Page 7 of Bite The Terror That Feeds

It hurt so much that I couldn’t move. Couldn’t react. Shocked into silence.

“It’s a relationship without a future. It’s just a heartbreak.”

“Give us a chance to have a future—”

“What kind?” she snapped. “The kind where I spend the remainder of my youth on a man who will never age? Watch you slowly lose your attraction to me until you replace me with someone else? Or the kind where I forsake my immortal soul, only to watch you not want me anymore because my blood is useless? Tell me, Kingsnake. How does this work?”

I was quiet.

“You made me feel this way—for no reason. That promise of yours meant everything to me.”

I felt the sting of self-hatred. “We can’t change the past. We can only live in the present. So, why can’t we just live for now?”

She stared.

“There is no future for us. But there’s now. Let that be enough.” That was all I could give her, all she could accept.

She looked away and didn’t speak.

I waited for something, hoped for something.

“No.”

Her blade stabbed me all the way through, pierced my stomach and my spine.

“No.”

3

KINGSNAKE

“Kingsnake.”

My eyes met my brother’s.

“You aren’t listening.”

“I am.”

His eyes narrowed on my face. “I’m canceling this mission.”

“Last time I checked, I was king—”

“You’re too weak to be king,” he snapped. “I’m not going to travel east with someone who can’t wield a blade, let alone stay on a horse. Until you feed, we stay put.”

“I call the shots, Viper—”

“In the event of your demise, I rule our people. You’re incapacitated and unfit for the crown. If you want your power back, you feed. It’s that simple.” He marched off, leaving me standing there alone outside the palace.

He’sss right. Fang was on the ground beside me, his body too heavy for me to carry.It’s been three weeks. If you don’t feed, you may die.

It was hard to focus. It was hard to lift my sword. Everything happened in slow motion. I was a man I didn’t recognize. It’d been three weeks since my last meal, and the emptiness was really kicking in.

Kingsnake, I fear for your life.

* * *

The guard opened the door, and I stepped inside. She was on the couch as she’d been before, and I carried myself as strongly as possible until I was seated across from her.