Page 55 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

Cedric

“Moon chase.” The Magistrate’s declaration echoed through my mind.

What. The. Fuck?

I glanced at Khalid, but he was hiding inside his dark robes, his focus on the stage. Hell, he might have even been sleeping.

Traitor .

It took serious effort not to react to this deception. We had a deal , I thought. Lily was supposed to go to the harem camps, whereby he would choose her. Then I would follow them back to his region and shift loyalties.

I should never have trusted him.

However, after helping him handle Emine, I’d thought we had an agreement. Apparently not. He was still playing with me. Pushing me to prove my worth in ways I didn’t understand.

But maybe it was his turn to prove his worth to me.

Silvano grunted beside me, his focus on his tablet, not Lily’s wilting form. Fuck, she looked startled. Broken. Alone .

But I couldn’t engage our link. I couldn’t risk anyone noticing our connection. Especially Silvano.

“Maybe this one?” He pointed to a prospect’s nude photo on the screen. She had dark red hair and creamy skin. Prospect Seven Hundred and Three. She was destined for the Immortal Cup but marked clearly as harem potential.

This whole damn day was one giant fucking charade. Twelve candidates would be chosen to compete, but before their battle started, the royals and alphas would all be given the opportunity to pick a new fuck toy from the pool of candidates.

Only a handful of them were labeled as off-limits.

And the beauty on the screen was not one of them.

I shrugged, feigning disinterest. Because I didn’t care at all whom he picked, not with my Erosita being escorted down the aisle by a Vigil.

Heading to a goddamn moon chase camp.

Fuck .

This was a nightmare. I couldn’t just grab her, not without every royal and alpha in attendance knowing. And the same went for nabbing her off a bus.

The urge to connect to her, to whisper into her mind and make a vow I wasn’t sure I could keep, plagued my heart.

But Khalid had warned me that even a sliver of communication could alert Silvano to my bond.

It was all about scent, and creating this wall between Lily and me had somewhat minimized my change.

However, Silvano had noticed a slight difference, and he’d commented on it shortly after arriving.

I’d been about to admit taking home a prospect when Khalid had said, “Ah, you must smell Emine. Yes, Cedric and I had some fun with my pet. You would have liked her. Alas, she’s dead now. ”

And that had been the end of that discussion.

The scent still existed, but Silvano didn’t seem to care. Time operated uniquely for immortals. He saw a few days as merely seconds, which meant the mortal fragrance could linger for weeks before he’d begin to question it again.

Although, if he caught my scent on Lily, he would almost immediately know the truth.

Which made her walking away from the stage a good thing. Just as it was a positive twist that he’d been too busy eye-fucking candidates on his tablet to care about the parade of graduates before him.

He still had the redhead up on the screen. “Well?” he prompted me.

I wasn’t sure why he cared about my opinion. He could take whatever human he wanted to break. But clearly, he wanted an answer.

“She’s pretty,” I replied, my tone bored. I had no interest in helping him pick out a new toy. Not with Lily being led to the area of moon chase candidates at the side of the field. They would be escorted to their respective buses and eventual planes right after the ceremony.

Fuck. What am I going to do? How am I going to solve this?

Lily’s blonde hair glittered in the moonlight as the Vigil gestured for her to join the moon chase section of candidates.

She kept her head down, preventing me from seeing her expression.

Don’t hate me, little flower, I thought at her. I would open this link if I could. But I promise I haven’t abandoned you.

My chest ached.

I just have no idea how I’m going to save you.

And I hated admitting that part. I hated this whole goddamn situation .

Silvano flipped to another candidate, asking me what I thought of her tits. I provided another noncommittal reply. Pull up Lily’s profile and I’ll give you an honest answer .

I’d witnessed a few Blood Days, as they were often televised, and I’d had access to the ceremony as a result of being a Master at the university.

But I’d never sat with Silvano during one.

He typically attended alone. While sovereigns were technically allowed to come, they generally only took part in the events when asked by a royal.

Some royals invited all their sovereigns as a formal token of appreciation.

Others selected sovereigns they wished to honor—which Silvano appeared to be doing now, as I was about to become his newest member.

And then there were those—like Khalid, and usually Silvano—who chose to attend alone.

The whole political parade was a game of power.

Attending solo suggested a certain level of confidence in one’s ability to defend himself or herself.

However, attending with sovereigns conveyed a level of loyalty and respect that essentially said, “Attack me, and I have powerful minions who will work together to destroy you.”

It was all a superiority contest that I had no interest in joining.

Yet it thrived around me throughout the ceremony, the vampires and alphas making soft comments about candidates and intentions while evaluating the responses of others.

Entertainment , I thought, thankful when the tenth Immortal Cup candidate was announced.

It was a blond male with a steady demeanor, one I recognized as being on the list of untouchables, meaning he could not be selected for a harem.

He was an immortal hopeful. But seeing him now indicated that we were almost done.

Because the eleventh Immortal Cup candidate was selected right after him.

Although, that was only Prospect Seven Hundred and Three—the one Silvano had asked about with the red hair.

Thus, we still had almost three hundred humans left to go through.

This night is never going to fucking end.

I could no longer see my Lily, her light-colored hair lost in the throng of candidates around her. The moon chase participants blended in with the breeding camp participants, as they would all be moved together toward their final destinations.

Because some of the moon chase participants would end up being bred.

If they survived being hunted and fucked by the wild lycans.

My stomach twisted. I warned you, I thought at Lily. I fucking warned you that this would be your path.

But I couldn’t blame her. This was my fault. I’d relied on Khalid to help me, which he clearly had no intention of doing—something I would have to deal with later .

Because right now, I had to figure out how to save my Erosita .

If I can slip away during the first round with the Immortal Cup candidates, I may be able to reach Lily’s bus.

And then what?

As a Master, I could lie and say I needed Lily for a task. Whatever lycan was assigned to her transport would be beneath me in ranking.

All the royals and alphas—who are the only ones more powerful than me—will be busy with the Immortal Cup candidates for at least an hour. Perhaps longer .

Because they would each take their turn perusing the candidates and deciding if they preferred one of them to join their harem now. And if they found them all lacking—which was rare—they could pick from the candidate group destined for the harem camp.

The purpose of the whole practice was to demoralize the Immortal Cup contestants. They were thrilled to be selected as one of the top twelve humans to fight for immortality.

Just to be told they amounted to nothing and might end up as a sex slave only a handful of minutes later.

It was the part of the ceremony royals like Silvano looked forward to most—hence his eager perusal of the list.

But that just meant he and the others like him would be distracted.

So it might be?—

“Prospect One Thousand,” the Magistrate called, designating the final human to be sorted.

I barely noticed the mortal walking up to the stage.

I just wanted this done. I wanted a reason to flee. To escape. To run. To save Lily.

But I had no true plan. If I grabbed her, I had no idea where we would go. The royals and alphas would be distracted, but only momentarily, and eventually, someone would notice her absence.

Just like Silvano would notice mine.

And then what?

“Clemente Clan service industry,” the Magistrate announced.

My heart skipped a beat.

“Do you see one you fancy?” Silvano asked.

I blinked at him, not understanding. “One what? ”

He gave me a look that said he found me daft. “A candidate to fuck.”

My brow furrowed. “Is that our evening plan?” Because I really hoped that wasn’t what he intended for us to do tonight. I would sooner die than touch someone who wasn’t my Lily.

He smiled. “Well, I intend for it to be your evening plan. I’m going to give you my new pet as a gift.”

My jaw threatened to unhinge, something he caught because his smile widened.

“You’re surprised.” Not a question, but a statement. “Good. I thought you might approve after hearing you enjoyed one of Khalid’s pets. So I’m procuring one for?—”

“This concludes our annual Blood Day,” Lilith announced, interrupting Silvano. “Vigils, if you would please escort your respective teams to their exits. The harem prospects and Immortal Cup participants shall remain.”

Silvano didn’t look at her, just continued to smile at me. “Have a look and tell me three or four that interest you. When it’s my turn, I’ll select the pet and hand her to you.”

Fuck .

Of all the times for Silvano to attempt to be kind—or whatever the hell this act of giving me a “gift” could be called—he had to choose now .

Which meant escaping him unnoticed would be impossible.

And saving Lily…

Is going to be impossible.

Once she set foot on that bus, I might never be able to find her again.

The system contained prospect details and assignments, but that didn’t mean she’d survive long enough to reach her final destination. Or that there might not be a shuffle along the way.

What if one of the lycans fucks her on sight?

It’ll shatter our bond.

It… it could kill her.

Silvano clapped me on the shoulder with a chuckle. “Are you too shocked to pick one? Shall I try to go for the redhead, then? Or maybe Prospect Nine Hundred and One? Perky tits?”

I don’t want a fucking pet. I already have one.

Instead, I wanted to teleport away, grab Lily, and run.

I wanted to kill Silvano.

I wanted to fucking disappear.

I wanted to go back in time and oppose this whole goddamn process.

I wanted to?—

“I suggest looking at Prospect Four Hundred and Nine,” Khalid said from beneath his robes, his voice silky and smooth and cutting right through all my desires.

Scratch all that. I want to kill you , I thought, looking right at him. I want to fucking murder you for making me think I could trust you.

“You tend to like delicate things, yes?” Khalid continued like I wasn’t about to leap across the seats and strangle him. “This one reminds me of a flower. Easy to break, and almost like that darling little thing we buried earlier this week, hmm?”

Flower . That single word—a nickname that went straight to my heart—gave me pause and kept me from fulfilling my desire to annihilate him. What game are you playing now?

Khalid lifted his tablet—something I hadn’t even realized he was holding in his cloak—and my heart stopped at the image of Lily’s naked body on the screen .

Beneath her name, it said Moon Chase Candidate.

And under that were the details regarding her shipment.

“That’s not a pet candidate,” Silvano told him.

Khalid flipped the tablet to review it. “Oh, sorry, my cursor must have slipped. Hold on.” He swiped at it with his clothed hand, which somehow managed to make the screen move. “There.”

He showed me an image of a brunette next— Prospect Four Hundred and Nine.

But I didn’t see her at all.

I only saw Lily and the information he’d just given me.

Her moon chase designation.

And more importantly, her intended destination.

Silvano made a few choice comments about the prospect on the screen, telling me he didn’t approve of the choice.

I pretended to agree, my thoughts otherwise distracted by the new strategy forming in my mind.

Khalid had promised to help me.

And it seemed he had in a way.

Because somehow, someway, Lily was destined for the one wolf territory I knew like my literal backyard— Clemente Clan.

I just needed to survive this visit with Silvano and head home.

Then I could go hunting for my Erosita .

Don’t wilt, my darling Lily.

I’m coming for you.

I promise.