Page 165 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

My stomach drops as her eyes meet mine.

“You wanted to know why I’ve been avoiding you? The prison wasn’t a place like we thought, but a person with enough magic in their blood to contain the full essence of a demon without allowing it to take control of them. To keep it imprisonedwithinthem.”

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut.Athriel.He’s the demon the gods locked away.

His eyes meet mine as though he senses that I just figured it out.

“That’s not possible,” I whisper.

“Oh, but it is, my dear Adina. The gods are a tricky set of bastards, and they made some rules about my imprisonment. You see that magic running through your blood, not only imprisoned me, but it also cursed me to forget exactly who I was, so I would not even know to try to escape.”

I shake my head in disbelief.

“But the problem with magic is that it demands balance, and if I were to be trapped with no memories, then there had to be a doorway for me to get out.”

His mouth curves up into a wicked grin that doesn’t even look like Karius, and I know without question that it’s Athriel standing before me.

“Stop speaking in riddles,” I demand, and this makes him smile.

“Your mating bond was my balance. As soon as it was sealed, it opened a doorway for me. A way to get out. And every time that he fed on you, it opened a little more, allowing me to slowly remember who I was and what had been done to me. Don’t worry, you’re not to blame. You just carry a magic in your bloodline meant to entrap me, but you and I formed an unbreakable bond, Adina, and not even the gods can come between that.”

“That’s why Julian sent me to kill the prince…he knew,” I say in horror.

A sense of twisted pride floods his face as he watches me put the pieces together.

“The gods didn’t account for the fact that imprisoning me did not trap my children. They held on to the memories for me. They remained loyal for centuries as they searched for a way to free me.”

“But why all of this? Why not just leave once you were free?”

He tsks as though I should know better, and realization dawns.

“You wanted them all linked to him so that…”

The words trail off as I struggle to even speak them aloud.

“Once I find my body, I will have no use for your prince. I will be rid of him and every disgusting bloodsucker in this court, created to stand against me and my creations, and then I will return for you, my love.”

“Killing the prince will kill me,” I remind him.

A wicked glint flickers across his eyes. “Not if that pesky bond is broken.”

I take a step back at his words.

“The gods created the vampires to killyourimpures, didn’t they? That’s why you orchestrated the war so that the vampires would defeat the very thing that kept them alive.Humans.”

He smiles at this. “I always said you were one of the clever ones.”

“You’re not leaving with him,” I growl the words in warning.

He tilts his head to look at me and then grabs Iza by the throat. She screams out, but a shadow-shaped arrow flies through the air straight at him, and he drops her to the floor to catch it. He squeezes it in his palm, and it disintegrates into nothing. Iza uses the moment of distraction to scurry down the steps of the dais away from him.

A strange noise causes me to snap my attention in Ajax’s direction, and as my eyes lock with his, I find an apology there. It was his arrow. He tried to save Iza. The world stills as dark rivulets of blood run from his mouth, and a familiar gurgling sound comes from the back of his throat.No.

“Ajax,” I say his name in desperation as though it can somehow undo what has already been done.

I dip my gaze to the hand protruding through his chest, its clawed fingers wrapped around his beating heart. Willow standsbehind him, her monstrous black eyes assessing me over his shoulder. Lines of dark veins trail along her exposed skin, almost covering her entirely.She was right.She’s already gone.

I step forward as her grip tightens around Ajax’s heart. “Willow, n—”