Page 79 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

Adina, take back control.Athriel’s voice reaches me as a muffled plea in the distance, and once again, since setting foot in this wretched palace, I feel my connection to him fading. I call out to him in desperation, but my voice is weak and strangled.

Burning fills my veins, turning my blood so hot that I feel like I’m on fire. I can feel the trickles of sweat dripping down every inch of me as my body is thrashed from side to side.

“Get the prince!” The voice booms as though a thousand people are screaming, and I clutch hold of my ears, feeling a dampness leaking from them.They’re bleeding.

“What is happening to me?” I cry out. Panic twists inside me, and I feel a dark shadow come over me, and without thinking, I lash out. “Get away from me!”

A scream that is not my own fills the room as the sound of a body hitting against something hard reverberates around me. The pain is excruciating, and my head is pounding.

“I think she’s dead,” a tear-filled voice sobs.

I open my eyes again, but the world is a blur of colors that forces me to snap them shut again. My body shakes violently, slamming back and forth between the bed and the air.

“What the hell…” The voice is one I recognize, and while I hate him more than anyone, a strange relief fills me at the sound of it. Something in my chest tugs at the feel of his presence. “Did she do that?”

I want to say that this is nothing more than a dream or hallucination, but the pain is too real for that. I await the person’s answer to his question, but I hear nothing and everything. The scrape of boots across the floor is loud, and the wind dances wildly outside the window, but the voices are lost in the chaos. I lift my hands to my ears pressing against them to dull the noise, but nothing makes it stop.

“The noise,” I cry.

“Everybody leave,” the prince’s voice booms.

“Make it stop!” I scream out, desperation not allowing me to care that I’m begging the prince for help.

The slam of the door makes the room quiet just a fraction, but not enough to take away the pain. I feel the cool touch of a hand against my forehead, and something in it soothes me just a little. I find myself leaning into it.

“What is happening to her?” the prince asks.

I feel a presence step closer to me, and a small hand peels my eyes open, and I make out a blur of white.

“It’s the mating bond,” the whispered words are from Iza. I recognize the fear in her voice.

“I’ve never in history heard of a mating bond that causes this effect. The bond is supposed to strengthen both parties.”

“But she’s human.” There’s a pause. “There are no records of a vampire and human bond. The last recorded bond in history was from a century ago, and even then, it was two vampires who had passed their adolescent years.”

“So, what exactly does that mean?” I can hear the impatience in his voice and a sense of panic that I’m not sure if I’m imagining.

“When we go through adolescence, we experience the change, but our bodies have time to adapt to the new heightened senses and powers. I think that the bond is causing her to siphon your power, but it’s happening too fast. It’s happening all at once.”

I try to make sense of the words, but beyond the pain, everything is just too much. All I want is for her to make it stop.

“Then what do we do?”

Another long pause.

“There is nothing we can do but allow her body to deal with the transition.”

“And if she can’t deal with it?”

“Then we prepare for the worst,” she says.

“That’s not an option, you know what will happen if she dies. I need you to find a way to fix this.”

“This isn’t just something to be fixed. There are no texts or research available on this. It’s new territory, Karius.”

“Then figure it out.” There’s a pause. “Send the servants back with towels and cool bowls of water and tell Eamon that I need him.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”