Page 147 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“Well, I’ll be damned. She’s telling the truth,” he says, and an excitement lights the back of his eyes, but only shame fills mine.

“Undo her shackles,” he demands. Lance takes a pause as if questioning his sanity. “I said undo the fucking shackles.”

“Boss—”

“Now!”

Lance flinches before hurrying to drop to his knees in front of me. I give him a wry smile, and he grits his teeth, and I know that he wants to kill me. I wait for the perfect moment, letting him undo me, and then I stand to my feet. I make a show of rubbing my sore wrists, pouring all my focus into the act. But just before we reach Finn’s father, I slip the dagger from Lance’s belt and, before he can react, draw its sharp edge across his throat. He clutches at the wound as red blood squirts from it. I kick the back of his knees, and just as he falls to the floor, I let the dagger fly from my hand straight at the other guard. It sinks into the flesh between his eyes before he can even reach for the dagger at his own belt. A breath falls from his lips before he sinks to the ground.

I twist my body across the small space, plucking the dagger from his flesh, and within seconds, I have Finn’s father pressed against the wall with my dagger against his throat. His eyes widen in horror as he looks at me, and I let a twisted smile fill my lips.

“Undo my friends and take me to Finn?”

After telling us exactly where he had Finn locked up, his father made quick work of undoing everyone’s shackles, knowing I was hovering close behind him. It’s good to know that Finn didn’t actually betray us this time. Even if he did, I need him if we’re going to make this cure.

Piper hasn’t spoken a word since we left the room, her eyes fixed in a permanent daze, and I haven’t been able to look at her after everything I know she heard. They all know what I was before I arrived at the palace and what I’ve done, but I guess hearing it like that made it too real. Too brutal. Part of me can never truly regret my actions—they kept Willow alive this past year. But a nagging voice will always wonder if some of the vampires I killed were good, like these ones, and if I stole them from those who loved them.

I think back to the female vampire screaming over her brother’s lifeless body that night at the bloodring. The memory tightens my chest. I push away the thoughts, guilt suffocating me completely. I don’t have time to give in to the shame. And I certainly don’t have time for regrets.

“Move.” I push Finn’s father forward, hurrying him along. His two men may be left dead back in our cell, but I don’t know who else knew about us being locked up, and we need to get out of here before it’s too late. All we need to find is the list of ingredients to create the mixture that can siphon magic, and then to get the hell out of here.

I’m not even sure how long we’ve been gone, but it’s likely enough time for Karius to notice that we’re missing, and I can’t even think about dealing with his wrath when we return. I push the thought to the back of my mind. I’ll worry about that later.

We shuffle quietly down a narrow hallway until we finally stop in front of a locked door.

“Open it. And if you’re trying to play any games, you’ll end up like your two friends back there.” I press the blade of the dagger against his throat to drive my point home, and feel him shudder. He makes quick work of opening the door to the room, and my eyes instantly land on Finn pacing back and forth. A sense of relief touches his features as his eyes land on me.

“Gods, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so happy to see you.”

I roll my eyes.

“You always want to see me,” I say.

“No, I want to sleep withyou.When I see you in situations like this, it’s usually my throat that has a dagger pressed against it.”

I can’t help the smile that slips onto my face. Annoying or not, Finn is one of the smartest humans I know, and without him, the chances of finding a cure for Willow are zero.

I push the old man into the room as we all slip in after him. Finn’s eyes land on his dad, and he shakes his head.

“And you, I can’t believe you locked me upagain.”

“It’s for your own damned good, the only thing you know how to do is get yourself into trouble, and not the good kind either.”

Finn rolls his eyes.

“That’s rich coming from you. You practically run the entire shadow market, and you say I’m the one who always gets into trouble.”

“I do things for a worthy cause to better the lives ofourpeople. You get involved with any old riffraff.” His eyes glance at us.

“You’re such a hypocrite, but I don’t know what else I expect from you.”

“Sorry to break up this little family reunion, but we need to go,” Ajax says. He’s not spoken much. His biggest focus has been making sure that Kaia and Piper are ok, but he hasn’t been able to make eye contact with me ever since we left the cell.

“Do you know where it is?” I ask Finn, but he shakes his head. He looks at his father.

“I need to know where you keep the ingredients list to create the siphoner?” Finn asks.

His father cocks his head back and lets out a laugh.