Page 5

Mabon’s green hills and pale cliffs became a blur over the horizon as the galleon sailed toward the Impire’s mainland. I watched long past when it disappeared from sight. If I turned, perhaps new land had already come into view, the continent I had read about for years.

I didn’t want to look. My life in Corraidin had been far from perfect, but it had been mine.

I huffed out a long breath. It was time to face my future.

I twisted on the hard wooden bench near the rear cabin. There was no land in sight, sky and sea bleeding together into a seamless haze in every direction. White sails snapped overhead as the warriors-turned-crew moved in synchronized precision. Their steps never faltered even when the ship swayed. All of them ignored me, the only human left on deck. The vampires had led the rest of the Maboni below—alongside the lords’ hellsteeds, if the frightened shouts echoing up the stairwell were any indicator.

What was worse? Trapped on deck with two dozen vampires or trapped in the hold with two demon horses and a hundred strangers.

The ship lurched beneath me. My stomach swayed with it. Fuck. There was my answer. I dreaded losing sight of land on the horizon for a second reason. Pushing to my feet, I scurried to the side of the ship. The hairs on my arm rose, a dozen vampire eyes flickering toward me as I moved, but no one tried to stop me.

Lucky for them.

I grabbed the carved wooden rail with one hand, the tail of my braid with the other, and hurled over the edge of the ship.

I focused on the ripples of the water far below as I heaved. One ripple. Two. Three. I lost count after that, far too many forming as the water slapped against the ship’s hull.

A spark of twisting shadows caught my eye. There was a line of runes near the waterline. I wiped my mouth and leaned closer, releasing my braid and placing both hands on the rail. My stomach was empty, aching, but I didn’t care, too enthralled by the runespell.

What did this one mean? My brain tried to parse it out, but I couldn’t read runes upside down. The lines of it were sharp compared to the edges of the soothing rune Jules had drawn. It reminded me of a... shield? Not in shape but there was something—

“Are you planning on throwing yourself overboard?”

The deep voice of the Lord of Dusk vibrated through me. I jolted at the shock of it. In the same second, the ship rocked, dipping to the side. I slid forward, losing my balance.

Oh, fuck. I tried to scramble back. But gravity had grabbed my shoulders and pulled me down—

A solid, leather-clad arm circled by waist and tugged.

Luc deposited me on the ship’s deck. I landed shakily on my feet as he released me right away. “Shit. I am really not made for travel.”

“I can see that.” That silver gaze assessed me with eerie detachment, like I was something to study. “What were you doing?”

“Puking?”

“You stopped puking minutes ago.”

I quickly pushed away the thought of the vampire lord silently watching me hurl overboard. “Why is there a runespell on the bottom of the ship?”

One dark eyebrow raised ever so slightly, a crack to the chilling exterior. “The strait may not be part of the Thaddeian Ocean, but it’s within Thaddeus’s territory.”

“The runes are there to protect us from a demon sea monster ?” The Impire was marked at the edge of our country’s map, but our overlords had deemed even the name of the ocean bordering our western and southern coasts too dangerous for us to know. I had read stories about Thaddeus, though. How the ancient demon’s godcurse blunted his ability to feel anything at all. How he dragged sailors down to his Trove to spend the rest of their lives in his service. How he killed anyone who escaped his underwater city, the location a well-kept secret.

Maybe it was best I hadn’t known what swam off Mabon’s coasts.

“Thaddeus hasn’t terrorized these waters in his kraken form in centuries.” Luc paused and cocked his head to one side, the blue sheen in his black hair catching the light. “Most Maboni don’t know the names of any demons besides Azaras. How do you?”

Shit, had the kraken tidbit only been in The Soulborne Queen ? I couldn’t remember. “I, uh, owned a bookshop. It’s not restricted knowledge.”

“Most humans still don’t know it. Your people prefer scripture to history and culture.”

“I didn’t say I had many customers.” I forced an unconvincing laugh. “If the school didn’t order all their textbooks through me and the Impire didn’t pay a stipend, I would’ve had to find another job. Most Maboni don’t read much.”

The corner of his lip curled slightly. “Your Church always hated reading. Humans find it easier to control other humans if they’re uneducated.”

“And you don’t?”

“No,” he said without hesitation.

“Oh.” My heart stuttered at the surety in that one word. Everyone knew vampires didn’t consider humans a threat, but I thought we’d at least count as a mild irritation. “Why bother then?”

Luc considered me for a second. Perhaps he wouldn’t answer. Perhaps I had finally asked too many questions. Perhaps I’d have my head torn off in a blink.

“It makes for better workers and conversation.”

My eyes widened. The Azarasians educated us to talk to us? The better workers part wasn’t much of a surprise, but I had never witnessed a human conversing with a vampire. Grovel, sure. Not talk.

Excluding me right now, of course.

I tore my gaze from the Lord of Dusk’s imposing figure. “So if Thaddeus isn’t a threat, why the runes?”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t a threat. I have no interest in visiting his Trove.”

“Can you call it visiting if he kills everyone who escapes?” I asked. “I know your Butcher King made it out alive, but he’s the only one who ever has.”

“He was the second, actually. Thaddeus’s soulbound was first.”

Oh. I didn’t even know Thaddeus had a soulbound. If casting the runespell on the Beast King to bind his life to Karra’s was considered insanity, what did you call whoever used it on the Demon in the Deep?

Dead, likely.

The ship rocked noticeably beneath me as we hit another wave. My stomach rolled with it. Fuck. Not again. My stomach was empty now. This wouldn’t be pleasant. I stepped closer to the rail, the nausea building to a peak—

Warm fingers pressed against my throat and traced a small symbol. My seasickness stopped just as suddenly as my pain had. I straightened, twisting toward Luc. He pulled his hand back, the shadows weaving between his fingers fading. My eyes met cold silver.

For a second, I thought I spotted confusion there—like the Lord of Dusk didn’t know why he had helped me any more than his soulbound did. But it was gone the next second.

The hatch to the lower deck thudded open.

I spun around. A warrior climbed up the ladder, a line of Maboni exiting one by one behind her. I frowned. They had just spent an hour herding everyone into the hold. Why bring some up halfway into the voyage across the strait?

Whatever the reason, the Lord of Dusk’s attention was no longer on me. “Tristan?” The vampire from earlier crossed the deck in a blink. “Ensure our volunteer doesn’t fall overboard.”

“Of course, Imperator.”

There that title was again, this time accompanied by a bow. I narrowed my eyes at the Lord of Dusk ever so slightly. Not that it helped me figure out who he was in any way.

But Luc was already on the move, crossing the galleon’s deck with confident strides. Excluding Tristan, all the vampires headed for the two dozen humans who had exited the hatch. Jules nearly skipped down the stairs from the upper deck over the quarter gallery, a gleeful smile on his face. It made my stomach twist. There was a slight chance that was just the seasickness, but there was something unnerving about the vampire’s excitement.

About all of their excitement.

“A good harvest?” Luc asked the vampire warrior who accompanied the other humans.

“Yes, Imperator,” she replied. “All of them are fine quality Maboni, but these are the best of this quarter’s harvest aboard this ship.”

Fine quality Maboni. Fuck. The vampires weren’t excited.

They were hungry.

“Excellent.” The Lord of Dusk crossed his hands behind his back, nearly touching the haft of his axe. “Line up. If you’re selected, step forward.”

The Maboni obeyed instantly, without hesitation. Whenever Lady Delphine and Lord Raul had given a command, the people of Corraidin had listened, but never this quickly. There was no dragging of feet, no pause—just instant obedience. Our magistrates’ short temper made sense suddenly. This was the compliance they expected.

Jules joined his soulbound before the line. “Half now, the other half on the road? Like a little present to our future selves.”

Luc continued surveying the humans before him, but he nodded ever so slightly to his counterpart. He walked the line like a commander before his troops.

“Him,” Luc suddenly said, those shadow-rimmed silver eyes fixed on an older man in the fine clothing of a merchant.

The man’s eyes widened, but he didn’t cry out or object. He only stepped forward as ordered. None of the Maboni made a sound. They must have been commanded into silence in the hold.

“Her.” The Lord of Dusk selected another human.

I dug my nails into my palms. I didn’t want to watch this. My dreams had turned to nightmares of starving vampires tearing into my throat months ago. I didn’t want them to become my reality.

I scanned through the crowd of Maboni, examining every face, strange and familiar. My terror echoed theirs. But I stood apart, no thrall runespell marring my skin. For some reason, I was spared from this fate. Whatever awaited me couldn’t be good, but the other humans didn’t know that. More than one person glared. I skipped over those faces, going to the next—

I met Una’s hateful blue eyes. I flinched at the unspoken words. Sinner. Betrayer. Whore.

The Lord of Dusk raised his hand, pointing at... Una. “Her.”

I opened my mouth, but snapped it closed just as quickly. Speaking to the lords alone was different from shouting out across the ship for everyone to hear. That wouldn’t be tolerated. I didn’t even need to ask.

And even if I spoke out, what could I do to save Una? I was just another human. This was our life now. This had always been our life. We just hadn’t known it.

When Luc was done, a dozen of the Maboni stood in a second line in front of the first. I couldn’t tell what set one apart from the other. They were a mixture of young and old, heavy and thin, with hair and skin in all shades.

The female warrior pulled open the hatch and instructed the back line to return to the hold. One by one, they disappeared into the dark, relief on some faces. Their fate was delayed another day.

If they were lucky.

Luc twisted on the heels of his dark boots, turning from the Maboni to the vampires watching behind him. “You must all be parched from the journey.”

The warriors cheered.

“Starving, Imperator,” one shouted, drawing a couple chuckles from the crowd.

“The army takes its harvest first and you are the representatives of the army onboard, are you not?”

A resounding cry of “Yes, Imperator.”

Jules hooked an arm across Luc’s back, slapping his hand down against the man’s shoulder. “Lucero’s curated quite a collection for you today. What do you say?”

“Thank you, Imperator.”

Luc let out a soft sigh before giving his soulbond a gentle nudge toward the door leading into the quarter gallery. “Let them eat already.”

“Fine, fine.” With a flourish, Jules started toward the door. “Drink well, my friends.”

“Tristan,” Luc said without turning our way.

The vampire warrior raised his arm toward the quarter gallery. “This way.”

Thank the stars. I sped-walked across the deck. I was eventually going to see a vampire feed, but like the Maboni who returned to the hold, today I was spared such a fate. Jules disappeared through the doorway into the quarter gallery. By the time Luc reached the entrance and turned, I was a step behind him. He backed out of my way, holding it open for me. I barely paused.

A narrow hallway led to more doors, the furthest opening into a spacious cabin. A grand mahogany table dominated the room, surrounded by eight chairs and shelves filled with books and maps. The far wall was mostly window, with another door set into the glass leading to a narrow balcony at the ship’s stern.

I had never imagined ships having this many doors. In my books, characters always walked straight into the captain’s quarters. How many rooms could a boat possibly need?

Jules crossed the cabin to the table and dropped into a chair. He kicked back in his seat with a long exhale and propped his legs on the tabletop.

My eyes must have widened ever so slightly, since he smirked and said, “You Maboni and your manners.”

“It’s unsanitary.”

“I didn’t plan to eat anything off the table.”

I stiffened. The door clicked shut behind me as Luc entered the space. Tristan had disappeared, perhaps joining the other vampires on the deck. It was me and the lords.

Alone.

It occurred to me that just because they had led me inside didn’t mean I was safe from witnessing a vampire feed today.

I might get a firsthand account.

My heart skipped a beat and my palms started to sweat. Fuck, fuck, fuck —

The Lord of Dawn’s smile grew. “Neither did I plan to eat you, lovely.”

That didn’t calm me down one bit. “Today.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Today.”

Luc circled me, heading for his soulbond. “You’re going to give our volunteer a heart seizure.”

“Pah!” Jules waved a hand in my direction. “She’s fine. You’re fine, aren’t you?”

“I—”

A scream pierced the air. I jumped halfway out of my skin. The scream twisted at the end, turning from pain and terror to a deep moan—

I stumbled away from the door, further into the room. I had known what was going to happen outside. The harvests were for one purpose—we were food.

And vampires, beasts that they were, loved nothing more than to fuck as they fed.

The Azarasians didn’t tell us much about their kind, but every Maboni learned about vampire venom before their first harvest at sixteen. Once it hit your system, bloodlust took over, flooding prey and predator alike with intense desire. Whether our overlords intended to scare us, mock us, or simply inform us, it was well-known that becoming a thrall meant you were hours away from fucking a vampire—and enjoying it immensely.

Even if it killed you.