Page 15 of Brimstone

Now.

Fuck, I needed himnow.

“It’s done! She has fed!” Ereth faced the masses with both hands raised in the air like some prophesying messiah. “She is leashed by the blood. Bound to it, as we all are. There can be no question of her commitment to our people now.”

What thehellwas he talking about?

Kingfisher reached out and carefully wiped his thumb over my chin; it came away red. His chest hitched up and down so fast. He hadn’t spoken again yet.

“Crown her!Crownher!” the crowd roared.

I was drunk. Swimming, sinking, drowning. I needed to lie down.

Suddenly, someone was standing in front of me. I tore my eyes away from Fisher and gasped aloud when I saw the Hall of Tears again. Really looked upon it, as if seeing it for the first time. The figures stitched into the wall hangings writhed and cavorted, glimmering in the torchlight. Flecks of gold and silver danced in the air. The darkness had swept away, revealing sumptuous furnishings, and paintings hanging from the walls, and sprays of night-blooming flowers in tall vases, throughout the hall.

Suddenly, crushingly, the Hall of Tears had become beautiful.

3

DOSE

KINGFISHER

THERE WAS Anew tattoo on her chest: a thin black line that marked her skin from one shoulder to the other, right below her collarbone. Just a simple line, but somehow striking. She was breathtaking as she turned and faced the hall, her eyes lit with a galaxy of stars. She was the center of that galaxy. I gravitated toward her anyway, but after what she’d just done—she had noideawhat she’d done—my cock was the hardest it had ever fucking been, and I could barely think straight.

Gods, that fuckingdress. . .

As Ereth climbed the steps of the dais, approaching her, I watched Saeris take in her surroundings, wide-eyed, and I knew what she was feeling. The euphoria was running through my veins, too. I should have been more careful when I’d told her to drink. She couldn’t have known what would happen if she stilled with her canines inside me and didn’t drink, though. It was my own fucking fault. I should have told her. I should have explained. My cock throbbed relentlessly as I turned around to face the hall.

Ereth reached the top of the steps and bowed reverently, dipping low before my mate. Saeris barely noticed that he wasthere. My poor Little Osha was reeling from the effects of the bite, but not me. I had years on her. I knew how to shove the high aside. I did so reluctantly; it would have been nice to float on that sea of pure bliss with her, but Ereth had encouraged her to bite me for a reason. Likely, he’d hoped the experience would put her on her ass. He probably hoped having Saeris feed from me would dull my senses and make me lower my guard, too . . . but Ereth didn’t know me. He’d never faced me on the battlefield. Never visited me when I was trapped inside Malcolm’s maze. He had no idea who I was or what I was capable of and, therefore, had no clue what heinous crimes I would commit to ensure my mate’s safety.

The beak-nosed bastard raised the golden diadem he carried in his hands, gently placing it atop Saeris’s head. Her eyelids fluttered as she came back to herself, and my reality sharpened to a knife’s point. She was vulnerable with him standing so close. Too vulnerable. I bristled, my fingers prickling.

Patience, the quicksilver whispered.

Ever since Te Léna had partnered with Iseabail to tease the quicksilver out of me, the whispering in my head had been less frantic. Sharper. Easier to understand. Together, healer and witch had achieved what neither had been able to accomplish alone. The thread of quicksilver that lingered inside of me no longer made me feel like I was hanging on to my sanity by my fingernails. For the first time since it had infected me as a youth, I had begun to think of the quicksilver as more of a blessing than a curse. It urged caution now, as I watched Ereth like a hawk.Wait. Wait. Be patient . . .

Patience had never been my strong suit. The maze had changed that for me. I held my position, giving Ereth the benefit of the doubt. I knew very little of him. It was unlikely that he would move so quickly after—

Nope.

I was right.

I fuckingknewit.

The blade that appeared in the Lord’s hand had a handle wrapped with a leather thong. It must have been causing him serious discomfort this whole time; he’d been keeping it inside his cloak, tucked away against his side. The blade was vicious, needlelike, and flashed bright silver: the perfect weapon for a vampire noble, inexperienced in the art of fighting, to drive through their enemy’s eardrum and straight into their brain.

Ereth moved quickly.

I moved quicker.

Saeris reacted, too, the dazed gloss to her eyes fading away. She reached for the dagger I had given her, but I was already there, slamming into the Lord.

Ereth made a gutturalguhhhhh!sound as he flew back, the air rushing out of him. He crashed down hard on the dais steps. Raising the hand with the blade in it, he went to throw it, but—

I reached over my shoulder.

My hand closed around Nimerelle’s hilt.