grace.”

“Who let you out?”

“I did.”

Ulrich stepped back and his fists balled at his side. His rage was evident, but I had become aware enough to know he was considering his next steps before his court.

“Your grace,” Bjorn hissed. “Each member of your court and home are required to participate in the Rite. Do not tell me you were to give this mortal leniency?”

“She is a half-fae princess, Bjorn. Address her as such,” Ulrich growled.

Bjorn smiled a wicked grin. “She’s dressed for the Rite. I’ll give her that much.”

Ulrich snapped his fingers and the man before us went still.

“Return to your fantasies, Bjorn. The Rite will begin shortly.”

The man turned on his heel, glaring at me while he left.

Ulrich returned his attention to me. “What are you wearing?”

“Don’t recognize it?” I spun in my place. “You gifted it to me.”

A low whistle came from behind Ulrich, and I stepped to the side, finding Olen with a bright grin on his face.

The right hand was dressed in a dark gray suit, cut to his body in the same way as Ulrich’s. Accentuating every muscle on the towering man’s body.

“Princess,” he whistled again. “Gods.”

Ulrich’s head turned to his right hand. “You keep an eye on her.”

Olen nodded, reaching for me, but I stepped back.

“I want to enjoy myself,” I stated. “You will both leave me be.”

“ Ursa ,” Ulrich warned. “Not tonight.”

The music picked up again and I placed my hand on the king’s chest. Right where I knew his ink hid beneath his dark shirt. I circled him, my fingers tapping his dress coat.

“It’s been nearly four years,” I whispered. “I am a woman with needs.”

The king was unmoving while I continued my circling. His right hand was as equally unmoving a few steps away.

“This is not the day,” Ulrich growled.

“I say it is,” I bit back, pulling my hand against my chest.

My hips moved with the music, and I turned my attention to Olen, trailing my fingers across his arm. In the same teasing motions I’d done to Ulrich’s chest.

“Princess,” Olen whispered. “Do not test him.”

“Dance with me, beast .”

Olen’s eyes moved from mine. I raised my hand, brushing his sharp jaw, softly caressing the edge of his mask.

“Do not look at him,” I muttered.

Ulrich’s cold ran a chill up my back. “Keep an eye on her,” he said again, leaving me in the arms of his right hand.

I grinned at Olen, puffing out my chest. Hoping the man would stare in the way I wanted him to. Instead, he gripped my hand and dragged me back to the shadows I’d come from.

“What are you thinking?” he whispered, shaking my shoulders.

I shoved him away.

“I’m thinking I’m not bound to obey every single thing Ulrich tells me to do.” I stepped away, observing the party resuming in the light of the blood moon. “What is so different about this festival that Ulrich banned me from attending? Other than the naked bodies, very little is different from my island’s winter celebrations.”

Olen blocked my view of the grand room. “Princess, you are so foolishly wrong in your observations, but it’s too late now. Bjorn has made his public challenge.”

“Who is he?” I asked, finding the tall and slender man slinking around the room, his eyes meeting mine.

“Someone you do not want to find yourself alone with,” Olen sneered.

Olen held out his palm, and I met his gaze.

“You’ve already made an entrance, but do you care to make another?”

I smiled at him. “Please.”

He guided me back to the middle of the room while the whispers picked up again. Starved eyes tracked my steps. Tongues lapped at their lips.

I was the visual meal in a room full of starving monsters.

Olen spun me in place and my sheer gown spun around my body. It wrapped me in red with the crimson light of the moon shining down on me in approval.

My chest slammed into his and his hand landed on my back while I swayed my hips.

“I will get us drinks,” he whispered into my ear.

I nodded, allowing him to leave me briefly. The music rose the hairs on my body, and I spun in place. The energy was overwhelming, intimate, and thrilling.

I laid my eyes on the king, his eyes stared at me with the same hunger of those bodies swaying alongside me.

My feet moved before I’d decided my next choice. Guiding me to the king. Determined to win this battle I’d started.

When I reached the dais, I dipped low, allowing the cowl of my gown to reveal my already visible chest.

“You’re fitting in,” Ulrich said coldly.

I lifted the gown, stepped on the dais, and placed myself on the seat beside his throne.

His head turned toward me and he cocked his head. “Willingly?” he asked with a grin.

My chest heaved while I watched the twisting bodies before us. The view from the dais was different. Heavier. More tempting.

“I needed to rest my feet,” I replied, not meeting his eyes.

His shadows trailed from his fingers, gripping the legs of the small seat, dragging me until I was between his now open legs.

“That dress,” he hissed.

I leaned back, revealing my chest to him. “It’s rather comfortable.”

His shadows coiled around my legs, traveling up my body until the tendrils gripped my chin.

“I wonder how much more comfortable it is when it’s removed.”

Heat grew between my legs and my hands gripped the seat. He grinned, leaning back in his chair while his shadows dropped their hold.

“Have you chosen your partner for the evening?” he asked.

“Your grace?”

Ulrich laughed, throwing his head back. “The Rite, Ursa . It requires each body present to have a partner.”

My blood went cold. “For what?”

“You should have asked that before,” Ulrich grinned. “You’ll have to find out for yourself.”

Olen appeared before us with two glasses of dark liquor. I pointed to him.

“I choose him.”

Olen laughed. “Too late. My partner picked me out the moment I stepped into this room.”

Fuck the Gods .

I turned slowly, meeting Ulrich’s inquiring eyes. He shook his head. “Not me. I have been claimed.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Olen taunted.

I stood, ripping the drink from Olen’s hand and threw it back. Choking from the burn, I glared at the king.

“What in the Gods does that mean?”

“Ulrich will be a very busy man tonight,” Olen replied.

My hands balled at my sides. “I don’t want his hands on me anyway.”

Ulrich leaned back in his throne, setting his feet on the seat I’d risen from. “You may regret that statement by the end of the night. You may be begging for my touch when you find yourself in the hands of someone who does not know how to make all of those delicious noises come from your lips.”

“I hate you,” I grumbled.

“I’m very aware,” Ulrich replied then clapped his hand, calling forth a troll with a tray topped with a glass.

He picked it up, eyeing me over the rim before waving his hand. “Go, Brenna. You have an hour.”

My stomach dropped. “Until what?”

“Until someone will claim you.”

The sounds of the party drowned out with the pulse ringing in my ears while the words left Ulrich’s lips.

“Olen said you would never allow a man in your court to defile a woman.”

Ulrich stood from his throne. His cold wrapped around my body once more.

“The Rite is a different night. It is required by the Gods to give tribute with our bodies. Our blood.”

“You don’t believe in the Gods,” I protested.

Ulrich smiled at me. “I do one night a year, Brenna. When we fuck, bleed, and sacrifice to pay tribute.”

His hands lightly brushed my shoulder as he passed me. “One hour,” he whispered.

He left me on the dais, practically naked and realizing I really was a potential feast for the starving monsters surrounding me.

I set my glass on the table. My fourth in just a short span of time. My head was hazy from the liquor while my stomach knotted with nerves.

My eyes went to Ulrich on the throne, finding his hands down the skirts of a topless, gray-skinned woman. He smiled at me while his hands moved faster under her skirts.

He was taunting me. Knowing I hadn’t done any work to determine the partner he claimed I was required to find.

Gods, how I hated him.

Gaining a stupid confidence from the liquor, I stood, swaying on my feet.

The Unseelie surrounding me sneered with glee.

“The wraith is unsteady,” one shrill voice laughed.

“Easier to hump,” a gravelly voice replied.

I snapped my attention to them, scowling.

“Do either of you have deals? ” I asked with a smile.

They both shrank back, hissing at me while they retreated.

Triumphant in my victory, I stumbled again. Right into the open arms of a man. My head moved upward, pausing when I found Bjorn grinning at me.

“My prize for the evening has found its way to me,” he chuckled.

I moved to rip away from him, but he held tighter. “Do not run, princess. I will not harm you.”

There was a hum in his words, a calming command that took root inside of my mind.

“I believe we find ourselves without a partner,” he whispered while his eyes went to my chest.

I was too intoxicated to cover myself. Instead, I nodded confidently.

“It appears so.”

Bjorn stepped back, holding out his arms as though he intended for me to admire him. So I did.

I stared at his dark skin and the dark hair atop his head. The tall, slender build of his body. Significantly different from Ulrich and Olen’s muscular frames.

Then there was the black mask covering half of his face, ending at the bridge of the left-side of his nose. Behind the mask two dark brown stared at me.

Gods, were they hungry.

My eyes went to Ulrich who was unmoving on his throne with the woman on his lap gone. His rage was palpable even across the room.

“Your king said I must find someone or else I’d be claimed,” I said to Bjorn, keeping my gaze on Ulrich.

Bjorn’s hand lifted mine, bringing it to his lips. “The Rite has its rules and customs, princess.”

I was disgusted by his touch, immediately wishing I could scrub my skin clean. I fluttered my eyelashes instead, allowing him to kiss up my arms.

“Explain the Rite to me. Please, sir.”

“My lord,” he whispered.

I snapped my eyes to him. “What?”

“ Lord , my title.”

“I apologize,” I cleared my throat. “I did not know.”

Bjorn waved his hand without a care. “My little plot of land graciously gifted to me by the king is not one to worry about. I’m rarely there.”

He stood, placing his hand against my back. “Have you had enough to drink, princess?” he whispered.

My shoulders grew stiff, and I turned my eyes to Ulrich. My hour was close to ending. This much I knew and by the evident hate in his eyes, I knew I’d picked the best partner for whatever this night would entail.

I turned back to Bjorn. “I believe I could do with one more.” My stomach rolled in protest while the words left my lips, but I remained calm. I had to dull my senses further to allow my body to lose itself in lust with the Unseelie before me.

Bjorn dropped my hand, bowing his head. “I will return shortly.”

I sat back in my chair, my head spinning with the moving bodies around me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Olen snarled above me.

I glanced up then shrugged. “Found a partner.”

“You’re intoxicated,” Olen stated. “You can’t.”

“Ulrich did not say I couldn’t be filled with liquor. He said I had to find a partner.”

Olen’s body turned toward the dais, and I followed his gaze, finding a line of naked bodies circling around Ulrich.

“What is that?” I asked.

“The Rite requires nine deals to be made. One of peace, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery.”

I stared at the bodies, counting exactly nine. A group of both men and women.

“How does he complete these deals? What does any of that mean?”

Olen sighed. “He fucks them, Brenna. Before us all while they yell out their deals and intentions.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“That’s the Rite,” Olen replied blankly. “We all do the same, declaring our intentions.”

“Ulrich mentioned sacrifice and blood.”

Olen laughed. “Each person before him will offer him blood and he will offer his own before he takes them. And then, the one declaring a deal of treachery, will be sacrificed.”

His hand wrapped around my mouth, muffling my shocked yell.

I wiggled away, shoving him from me. “He can’t do that!”

“He can and he will.”

“Do they know they’re going to be sacrificed?”

Olen’s eyes went back to the dais and the bodies kneeling before their king.

“Not one of them realizes what deals their hearts long to make until his blood hits their tongue. Sacrifice is an honor they all wish to have, but even their own treachery will shock them.”

“He…” I paused, raising my brow. “ All of them?”

“Not to completion, princess. If that’s your question. He only goes long enough for them to yell their deal. Or I guess until he—”

I shrieked and covered my ears. “Oh my Gods, I need to get to my bed.”

I stood to leave, but Olen gripped my arm. “Too late. You must allow yourself to exchange blood with your partner. You both must declare your intentions and you both must remain, watching until the traitor is killed.”

“I can’t participate in this,” I whispered.

Olen stared at me. “This is exactly why Ulrich banned your attendance. This is the consequences of your own choices, princess.”

I opened my mouth to protest when a voice cleared behind Olen. The beast-man stepped aside, a scowl now tight across his face.

“Bjorn,” he said coldly.

Bjorn held up two flutes of wine. “Olen.”

“It appears you are not on friendly terms,” I spoke, reaching for one of the flutes.

Bjorn handed me the glass then turned back to Olen.

“I believe myself and my partner are in need of a few moments to acquaint ourselves better before the festivities begin.”

Olen gave me a worried glance then nodded his head.

“Call for me if you need,” he said softly.

“That’s unneeded,” Bjorn cut in. “She is safe in my arms.”

There was a hiss to his words, like a serpent waiting to attack in the shadows and my blood went cold. I’d made a mistake. I’d allowed my own stubbornness to potentially put me in harm’s way.

Bjorn clinked his glass against mine, pulling me from my fear.

“Do not fret. I will be gentle.”

I put the wine to my lips, drinking heavily.

“I’m not fragile,” I replied when I’d drained my glass.

Bjorn’s eyes lit with amusement. “Yes, it would appear you are not.”

The fire in the middle of the room climbed higher and a drum began to beat in repetition. The sound thumped throughout the room. Like a heartbeat, connecting us all together.

“It’s beginning,” Bjorn said calmly.

My hands went numb at my side as he gripped my wrist, dragging me through the room. He placed me right before the dais where I had a clear view of Ulrich and his nine partners.

Bjorn’s hand brushed my neck and traveled down my arm while I held the king’s hate-filled gaze.

“He likes to watch,” the man whispered into my ear. “I figured I’d allow him a delicious view of his pet .”

My head went foggy with the wine mixing with the liquor while the drumbeat picked up. My chest heaved with the rhythm. Uncontrollable. Terrifying.

Bjorn’s breath was hot on my neck when his hand grasped my breast. “Do you know how this Rite is completed?” he whispered.

My words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t respond. The wine. It was—

My eyes widened. I attempted to turn to face the monster holding my body, but he held me in place.

“Just because Ulrich has it banned, does not mean I cannot get it onto this Island,” Bjorn whispered.

Faerie wine. A substance and drink I had only experienced a handful of times in my life. Never more than a sip or two and I had foolishly downed an entire glass.

Ulrich’s eyes were still on mine while his shadow blade tore the wrist of the woman before him. Her blood hit the dais, and I could hear it with the wine altering my senses.

The drops were ringing, mocking, laughing at the woman now poisoned and defenseless.

Bjorn ripped the back of my gown while the woman before Ulrich dropped her blood in his mouth.

“Watch that throne, princess,” Bjorn muttered against my ear. “Because you will be chained beside it when I claim it.”

Screams filled the room when Ulrich suddenly lunged, his blade slicing my cheek as it rammed into the shoulder of my assailant.

I forced my body through the haze, watching in horror while black blood splattered over Ulrich’s body.

“Treachery!” voices screamed, pointing at the twitching hand on the floor.

“Run, Brenna.” Olen’s voice was breaking me through the poisoned haze. “Get back to the bedroom, now .”

My eyes went back to Ulrich, finding his body encompassed by shadows again. His skin became translucent, his bones shining and white beneath his flesh.

Then I ran, right through the door behind the dais, a victim of my own foolish choices.