Page 13 of Cruel Vampire King (Honeyblood Vampires #1)

Between the loss of blood and the lack of proper care, Thessa slipped into unconsciousness before the others returned. In the morning, Kael put a comforting arm around my shoulders as he looked on with worry at Thessa. Somehow, seeing her close to death like this made everything so much clearer. Emily was right when she said I wasn’t ready for the Blood Trials.

But I think if I was really ready for them, I wouldn’t have joined. To be ready for something like this you had to turn off the part of your heart that cares… and if I did that, I wouldn’t care about Darcie anymore, either. So I’d never be ready. The only question was, now that I knew that was the case, what did I do now?

I couldn’t save Darcie and Thessa both. Could I? Maybe there was something I could do, some bargain I could strike…

Luken told me no last time. Maybe if I changed the offer? Maybe if I promised to be his devoted slave, he’d accept my terms. But even those thoughts had no hope. If he’d been interested in manipulating me into agreeing to be his possession, he could have worked harder the night of the masque. I gave him that opening already.

There would be no miracle, no clever twist to make him change his mind. I had no power over him. He wasn’t a prince bewitched by my beauty and I was no fairytale heroine. That was the sort of thinking that got my family killed four years ago. I couldn’t fall back into those hopes.

If I was going to save Thessa, I would have to do it. I couldn’t pin my hopes on any sort of soft heart from the heartless vampire king.

The four of us carried Thessa on a makeshift sling of branches and clothes as she shivered and twitched in her sleep. I walked at the front with Kael, whose expression was both grim and sad.

Around noon, Ysara called for us to stop. We set Thessa down, and Ysara took Kael’s hand in hers. She didn’t look back, not once, as she led him into the forest. Kael glanced at us, and the sorrow in his eyes made me wince. He’d written Thessa off, too. They all had. At least she was still cool to the touch while not being cold. No fever, despite the risks of infection.

Greyson crouched next to me. “This isn’t going to work, you know. We can’t save her.”

“We can try,” I answered softly.

He sighed. “How did you end up in the Trials anyway? You’re not cut out for it. I thought the vampires liked to see actual fighters.”

“They like to see entertainment. And I guess it’s entertaining enough, isn’t it? To watch us fight our fates?” I asked, not moving.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

Ysara and Kael returned sometime later with the herbs and smelling of sex. Despite the circumstances, I couldn’t find the energy to be angry with them for taking pleasure in each other. Greyson sniffed the air conspicuously and rolled his eyes.

“We found some roots that will be edible if we process them,” Kael said. He lifted a handful of tubers into the air.

“Right, and that’s all you did,” Greyson muttered.

Ysara gave him a scathing look. “You could have joined us if you wanted.”

“I guess it’ll be more fun for the viewers to watch that than us sitting around with a dying girl,” he said. He’d been alternating between pacing and whittling this entire time while I built a fire and tried to keep Thessa comfortable. Now, he leaned against a tree and frowned, watching as Ysara used two rocks to pound the tubers into a paste. “This is cruel. We’re only going to kill her once we reach the colosseum anyway. We should be managing her pain, not fruitlessly trying to save her life.”

Ysara’s hands stilled. Kael sucked in a deep breath.

Greyson glared at his knives. “It’s what we’ve all been thinking this entire time. She’s going to die, one way or another.”

“Not if I can help it,” I murmured before I could stop myself.

“And what are you going to do?” Greyson gave me a scornful look. “Stand over her, defend her as we fight to the death, and then plunge a sword through your own heart?”

A bitter laugh fell from my twisted lips. Would I? Could I sacrifice myself and my sister for a girl I didn’t know? But she was wearing Darcie’s necklace! She couldn’t be Darcie, not as a panther shifter… but she looked so much like how I remembered Darcie. Part of me wanted to hope Thessa was my sister, even if it was impossible.

But the fact was, she knew Darcie somehow. I had to know.

The others were looking at me strangely. Greyson’s eyes were hard, Ysara’s curious, Kael’s compassionate. It was funny how the ugliest expression was on the most handsome face, while the kindest was on the ugliest.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, considering. I hadn’t even told the assassin coven what my backstory was. They’d found out, as was their job, but even when Emily had applied torture techniques to make me confess, I remained tight-lipped. Only after I passed that trial did she admit she’d known everything all the while.

“Luken Holakas slaughtered my family,” I finally said, lifting my head. “Because he wanted me, and I told him no.”

The words were bitter on my tongue.

I told them what happened that night, about the elf mercenaries, ones that wore the same armor that attacked us near the spring. I described how I’d been burned badly and left for dead.

“I should have died,” I said, running a hand through my hair. My hands had grown restless during my explanation, so I loosened the braid. I combed through the tangles that had formed and started to braid my hair again. “I wouldn’t have survived, if I didn’t have something to live for. My youngest sister survived, too. I lived for her.”

Here, I hesitated. Had I just given up too much for Luken? Maybe, the way he thought I was dead, he didn’t know Darcie had survived.

Had I just put her in greater danger? I cursed myself for the slip of my tongue.

“For a while, at least,” I added. I let my rage and sorrow leak into my voice.

Kael’s eyes grew moist as understanding dawned in them. Ysara looked away.

“That’s the truth of why I joined. Because I wanted to… get revenge, maybe. I’m not sure what I was thinking, only that I have nothing left.” I hesitated a moment. Should I tell them about how Luken had been snatching me away from the forest? I had no idea if the cameras were still on us or if there were ‘technical difficulties’ to preserve his reputation.

Even the big bad king of Taimarah would face backlash for this sort of behavior.

I shook my head and sighed. “We’ve all noticed that our path was surprisingly easy. He killed my family because he wanted me, and there is still something I have to offer him. My blood.”

Even after telling them, some tiny, irritating part in my heart whispered whether it was the whole story. How could the Luken who touched my scars so gently be the same one to cruelly take my family from me? How could the man who rescued me from the kelpie also send mercenaries after me to kill me? He’d sent me back here because I told him to. He could have taken my blood at any time, but he didn’t. He seemed to be waiting for my permission.

I shook my head again. I didn’t want to think about how it felt to have his body close to mine, his lips on my neck. It was just making me confused again.

“If he’s watching… if you’re watching…” I finished my braid. “I’ll give you what you want if you remove Thessa from the Trials. She doesn’t deserve to be here.”

I stared at the sky, hoping to catch some shimmer indicating the magical cameras on us. A wind whispered through the branches, making the leaves shiver. It was strong enough that the combined sound was like rain on a roof. I closed my eyes, inhaling; there was no scent of rain on the wind.

Just as well—it would be miserable to keep marching.

Kael was the first to speak. His voice was smooth and flat, like a mirrored surface. “Thessa doesn’t deserve to be here. But the rest of us do? You’re only bargaining for her life?”

I met his gaze. “I’m not bargaining for my own life, either.”

Kael held my gaze for half a second longer before his eyes flicked away.

Ysara’s yellow eyes never left me. She stared hard at me while I explained, and now there was a look on her face as though she’d just been able to put together pieces of a puzzle she hadn’t yet been able to complete. Something flashed behind her gaze, but when I stared back, she shrugged and looked away.

What was she thinking? Had she noticed something off about me? If any of them could smell how clean I’d gotten on my two forays to Luken’s luxury, it was her. But she said nothing, only resumed pounding the tubers.

“Do you think it will really work?” Greyson asked doubtfully.

I laughed bitterly. “No. But it’s worth a try, right?”

The lithe elf crouched near me, his gaze dark and intense. “I thought he was watching you strangely during the choosing of the participants. I guess we know why everything was so smooth for us. It was rigged. If he wants your blood that badly, the colosseum will be rigged, too. Why should he accept your bargaining when you’re working toward it anyway? We all die, he gets to drink from you anyway. And once he does—”

“I’m not going to let him,” I snapped back. “I won’t let him put his mouth on me unless Thessa is removed from the Trials.”

Greyson shifted positions, sitting with his long legs stretched out in front of him. “You’re acting as though he’ll give you that choice, Elara. But vampires don’t care about consent. Though I have to wonder about everyone who’s watching us now. What do they think about the Gods’ Game being rigged like this?”

Oh, we were having ‘technical difficulties’ for sure. No way would Luken be allowing anyone to watch it. Maybe he was. Perhaps he’d turned off his feed, too. Maybe he didn’t watch at all… but the maybes were where I’d go crazy.

“Does it matter when he has all the power?” I asked, shaking my head. “I can only worry about one thing at a time.”

Greyson nodded, his expression softening. His arm snaked around my shoulder. He would have pulled me close to him if I hadn’t stiffened. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. His mouth turned downward briefly, but he soon removed his arm.

“What he put you through is horrible. Nobody should have to deal with something like that.” He shook his head, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “I might be ruining my chances of survival here, but the king should be tortured and killed for what he did to you. And for everyone who has suffered under his reign.”

I tried to find comfort in the idea, but my stomach knotted. Luken had ruled Taimarah for something like three hundred years. If he was killed, especially without an heir, what would happen? Vampires didn’t do well with change; the whole kingdom would suffer, I was sure, if we had that sudden vacuum of power.

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to think about Luken being tortured. I wouldn’t let myself feel sick at the idea of it. He didn’t deserve that loyalty from me.

All the same, the conviction with which Greyson spoke was off-putting. It couldn’t just be about me. What deeper resentments did he have toward our vampire king?