Page 18 of Cruel Vampire King (Honeyblood Vampires #1)

Two days later, Thessa had recovered enough to walk on her own. Her recovery surprised me, but perhaps the injury was more superficial than I’d realized before. Or maybe Luken did have a vampire sneak a few drops of blood into her system. Although it was more likely that Greyson had a store of magic left and used some of it to heal her while the rest of us weren’t around.

Why couldn’t I feel toward him the way I felt about Luken? He was a better match, someone who had proven he actually cared about people other than himself. So why did my hormones seem fixated on the king I hated?

“Is that it?” Thessa asked.

We all drew to a stop, squinting through the trees. They’d grown thinner over the last two days, allowing us the occasional glimpse of the valley floor. Now, I thought I could make out the rounded shape of a wall some distance away. My stomach knotted. Luken hadn’t sent for me since the hot springs. I was running out of time.

I had to make a choice. Thessa or Darcie. I couldn’t keep thinking that I could save both. I’d be lucky to even save one, so I had to put all my energy, all my power, into saving one of them.

If I had more information about the sacrifice, I’d have a better idea of what to do. Saving Darcie from a virgin life as a temple sister was far different from saving her from being butchered.

A noise in the forest caught my attention. I turned, and a splash of blood spurted over my face. Kael’s eyes widened, a slash across his throat from one side to the other. He opened his mouth but made no sound. He dropped, and the creature behind him smiled at us. It was taller even than Greyson, with a wolf’s head atop a man’s body. Huge hands and long fingers ended with claws. Patchy, scraggly fur covered its body.

It was bright daylight. How was a werewolf attacking us?

Ysara screamed a high-piercing sound that I knew all too well. She shifted to her wolf form and threw herself forward, snarling and snapping at the werewolf. Greyson hollered and drew his sword. I grabbed Thessa and twisted her away, putting myself between her and the werewolf.

“Elara!” she gasped.

I turned, swinging out my staff instinctively. It smacked into the head of a second werewolf as it bolted from the trees, hands eagerly reaching for Thessa. I set it off-balance, but it grabbed the end of my staff and knocked me backward. Thessa took her panther form and jumped for its throat. It laughed and backhanded her into a tree.

The werewolf crouched and flung my staff away. It sprang at Thessa’s crumpled form, and I screamed, dodging to block its path. Something heavy hit my back, and I stumbled, the air escaping my lungs. It hit again, and I went sprawling, my staff wrenched from my grip.

“Elara!” Greyson yelled.

I was too far. Thessa twitched as the werewolf landed next to her. Something dark brushed over my vision. A heavy thud, followed by a gurgling gasp. My vision cleared as the werewolf dropped the furry body onto the ground. It swayed on the spot as blood dripped from its throat. Greyson grounded, the sounds of fighting still raging behind me.

A pair of yellow eyes stared at me as the life drained from them.

It was Ysara. Not Thessa. Ysara’s body was torn open by the werewolf as she tore out its throat. Thessa staggered to her feet and dropped again, whimpering. Was she injured?

No time.

I scrambled for my staff, grounding my teeth as pain erupted from my back. It was cold and smooth under my hand. Adrenaline shot through me as Greyson cried out. I pushed myself to my feet, stumbling again as a wave of black washed over my vision. I turned, watching as Greyson battled the werewolf. It was criss-crossed with bloody injuries, but so was Greyson. His arm hung at a strange angle as he fought off the beast with one hand.

I surged forward, bringing my staff over my head. I threw my body into the swing as I brought it down. I missed my target, striking the werewolf’s back rather than its head. It growled, starting to turn. Greyson took the opening and stabbed the beast through its chest. It snarled, lifting a hand to strike him. I smashed my staff into its arm, sending it off-balance.

Between Greyson and me, it was over in seconds.

My skin was cold. The blood splashed over me was starting to dry, the metallic scent of it heavy in my nostrils. I didn’t have to look at Kael and Ysara again, but I did. Just to be certain. Their eyes were already starting to fog over with the veil of death. I was glad they were already dead.

But Thessa was alive.

I clutched my staff as I returned to her. She stirred, shifting slowly back to her human form. Dropping the staff, I checked her scalp. There was a nasty bump on the back of her head, but her pupils were fine, and it didn’t seem as though her injury from the elf attack had reopened. When she saw Ysara and Greyson, she let out a wail and pressed both her hands to her mouth.

“We have to get going,” Greyson urged.

Painfully, I pushed myself to my feet. “We bury them first.”

“Elara…” Greyson strode over to me and gripped my shoulders. “Only a potent magic would allow werewolves to walk around in daylight. We have to get out of here before he sends more creatures after us.”

Luken. He said I better survive. Apparently, he decided he had give us too easy of a time. How could it be entertaining for the vampires to watch us breeze through without trouble? He had to kill them, to make sure I knew he wasn’t going to show them any mercy. Punishment. I was a fool to question. Ever since that first night when he told me he was glad I was alive, I’d overestimated my worth.

Thessa or Darcie. I could save one of them.

Not both.

Not myself.

I’ll be your slave, Luken. But only if you give me one thing in return.

The air left my lungs in a whoosh. “It won’t be entertaining for them if none of us survive, or if the final battle in the colosseum is obvious from the start. We bury them, Greyson.”

Greyson strode forward and put his hands on my shoulders. He opened his mouth, but whatever he saw in my face brought him up short. His dark eyes widened, then his hands dropped to his sides. Finally, he spoke. “It’s not your fault, Elara. It’s his. He’s the one you should blame.”

Oh, I did. I blamed Luken for all of it. I didn’t need to be told.

We worked quietly and slowly, all three of us in too much pain to do much. We used sticks to scrape a shallow grave into the earth, where we laid Kael and Ysara together. They looked mismatched; he was a hulking orc, and she was small in her wolf form. But they’d want to be buried together. They found comfort together in life, so why should we put them alone in the cold grave?

Once the grave was covered in what stones we could find, we stood in silence. Up until now, we’d had a charmed experience. Now, the weight of reality settled on my shoulders. But with their deaths, it finally felt like my mind was clear. There was no trusting Luken. And the next time I drove a knife into his back, I wouldn’t miss his heart.

Greyson’s warm snaked around my shoulder, warm and comforting. I leaned into him despite myself. Exhaustedly, I wondered how much of a ‘fuck you’ it would be to Luken if I did decide to just throw it all away and give the elf my virginity.

We’d have to leave Thessa alone and unguarded. No, I wasn’t going to do that. If only because I didn’t want her to be alone and frightened in her final moments.

What will it be in the colosseum?

“It’s not your fault,” Greyson whispered in my ear. He rubbed his nose against my cheek. “But at least now we don’t have to fight them in the colosseum. He won’t have the pleasure of watching you beg for their lives, too.”

Was that supposed to be comforting?

I pulled away from him, unsettled by his choice of words. “We should get going. I want this whole fucking experience done already.”

Thessa nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. I reached out to her, and she leaned into me, reminding me of when Darcie leaned into me on the docks when her best friend was lost at sea. Her body had felt small and fragile, just like Thessa’s.

I can’t save both. So which one do I choose?