Page 19 of Cruel Vampire King (Honeyblood Vampires #1)

We were all walking slowly as we came to the edge of the forest. It transitioned abruptly into a manicured lawn stretching to the huge, round stadium that was the colosseum. This one was built in exactly the same style as the one in the capital city. My shoulders hunched. Why did they have us come here, rather than take us back to the city?

Could it be possible that two games were being played this year? Was my team led here on purpose, and was there a second team that would fight to the death in the city? I wouldn’t put it past Luken to have such trickery up his sleeve.

“Here we are,” Thessa said dully. She clutched her stomach as she stared at it, her expression utterly numb. “I suppose I should have been smarter than to think there was ever going to be an escape.”

Dozens of fancy cars lined up outside the colosseum. I briefly thought about suggesting that we go and wreck as many of them as we could before the vampires caught us, but the thought disappeared swiftly. Marissa, flanked by two huge vampires that had once been orcs, approached us. Her silver eyes were cool. She wore a sleek black power suit that enhanced her hourglass shape.

“We’re waiting for you,” she said coolly. “I must say, I’ve enjoyed watching your battles as they were presented. It’s unusual for our champions to be so boring in their day-to-day, though. Not much backstabbing among you lot... which I suppose will make it even more thrilling to see you turn on each other now.”

I didn’t hesitate. “How many vampires know that you secreted me away for clandestine meetings with the king?”

Thessa gasped, but Greyson looked unsurprised.

Marissa laughed. “That was quite fun to watch.”

It wasn’t an answer, but I didn’t push it. My mind was racing. Was there a possibility left for us to get out of this?

We were escorted into the colosseum and shoved through the low arches into the arena right away. I was glad they weren’t delaying it. A stadium announcer gave us our names and read the bios we’d given at the start of this. They conspicuously didn’t name Thessa’s crimes or why she’d been selected from the games. Her eyes were wide, her breathing rapid as she continually looked round. Several times I thought she was going to bolt, but she didn’t move.

The crowd jeered but suddenly fell silent. A prickle washed over my skin and I knew without turning that Luken had just entered. Thessa’s head jerked around and she gasped. Greyson was slower. His hands tightened into fists. I remained where I was, not looking. Even so, I saw him in the corner of my eye. He was dressed all in black, in the traditional royal garb. The one that Thessa said she had made. And Darcie…

I turned then, meaning only to look at the sash and examine my sister’s work. But as soon as my head turned, Luken’s eyes caught mine. My heart hammered. Dressed as he was in his royal finery, with a heavy silver circlet on his brow, he looked every inch a king… no, he looked like a god.

The oracle, swathed in a shroud that hid everything but their height from the crowd, stood next to him. They spoke in a wailing voice that changed in such fluctuations it sent shivers down my spine.

“The final trial will begin. You three will fight now, to the death. There can only be one survival of the Blood Trials. Only one will experience their rebirth in the blood that has been spilled.”

“And what if we don’t?” I demanded, speaking despite myself.

Luken’s expression didn’t change but the gathered vampires murmured to each other disapprovingly. Apparently, they didn’t like having their entertainment talk back.

“If you refuse, you will have insulted the Gods themselves,” the oracle said. Their voice wasn’t quite so mystical this time, and I thought the tone sounded feminine. “If you refuse, then they will have no mercy. You will be vanquished and the Gods will consume your souls.”

Thessa moaned and whimpered. “That’s exactly what I was trying to escape.”

“Give them their weapons,” the oracle ordered.

A handful of guards came forward, carrying with them three fresh swords. Apparently, our chosen weapons were being taken away. Thessa swayed on the spot as they approached. She shied toward me only to stop. Bracing herself, she lifted her chin.

Was it hopeless, then? I stared hard at Luken, and he stared back. I couldn’t read him. If all my begging and bargaining up to this point had been for nothing, was it worth trying again? Or would he just laugh at me? I handed over my staff without complaint. My mind was blank. There was no getting out of this alive, not with Greyson and Thessa surviving as well.

Who do I fight for? Thessa or Darcie? If I got Thessa through this, would be have the wherewithal for her wish to be Darcie’s freedom? Or would she succumb to Luken the moment he put his fangs in her? She only got her wish if she resisted him. I couldn’t imagine that she could. Not a naive young girl as she was. If anything, she’d end up like me four years ago.

Helplessly in love and doomed to suffer daily.

Could I really put her through that? And the guilt of survival… that might be as deadly for someone like Thessa as a sword would be.

Greyson traded his sword for a new one and tested its weight in his hand. “No point in delaying this any longer.” He shook his head as he sheathed the sword and began to braid his hair. As he did so, he met my eyes. His gaze was flat, hard, lacking all of the warmth he’d showed during our survival in the forest. “I really wish you had let me fuck you.”

The hard cadence of his words made me flinch but I pushed it aside. Right now, I was thinking the same thing. My heart pounded as I broke my gaze from Luken and reached for a sword of my own. I had to kill him. There was no other choice here. He had to die. I really ought to have given him my body. Maybe he would have some comfort in these last days of his life, then. Was my virginity really worth it?

I needn’t have protected it so much, I thought bitterly. I’m going to lose it to Luken. To the man who killed my family. I should have given it away to someone else. I should have been cavalier with my body. Instead, he is going to take the last innocent thing from me.

I had no doubt he would. He told me I’d be begging him to take me—and I didn’t doubt that, either. I would beg him if that’s what it took to save… whoever I was going to save.

Thessa’s sword dangling limply from her hand, the point tracing abstract patterns in the dust. Her head swiveled constantly, as though she still thought she could escape. I braced myself. If I saved Darcie, she would never have to know what happened to Thessa. She’d be free…

What exactly did Thessa mean when she said she was trying to escape the Gods devouring her soul?

This was it. I closed my eyes, preparing myself. Taking a few breaths, I tried to empty myself of emotion. The way Greyson already had. The way Thessa could not. I turned slightly, so my back was to the crowd. Greyson was the bigger threat. I’d take him out first. That way, whatever I decided for Thessa…

There’s no more time to vacillate! I should have chosen already.

Panic threatened to rise in my chest. I fought it down.

“Before the final battle begins, I have something to say,” Luken said, his voice clear and even.

My eyes snapped open. They sought him out without me telling them to do so, as though they were entities with minds of their own. He wore a sword at his own hip, and his hand rested lightly on the pommel of a knife. His amber eyes pinched at the sides as he smiled, but there was no humor in his face. A cold arrogance radiated from him that made me shiver as much as it drew me in.

“Greyson,” Luken rumbled, his amber gaze lingering on the elf. “You are not who you claim to be.”

Greyson’s grip on his sword tightened. He narrowed his eyes at Luken.

With a flourish, Luken turned to the waiting crowd. “This man is no elf. He’s half-elf, half-vampire. And he has been working with dark forces against me, against our kingdom. He’s tried to destabilize us and bring about a reign of ruin. Haven’t you… brother?”

The guards who brought us our weapons backpedaled with shocked cries. I twisted automatically, shielding Thessa as Greyson lifted his sword. There was no denial on his lips, no anger in his eyes. A smile spread over his face as he eyed down Luken.

“How did you figure it out?” he asked casually.

The air seemed to thin around me. Brother? Greyson was the half-brother that Luken told me about, the one that had been imprisoned? My head whirled as Thessa’s cold fingers wrapped around my wrist, as though she wanted to pull me away from him. The entire colosseum was silent as they watched the confrontation.

“Your arrogance, for one,” Luken drawled. “But also… we captured some of your elf confederates alive. I’ll admit, your magical prowess caught me off guard. You’ve learned a lot to be able to use such advanced magic to change your features. I thought it might be a glamor, but you’ve done something deeper, haven’t you?”

Greyson grinned. “All except my fangs.”

The light seemed to blur about him for half a second. When it faded, a set of elegant fangs was in his mouth. My heart grew faster as I gripped my sword with both hands. What the hell was going on? Why would Luken’s brother enter the Blood Trials?

“What did they promise you?” Luken’s voice was so low I wondered if anyone else heard it.

“Everything. The Gods are tired of you, Brother,” Greyson snarled. Except, that wasn’t his real name. What was his real name? I couldn’t remember if Luken had told me. “They are going to strike you down and raise me up in your stead. I entered the Trails so that my own wish, to challenge you for the throne, would be granted. Even you can’t deny the winner of the Trials. And once I’ve killed them, I’ll kill you.”

Thessa whimpered.

Luken lifted a brow. “What makes you think you’ll win?”

“You can’t intervene. Not until the winner has been declared,” Greyson said, throwing his shoulders back.

Hot anger swept through me. Luken’s eyes didn’t move from his brother but I found myself understanding something. If this was the brother who had escaped his incarceration, if he was the one that sent the elf mercenaries after us in the forest… then four years ago…

“You entered the Trials under false pretenses,” I blurted, and Greyson’s head turned toward me. I straightened as I pointed my sword at him. “You aren’t Greyson, the elf. It’s against the law for vampires and half-vampires to participate in the Trials. Which means your entry is null and void.”

Greyson narrowed his eyes at me. “The Gods themselves decreed that I should be king. They gave me the plan to see this through. My participation was foreordained and blessed. Ask the oracle! They will tell the truth of my words.”

The oracle let out a high, keening wail. “The Gods do not interfere in the Trials. Nor do they give blessings to this man or that to give him power over others. They do not ordain the king, only ask for the respect that is owed to them.”

A startled look flashed over Greyson’s face. If I saw it, Luken must have, too. Was the oracle conspiring against him? He gave no indication he’d seen it or had any such suspicions.

“You have been trying to thwart me for years, brother. I have been kind. Generous.” Luken’s gaze hardened. “I let you live, and you have only worked against me. I should like to show mercy again… but what have you done to earn that mercy? My responsibilities are for more than my own conscience.”

Greyson’s jaw worked hard. “I… I’m not who you think I am. I’m not your brother at all. I was hired by a half-elf vampire to pretend. He promised me that he’d help me win the Trials and—”

“You’ve sent assassins after by blood donors for decades,” Luken interrupted. “You thought that by sabotaging them, you would make me weak. You should have stuck to the shadows.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not him,” Greyson insisted. “I was promised—I was going to open the way for the true king.”

Luken gave him a withering look. My heart slammed into my ribs as I tried to piece together my own feelings on the matter. Greyson was more than willing to take ownership of being Luken’s brother until the oracle failed to back him up. Was he really that much of a coward? Or was it true? Was he really not the one that Luken thought he was?

But more than that… sabotaging his blood donors? Did that mean what I thought it did?

The whole colosseum was silent, watching. It was quite the spectacle for them. This face-off between the brothers while Luken revealed Greyson’s identity to the whole world. If he was right. If Greyson’s backtracking now is just a desperate attempt to live to fight another day.

Beside me, Thessa’s fingers wrapped around my wrist. “He was after you. How did he manage to be part of our team? Did he bribe someone?”

She believed it, then.

“Your crimes haven’t just been against me.” Luken turned suddenly, starting directly at me. “You were behind the mercenaries that were sent to kill Elara Tideborne and her family. You were the one that had their inn burned down and the family slaughtered. All because you didn’t want me to have a new blood donor.”

I couldn’t look away from Luken. Though his face was impassive, his eyes were intense on me. Prickles washed over my scalp. There was a vulnerability to Luken’s intensity that I understood at once. He wanted me to believe. He wanted me to understand, to know that he wasn’t behind my family’s deaths after all.

But if he wasn’t, what would I do with all this hatred in my heart?

I’d fought so long between mourning what I thought he was and hoping I was right about the romantic figure I’d imagined at eighteen.

As my mind was reeling, the oracle started to speak again. “These crimes are heavy on the head of the accused. If he is guilty, let the people see him for who he is. They need to see the proof, otherwise, his death will be unjust. If there is no proof, let him compete in the final battle of the Blood Trials.”

Greyson smiled.

Luken glanced at the oracle, his lips quirking. It was strange, seeing him react that way. He was the king… but it was sinking in now that he really wasn’t as powerful as I’d built him in my mind. How could he rule if the people refused to bow to him? And what was a better way to make them refuse to bow than to threaten their eternal souls? The Gods were powerful. Even people who didn’t believe in them could use them to increase their own power.

Up until now, I thought Luken just used them as an excuse for the Blood Trials. The tributes I knew to be real but the Trials…

He told me the truth when he said he had no choice.

He really was the prince of my dreams.

“You want proof? Here. Have your proof.” Luken whirled suddenly, his hand slashing through the air. A ripple of sound burst like a gunshot, echoing in the arena. A wave of blue washed from the spot where Luken had motioned.

Greyson tried to dodge it, but the magic hit him crosswise. He dropped, howling as his sword went flying. Thessa screamed, her fingers digging into my arms. I pulled her back, away from the writhing mess that was Greyson. As we watched, he changed. His ears shortened, his jawline became heavier, his cheekbones lifted, and his nose grew smaller and straighter.

When the transformation was done, and he lifted his head, his eyes glowing brown in his face, a collective gasp ran through the audience. The large viewscreens on either side of the colosseum were filled with the image of Greyson’s face. His real face. He looked so similar to Luken that even though I’d never seen him before, I would have recognized them as related instantly.

The only familiarity was those reflections of Luken. I’d hoped that I would look at him and see one of the monsters that slaughtered my family. But he wasn’t one of the mercenaries. He’d sent them to do his dirty work.

“I saw him at the temples,” Thessa whispered. “He talked about the prophecy with…” she trailed off, as though unwilling to continue.

I hardly heard her. A new feeling washed through me—relief.

Because finally, finally, I believed Luken. He hadn’t killed my family. He wasn’t a monster who slaughtered the people I loved to punish me for hesitating. He’d told me the truth when he said he was going to wait a few years, to let me grow up a bit and be ready to come with him to the palace. He was telling the truth when he said he mourned me. When he said, he wanted me to be with him.

Greyson’s lips curled back over his teeth. His fangs lengthened as he glared with sheer hatred at Luken. A shudder ran down my spine as I recognized the hints of his anger I’d seen in him through the forest. No wonder I felt so uncomfortable, even when I was trying to convince myself otherwise. He’d been seeking to use me, to hurt me, from the start. There was an evil in him that I reacted to, even if I didn’t know it.

Greyson pulled himself to his feet, continuing to glare at Luken. Luken stared back at him, utterly impassive.

“Will you keep denying your identity, or will you finally be a man and face the consequences of your actions?” he asked coolly.

Greyson stared back at him for a long moment before his eyes flashed to me. The hatred that burned in their depths made me flinch back. But as he looked at me, a smile curled his lips. A cruel smile transformed his handsome face into something ugly and terrifying. He started to laugh.

“Do what you will to me, brother. Just know that whatever you have, there is something that I took that you will never have. I tasted the girl first. I had her blood and her body. When you enter her and find her no longer a virgin, just know that your little brother broke her in for you,” he crowed.

Anger swept through me. “That’s a lie!” I shouted.

“Of course, you’d say that,” Greyson mocked. “But you can’t hide the truth, Elara. You called out my name as I drove my cock into you. And no matter how many times my big brother fucks you, I’ll always be the first man you had.”

“I’m still a virgin,” I snarled, my voice loud in the colosseum. I didn’t even care if other people heard me. I hadn’t guarded myself for so long just for someone like him to lay claim to my first time! “The only person who has ever touched me is Luken.”

My stomach churned. I wanted to vomit and kill him all at once. My thoughts were jumbled. I’d never had sex, but was it possible that he could have raped me, and I not know about it? I didn’t think so. There’d be evidence left behind, wouldn’t there? Pain, blood. I inhaled through my nose, calming myself. There were no unexplained blackouts while we were in the forest. There was never a time when he could have done that. No doubt he thought I wasn’t a virgin, and he was just trying to hurt Luken.

Did Luken believe me? I turned to search his gaze, and the soft look in his eyes told me that he did. Relief washed through me.

“I’m still a virgin,” I repeated. “He never touched me.”

And even though I was thrilled that Luken would believe me without proof, some small part of my mind whispered, Would it make a difference to him if I wasn’t a virgin?

Greyson moved suddenly, dodging for his sword. Luken’s hand moved so quickly that all I saw was a blur. He threw the knife at his belt directly into Greyson’s eye. Luken turned as he threw it, his expression melting into a thunderous hate. Greyson stumbled. The point of the blade protruded through the back of his skull. His hands fluttered, then he keeled over and lay still.

Luken started to turn toward me, the hatred melting off his face.

Before he could take a step toward me, the oracle lifted their arms toward the sky. The shroud covered ever their hands, preventing me from seeing anything that might indicate their identity.

“The Gods are pleased that the false contestant has been taken,” the oracle called, as though bringing attention back to them. Their voice was sharp, not containing the undulating wails that they had hidden behind before. Was that desperation I heard? “The final two contestants must fight.”

A ripple of whispers ran through the crowd. My heart seized, and my head jerked around toward Luken. He wasn’t going to let this happen, right? We knew that the Gods were trying to overthrow him. This was just another thing. They sent Greyson after me. They had used him to overthrow Luken…

But who would believe it? Who would rise up against the Gods? If Luken stood there and declared he wasn’t going to follow the Gods anymore because his brother claimed they’d sent him to overthrow the king…

Well. Luken would be labeled a heretic at best. At worst, Greyson would be claimed as a martyr, and a rebellion would rise in his name.

“My brother tainted the Trials,” Luken said through gritted teeth. “It’s an insult to the Gods to continue them. We must hold new Trials to cleanse the ritual.”

My eyes widened. More Trials? After all the death and bloodshed already? My mind flashed to Kael and Ysara. What were their deaths for if the Blood Trials were just going to be held again?

“The Gods see no filth in these two,” the oracle said in that high-pitched wail once more. “They are satisfied with the blood that has been shed thus far. But the Trials must be completed. The sacrifice must be made.”

I shook Thessa’s hand off me and stepped away. “The Gods see all.”

“They do,” the oracle agreed.

“Which means they saw that Greyson—or whoever he is—was a part of it from the start. He may have gained access through deception, but the Gods know all, and they decided to allow it,” I quickly said, my hands tightening on the sword.

The oracle hesitated while Luken narrowed his eyes at me. Finally, the oracle said, “Yes.”

“Which also means that the Gods know that the king has touched me. He has ignited the fires in my blood. And I’ve proven my resistance. I’ve already completed the Trial of restraint, by telling him no and walking away when everything in my body screamed at me to give in.” I didn’t look at Luken, though my cheeks warmed at my admission.

“They do, and you have,” the oracle said, sounding reluctant.

I took a deep breath. Thessa or Darcie. No more time. I have to choose . “Then all I have to do is drive my sword through Thessa’s heart, and I’ll have won the Blood Trials?”

Something passed over Luken’s face, but I ignored it.

The oracle straightened. “Yes.”

I turned. Thessa’s brown eyes were huge as she stared at me, as though she didn’t quite believe what was happening. I looked into her eyes so she could see I was genuine when I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Then I drove my sword straight through her heart.