Page 52

When the doorknob twisted again, I nearly jumped from the bed. Hours had passed since Maire left. Or at least, it felt like hours. I had tried to lose myself in The Soulborne Queen , but the pain in my gut twisted and ached, growing stronger and stronger with every anxious thought that swirled through my head.

Was this the right choice?

What would the Isaurans say?

If they said yes, would we succeed?

What would the kings do if we didn’t?

What would the kings do if we did ?

Why couldn’t I just return home, curl up with my cat and my books, and ignore the world for the rest of my life?

I laid The Soulborne Queen down with trembling hands and shook the thought away. If this was Riona, she might have an answer for me. The privacy runespell from earlier had faded to ash, but maybe she’d have another one so we could speak freely.

It wasn’t like I’d run out of blood. My bleeding had only worsened with the stress. After Maire left, I had rifled through the wardrobe for a cloth and changed my outfit. The sapphire-blue dress wasn’t as substantial as the riding gown, but at least it didn’t carry the memories of the last day.

Riona stepped inside, but Estrella and Tristan didn’t close the door this time. They didn’t enter, either. I glanced at them, then back to the human thrall.

She kept her head bowed, but her gaze flickered around nervously. “The Imperium will return to Dawnspear within the hour, my lady. I’m to ready you for them.”

I stared at her. Ready me for them?

The kings hadn’t moved far from wherever they were in the mountainside city below, nor had their emotions changed. They’d put on their kingly masks, fulfilling their roles as the Conqueror and the Butcher. Luc still seethed. Jules remained numb. They’d been there all day, a steady pulse beneath my thoughts, as constant as my heartbeat.

But they’d return soon. Were they planning to torture me again? A cold sweat broke out over my already clammy skin.

I nodded stiffly. “And how exactly does one prepare to be tortured?”

Riona glanced up at that. “That’s not…”

She faltered. Stars, why was she the nervous one? I was the one about to be tortured by my soulbound.

Without another word, she walked over to the wardrobe, threw it open, and pulled out a frilly bit of white lace I’d briefly considered using for my bleeding, then tossed aside. It wasn’t like I could stain the expensive fabric in spite, given the tiny runes woven into every outfit I’d encountered so far.

She held it out. Beyond its sheer transparency, it was a short gown, probably meant for sleeping. It would barely cover my ass...

Oh. She wasn’t preparing me for torture. Not the painful kind, anyway. “You’re preparing me for their meal.”

Riona nodded, a quick bob. “Yes, my lady.”

I wanted to be annoyed by that. Disturbed and angry at being used. At my opinions being entirely disregarded. Stars forbid a little torture session this afternoon get in the way of the kings fucking me. But my heart only leaped, heat rushing to my cheeks. The fire in me erupted from pain to pain and desire.

How could I still want them this much after everything they had done?

Riona swallowed, then gestured toward the wardrobe. “Is there anything else you’d like, my lady?”

Her tone hadn’t changed, but she stared directly at me now. Like she wanted to say something else but couldn’t. I clenched my fist to steady myself against the pain in my belly and crossed the room to her side. My legs shook with exhaustion, the kind that rooted itself in my bones, but I managed. The wardrobe door obscured Estrella and Tristan’s view.

Riona pulled something gently from her pocket. A small scrap of fabric, stained with four drops of still-wet blood. Conceal. Preserve.

My stomach clenched, a sharp throb cutting through the cramps already twisting in my core. A prickle of awareness shimmered through the bond. Shit. My anxiety must have spiked across our connection. I forced my breaths to slow, quieting my thoughts before either of the kings noticed any more.

I stared at Riona, but she just shoved the scrap at me and gestured toward the bed.

No. Not the bed. My nightstand?

I frowned. She gestured again, more pointedly this time. Like she was… oh. She wanted me to take the scrap and hide it. Was this blood from the witches? For the wards on the door? How in the hells was I supposed to get it anywhere near the front when I couldn’t even leave the bedchamber?

But I grabbed it from her anyway.

“No, I think that will do just fine, Riona.” As calmly as I could muster, I approached the bed. I had no reason to open the nightstand, but I’d tossed The Soulborne Queen aside earlier, lying open on the sheets.

With my back to the guards and the thrall, the mirror reflecting only my shoulder, I leaned over and picked up the book. As I closed it, I shoved the scrap of fabric inside. The blood might stain the pages, but the rune would preserve it.

I placed the closed book on the nightstand and turned back around. My hands twisted together. I’d have to go through with tonight, then. Of course I would. It was unreasonable to expect the Isaurans to break me out immediately. Most of them had only been freed from obedience hours ago.

I exhaled slowly. As long as the kings didn’t torture me, I would be fine. Surely they’d use a soothing rune or flood my bloodstream with their venom before fucking me. I could find it in me to enjoy their touches if they were meant to bring me pleasure.

If they chased my illness away, I’d even beg for it.

Riona gestured toward the door. “I’m to bathe you, my lady. In the kings’ bathing chambers.”

Her hand trembled slightly. Whatever the witches had planned, it had scared the thrall. Maybe it would happen sooner than anticipated. Not that I could add their blood to the door’s runes if I were in a bathtub.

But I wouldn’t resist Riona’s request. I couldn’t get out of here alone. I’d have to trust Maire, Riona, and Morrena, despite barely knowing any of them. Riona wanted me in the bathing chamber, so to the bathing chamber we would go.

I walked through the doorway with my shoulders straight and my head held high. Estrella and Tristan didn’t react, but their eyes didn’t leave me. Nightfall had come to Dawnspear, turning the sight out the windows across the kings’ bedchamber into a scattering of stars and the glow of the moons over distant mountains. If I weren’t a prisoner, perhaps I’d be out there, soaking in the view.

Titus rose from the rugs at the end of the kings’ bed and shook himself out. Had the giant hellwolf been waiting out here for me this entire time? He padded over to me, a monster with dark fur and shadowed eyes, death made flesh—

And nudged my shoulder, his tongue lolling out in a happy pant.

“Did the mean Imperial Guard make you sit outside, Titus?” I buried my fingers in the thick ruff of his neck and began to scratch. The hellwolf leaned into my touch. “Yes, they’re so mean, aren’t they?”

Estrella and Tristan didn’t respond. I hadn’t expected them to. They were centuries-old vampire warriors. Nothing I said or did could hurt them.

With a final scratch to Titus, I twisted around. “Bathing chamber, right—”

Riona stared at me solemnly. It was such a change in expression, I stopped mid-step. Her nerves had been swept away by steel determination.

The thrall raised her hand and bit into her palm hard enough to draw blood.

My breath caught in my chest, a soft gasp. Unease pulsed through the bond in response. Estrella and Tristan closed ranks in front of me without turning as a low growl rumbled in Titus’s throat.

Riona smeared the blood in a line down her chin, over her neck, and past her collarbones to the center of her chest—

Shadows flared over her heart. A giant rune bloomed across her skin.

Stun .

Magic exploded outward. The wave of heat rammed into me. A rune at my collar flared, and shadows burst through the room. Shield . They caught the worst of the impact, softening the blow, but it still hurled me off my feet. I hit the rugs. The impact ricocheted through my bones like I had slammed into stone. The breath whooshed from my lungs. My head snapped back, slamming into something solid.

Something warm.

Titus.

For a moment, I couldn’t move. A high-pitched whine pierced my ears, drowning everything out. The world blurred at the edges, distant and vibrating, like I’d been knocked loose from reality.

I pushed onto an elbow, teeth gritted against the pain. My body screamed in protest, fire blooming deep in my core and rattling through my bones.

Titus lay sprawled beside me, motionless.

Alarm spread like ice through my chest. I reached for him with trembling hands and shook his massive shoulder. His body was heavy, too still. No groan, no snarl, no twitch of his paws. “Titus.”

Panic built sharp and fast, echoed through the bond. I leaned over him, shaking harder now. “Come on, come on—”

He didn’t move.

No. No, no, no.

I’d wanted out. Wanted freedom. Wanted to be anywhere but here. But I hadn’t meant this. I hadn’t wished anyone harm. Especially not Titus.

But how could the Mortal Bride, the new third of the Imperium, ever leave otherwise?

I spun toward where Riona, Estrella, and Tristan had stood. The two vampire guards were sprawled across the floor—Estrella on her back and Tristan half over her, like he had tried to shield his heartmate. Neither of them moved.

I slammed a hand over my mouth. Oh, stars. What had I done? Were they dead too? I crawled forward, ignoring the aches in my limbs and the twisting in my center.

Silver eyes met mine.

I jolted. My heart stuttered. Riona’s rune had failed… or not? Estrella remained completely still, Tristan unmoving on top of her. Everything except her eyes.

I almost went slack with relief. Maybe that meant Titus wasn’t dead, either? Oh, thank fuck. I couldn’t handle if someone—

I finally noticed Riona.

The thrall had collapsed just as we had, but her tanned skin had gone pale. Beyond sickly. Beyond injured. It was a color no living thing could ever be. The rune faded slowly from her chest. Her eyes stared, unblinking, at the ceiling.

Completely and entirely dead.

Sacrificed to power the rune that stunned the vampires and hellwolf but left me unharmed.

Oh, stars.

Fuck, this was happening.

Of course it was happening. What had I expected when I told Maire I wanted to leave? It might take fewer lives than setting Dawnspear on fire, but nothing came without a cost. A cost Riona had chosen to pay.

Why? I couldn’t answer the question. I didn’t know what reason she had to lay down her life in defiance of the Imperium.

The Imperium who were rushing back to the castle at this very moment, their emotions a violent mix of fury and fear slamming into my chest like a punch.

Shit. They must have noticed my panic and pain. I forced myself to my feet. Riona was dead. I couldn’t reverse that. I could only waste it.

I stepped around Estrella and Tristan and over the thrall’s crumpled body in the doorway. She hadn’t told me what the witches had planned next, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

I rushed into the Mortal Bride’s bedchamber and snatched my book from the nightstand. I didn’t know how long the stun rune would hold the Imperial Guard. I didn’t know how long it would take the kings to arrive. With a runegate in their apartment, perhaps not long.

Pain rippled through, but I had to move.

I didn’t look at Riona on my way out—or at Estrella, Tristan, or Titus, either. Guilt flared through me, but I stomped it down.

But it was strong enough that the kings felt it.

Their rage crashed over me, from both of them this time.

Fuck. If this didn’t work, I couldn’t play the fool. The kings knew I was involved. How far would they think my deception went? I’d never convince them I hadn’t known I was a witch. Or known Allegra’s plan.

I passed through the bedchamber into the sitting room, heading straight for the gilded door. Hundreds of tiny runes were carved into the back, just like the front. Ward. Protect. Shield. Barrier. When Luc had added my blood to the runespell, he had used his power, but he hadn’t activated any special rune or spell. Simply the act of the Imperium adding new blood to the wards had been enough.

Hopefully. If that wasn’t how this worked, I’d suffer for it tonight.

I pulled the piece of fabric from my book. The four drops of blood were still glistening, suspended in time, yet drying blood stained the pages. Here went nothing. I reached out and rubbed the bloody cloth against the door. With a flare of shadows, the little symbols devoured the blood.

Nothing else happened. Just like the last time. Had that worked? I hope so.

Now what? I stepped back. Stars, I hated not knowing the plan—

A warm hand dropped onto my shoulders.

I dropped my book with a yip as Estrella spun me around, a terrifying glare on her face. “What did you do?”

Tristan leaned in the bedchamber doorway like he was struggling to stay upright. Both guards looked as haggard as those traitorous vampires had before their execution. But they were up. Standing. The stun rune hadn’t even held them for three minutes.

Fuck. “I—”

Another wave of heat pulsed through the room. This time, it didn’t knock any of us over.

Estrella spun away, unsheathing her sword in one fluid motion. Shadows coiled and twisted in the center of the room—

Distance. Path. Cross .

The Isauran delegation ran out of the swirling darkness. Their collars were gone and runespells glowed on their chests. Shield. Protect. Endure.

And at their fingertips.

Strike.

Oh, shit. I jumped out of the way just as the rune’s force slammed into Estrella. The vampire woman crashed into the wall, then bounced off with a snarl. Another rune hit her before she landed.

Three witches surrounded her.

The other three lunged for Tristan.

Morrena led the charge against Estrella. Strike. Strike. Strike. The vampire dropped to her knees under the onslaught of magic. I pressed against the wall, torn between the urge to flee and the awful compulsion to keep watching.

“Hold her,” Morrena cried. “I’ll bind her—”

Estrella didn’t like the sound of that. She pushed back to her feet with all her might. One of the witches yelped, losing hold of their striking rune mid-cast. The shadows faded into darkness.

Estrella crossed the space in a blink and drove her hand through the witch’s chest. The shielding rune etched beneath the witch’s collarbones flared, but Estrella pierced right through it. The jagged edges of the spell cut into her arm, shredding her flesh as she twisted—

And pulled the witch’s heart straight out.

I slammed a hand over my mouth as the dead witch collapsed. Blood rose from the heart in slow spirals, pulled toward Estrella, the vampire siphoning it to heal herself.

But Morrena didn’t falter. Strike. Burn. Imprison. Imprison. Imprison.

Estrella staggered back toward the windows, the heart flying from her grip. Her left arm was a wreck—still slick with gore from the kill, torn wide open by the shielding rune. Her skin had already begun to knit, but when Morrena’s burning rune slammed into her shoulder, it ate straight through the raw flesh.

Estrella roared, a sound of pain and defiance. Across the room, Tristan echoed it, but he couldn’t get to his soulbound. The three other witches hurled binding runes at him, confining the vampire to the floor in shadow.

Imprison. Imprison. Imprison.

Morrena and her remaining witch unleashed imprisonment rune after imprisonment rune. Shadows coiled around Estrella’s limbs, tightening and tightening. She snarled and strained, muscles trembling against the magic. They pulsed brighter, tightening with every breath, but it still took two more layers before she hit the floor.

Morrena’s brow furrowed deeply in concentration as she held the rune. “Eral?”

One of the witches turned, a dark-haired man who looked about my age.

“Help Ilenia hold her.”

Eral nodded and released his binding rune on Tristan. The vampire man jolted, but the other two witches held him tight. Eral crossed to Morrena’s side. The shadows twirling around his fingers turned into a familiar rune. Imprison .

Morrena dropped her rune the second Eral took her place. She spun, searching, and found me pressed against the wall.

“Where’s the kings’ runegate?”

I opened my mouth. No sound came out. My heart beat so loud, I was sure it would explode. But I could turn my head. My trembling hand lifted, pointing.

Morrena crossed the room quickly, a muscle in her cheek twitching each time she put weight on her right leg. She nearly lost her balance when she stepped into the hallway before the runegate. Her cane landed with a hard thunk. Her other hand moved fast.

Annihilate.

The rune slammed into the runegate, shattering the daemium like glass. It didn’t fall to the ground, but the cracks were absolute. The inactive runes carved into its surface faded to nothing.

Morrena went slack against the opposite wall, panting hard. “That should slow them down slightly, but we don’t have much time.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened my mouth. Barely five minutes had passed since Riona died. How was that even possible? “Time for what?”

“To cast another transportation spell.” Morrena jerked her chin toward the wall beside me. “Open the servant’s door.”

I frowned, but did as I was told. I skimmed my hands along the wall where Maire had touched last time. My fingers caught on an invisible knob. With a twist, the door slid open—

Revealing nearly a dozen thralls, human and witch, jammed into the tiny space all the way down the stairs into the dark. I staggered back, breath catching. Where had they all come from?

“We’ll need their help,” Morrena said into the moment of silence. “If you could allow them entry?”

I stepped back. Right. “Come in.”

None of the thralls moved, but the one at the front raised something in her hand—a small scrap of fabric dotted with blood. Ah. Yes. I grabbed it from her and returned to the door. I nearly stumbled. My fatigue hit me hard, my vision wavering. I braced a hand against the frame, breathing through the weakness. Just for long enough to steady myself. Then I rubbed the blood into the ward runespells. The second the runes’ shadows absorbed it, the first new arrival stepped through.

Morrena pushed from the wall, leaning heavily on her cane. “Quickly now. If we’re here when the Imperium arrives, we’re all dead.”

Her words got the thralls moving faster. Four witches darted to where Morrena and her delegation had first transported in. They removed their inactive collars, dropped to their knees, and quickly began drawing runes onto the floor. Distance. Path. Cross.

The eight humans all stared at me.

I stared back.

Morrena approached. “You’ll need to free them from their thrall runespells so they can help.”

“Oh, right.” I faced all the humans. “You’re free from all runespells cast on you by the Azarasian Impire.”

The words came too easily, but the magic obeyed. Their shoulders slackened at once, as if an invisible weight had lifted. A few of them gasped, blinking rapidly, like they’d forgotten what it was to exist without the spell. If they’d been born here, maybe they’d never known.

An older man reached back and touched the nape of his neck. “The rune’s still there.”

“Removing the runespell is a far more difficult process, which we don’t have time for now,” Morrena said. “Once we get to Isaura, we can attempt it.”

The man didn’t look pleased, but he gave a curt nod. I hid my frown. The sealing rune within the thrall runespell made it nearly impossible to break. Karra had once watched a human die when a witch tried to remove theirs—and that one had only been powered by a single vampire. The Azarasian spell drew its power from the combined might of the entire Impire.

“To the circle.” When Morrena gestured forward, they all obeyed. “You as well, Nessa.”

I swallowed. Something wasn’t right. “I didn’t know you could use the transport runespell without a daemium gate.”

Morrena’s lip twitched, like she was holding back a frown. I had gotten used to Luc patiently answering all my questions. “It’s riskier, and the range is limited, but we should have enough power to reach the forest on the mountain’s eastern slope, just inside the border stones,” Morrena said. “From there, we’ll use Toreth’s starcrater to put distance behind us, then make the rest of the journey to Isaura on foot.”

“Won’t we need sacrifices for that?”

Morrena turned to the gathering around the circle and stared.

I swallowed. Oh. She had her sacrifices. Did they know? I suspected not, if that man had asked about having his thrall runespell removed. Had Riona not known she was going to die, either?

Witches were mortal, but they were still demonbloods. In Karra’s time, they’d thought us lesser, and that hadn’t seemed to change.

Thought them lesser. I wasn’t human. I hadn’t ever been human. But I’d been raised as a human. I couldn’t stand by and watch Morrena sacrifice these human thralls to the starcrater. Even if that meant the kings got their hands on me again.

But if the kings caught me, they caught the witches and the thralls too. They wouldn’t survive that either.

There wasn’t time to argue now. Morrena was right about one thing. If we stayed in this apartment any longer, the kings would stop us. I focused on them. They were right outside the castle.

If our soulbond developed anything like Karra and Azaras’s, there’d come a time when I would know all that instantly, instinctively. Even if I ran, there was no way to undo our soulbond.

But I had to go.

I couldn’t stay.

I pulled away from the kings, from the tempest of emotion thundering across the bond. I reached back and unlatched my collar. The warmth of a rune brushed my fingers, but the kings hadn’t thought to seal it with anything other than their authority. Our authority. I dropped it with a clatter to the floor.

As I crossed the room, I plucked The Soulborne Queen from the floor. I drifted my hands down its worn cover and frayed edges. I’d chosen it as the one thing I’d take if my name were called in the harvest. So much had changed in the two weeks since then.

But when it came to leave again without planning to ever return, I still wanted my book. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to read it without thinking of Luc and Jules. But even if I never cracked it open again, at least I’d have one thing that was mine.

I joined the others at the circle of transport runes. Every step jarred my insides, but I kept walking. I couldn’t collapse now, not when we were so close. Morrena followed behind.

“Everyone within the circle,” Morrena said.

We hastened to obey, even the four witches still casting binding runes on Estrella and Tristan. The two Imperial Guard lay pressed to the floor, straining against the shadows that held them. I was glad I couldn’t see the betrayal in their eyes. I could barely handle the kings’ rage, much less the anger of someone right in front of me.

Estrella and Tristan would get over it. Once we were gone, the Isaurans would stop the runes, and they’d be none the worse—

Morrena raised her hands, as did two of the witches behind her. Shadows flared at her fingers.

Terminate .

As one, the witches aimed the rune at Estrella.

No. “What are you—?”

The rune flared. The magic hit Estrella like a hammer. She screamed, a high, piercing sound. Tristan echoed it, the pain tearing through their bond. I slammed a hand over my mouth as her body convulsed, twisted, seized. Again and again, the magic wracked her—

She slumped down to the floor.

Still.

Solid.

Dead.

Across the room, Tristan was just as silent.

They were heartmates. He’d died the moment she had.

Oh, stars, what had I done?

The transport runes at my feet flared, their shadows intensifying. Devouring Estrella and Tristan’s life energy as fuel . I couldn’t move. My hand stayed pressed over my mouth, frozen in horror.

The shadows burst upward, curling like smoke. Warm tendrils wrapped around my limbs, my torso, my neck, my head.

The door slammed open.

I couldn’t see the kings, but I knew it was them. Close, wrathful, closing the distance between us—

The shadows exploded outward.