Page 124 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

Vaughn nods incessantly, his eyes flicking between Karius and the shadows he commands.Coward.If this were Willow here, I would die a million times in her place.

The shadows squeezing Vincent’s throat fade away, and he falls forward at our feet as he gasps for air. He holds onto his neck, and tears fall in streams down his cheeks. He looks up at me wide-eyed and terrified.

“I’m sorry,” he says. His voice hoarse and croaky.

“For what?” Karius asks. His thumb has not stopped brushing against me this entire time, and I find a strange form of comfort in it.

“For burning you and threatening your life.” His eyes clasp onto me in desperation, and I almost feel sorry for him.

I do not. This is everything he deserves,Athriel hisses.

My eyes narrow as I remember Jace’s severed head at my feet and how he and his friends laughed, as if he were nothing—like his life meant nothing. And now he is the weak one, the one begging for his life from me.

“And for Jace?” I say, finally finding my voice.

Confusion washes over his face in waves.

“Who?”

Heat fills my face, and my head pounds like a drum at the revelation that he can’t even remember his name.

“The newblood you decapitated while making me watch,” I hiss.

Recollection fills his eyes, and I see that the idea of apologizing is so beneath him, but then his gaze flickers up to Karius’s again, and he remembers the situation he is in.

“For him too. I’m sorry.”

Liar,Athriel hisses.Filthy bloodsucking liar. He feels no remorse.

Athriel is right. He is only doing this because he is being forced. If he weren’t, I have no doubt that he’d kill again. He will taunt and torture more humans and think nothing of it. He will take control of Vancova House, and the humans will be hurt in ways I cannot even begin to imagine. He cannot be left alive to bring such horrors to life.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Gods, I want to. I need to in order to silence the pounding inside my head. To cool my blood again and feel alive. He shouldn’t walk this earth while all the innocent victims that he has slaughtered had theirs cut short.

A soft touch on my leg reminds me where I am, drags me back to reality. The vampires who stand watching, they cannot know what I am, what I can do. I can’t use that weapon, so I use the only other one that I have.

“You’re not sorry,” I say. “You’re a monster.”

Vincent’s face contorts in anger, as if he knows what my words will cost him, and he decides to take his final chance. But before he can even lift off the ground, shadows erupt through his chest, forming the shape of a hand. It’s as if the entire world stops for a moment.

Vincent freezes, his mouth open wide, and his eyes fill with unshed tears. His eyes fall to the shadowy hand holding his still-beating heart, clutched in its grasp as crimson red drips from its tendrils. Vincent looks back up at Karius one last time before his body slumps to the floor with a thud as the shadows disappear. His heart comes to a fall right beside him, his face still fixed in horror. A gasp comes from across the room.

“What have you done?” The words are a horrified whisper from Vaughn.

“What you should have done a long time ago,” Karius answers.

Vaughn lifts his eyes to him as if truly seeing him for the first time. Then they flicker between us.

“Why?” The words are genuine as he attempts to understand why a vampire would kill one of his own for a human.

“Because I can,” he says. “You all want a ruthless monster as your leader to ensure the strength of this court, well, now you have one.”

Silence passes between them for a long moment.

“I suggest you select your next heir more thoughtfully this time.” He raises his hand to the two guards, and they hurry to pick up Vincent’s lifeless body and heart, escorting them from the room in a blur. The shadow figures surrounding Vaughn disperse into thick clouds that slowly make their way back to Karius. Vaughn spares one last glance before he hurries from the room.

As soon as the door closes, I’m on my feet and putting distance between me and Karius. I turn to face him, but he has not moved from where he is seated. Our eyes meet in the silence, but his expression tells me nothing.