Page 25

Chapter Seventeen

RUNA

I stomped through the woods behind Kronk.

Despite our supposed alliance, the vampire wasn’t one of us and never would be.

Again, he’d put a member of our group at risk.

Same as he had in the alleyway and the throne room.

Other than Idris, I’d never met a more self-serving bastard.

Custodis was just another corrupt leader, faking concern to fulfill his own agenda.

It was a fact I needed to keep in the forefront of my mind, no matter what slipped past the devil’s manipulative tongue.

Kronk slowed in front of me. “I think we found the ravine.”

Together, our group moved forward, one cautious step at a time. Our next obstacle stretched out before us. Mist rose from the vast chasm, the sounds of the forest echoing off its steep walls. The opposite bank might as well have been an entire continent away, the length impossible to cross.

I dared to glance into the immense pit, toeing a rock and kicking it into the ravine. The stone pinged once off the rim, then into the hole. Not another sound emerged. It never hit bottom. I shivered, inching back from the edge .

Voices hit us from either side of our group.

“We’re not alone,” Drazen said.

We scanned the cliffside. Others had made it here, too. In small, ragged groups, they gathered along the edge.

I glanced to my left. “There’s a bridge.”

Though calling it a “bridge” was a stretch. Frayed ropes held together rotted boards, several of which were missing. The rope passage swayed in the breeze, seeming on the verge of collapse.

Others noticed it as well. Shouts rang out. Two of the groups rushed to the entrance at the same time.

“This should be interesting,” Drazen muttered.

After a brief tussle, one of the competitors made it to the crossing first. With little hesitation, he raced onto the rotting surface. The ropes pitched and groaned beneath his weight. I held my breath, waiting to see if he would fall.

Would we need to use the bridge as well? No way that rotted thing would hold Kronk’s weight. And I sure as hell wasn’t leaving him behind. An image of my sister’s sweaty hand in mine rolled through my memories, and I winced, pushing the thought aside.

Behind the first man, a second followed. Then another. And another.

“I can’t watch.” I smacked my hands over my eyes, peering between my fingers.

Sure enough, the rope snapped, and half of the wooden planks gave way. Screams rang out as several of the competitors plunged into the bottomless void. Some managed to hang on, clinging to the rope, slowly making their way across, hand over hand.

“The bridge is a death trap designed to thin the herd,” I said.

“Agreed. We’ll need to build our own, as we did in the water challenge,” Custodis answered, his icy gaze locked on one of the trees .

He turned to Kronk. “Think you can knock one of those over?”

Kronk nodded, lines of determination furrowing his thick brow. “Let’s find out.”

Standing behind the tree Victor indicated, Kronk rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Palms planted against the mossy bark, he stabbed the toes of his boots into the ground, stomping footholds. That done, he leaned his considerable weight into the trunk and shoved.

Thick muscle rippled across my brother’s broad shoulders.

Veins stood out on his giant biceps. His stony complexion turned pink, then red, then almost purple.

I chewed on my thumbnail, uncertain who would break first, the tree or my brother.

Finally, the wood splintered and cracked. Branches swayed over our heads.

Demanding arms circled me, pulling me back. “Out of the way in case it rebounds.”

The vampire’s frosty cypress scent filled my nostrils. Some defective reflex kept me from breaking free of his grip, allowing his touch instead.

I watched in awe as the tree tilted toward the chasm. Kronk unleashed a mighty roar, and the wood splintered, the noise like lightning had struck the ground. The treetop hit the opposite bank and bounced.

We all held our breath. If it twisted too far, it would plunge into the darkness, taking our hope for survival along with it.

Instead, it settled on the other side.

Kronk dusted his hands, grinning. “I did good, huh?” Then his gaze lowered to my stomach, and his grin turned to a dark glare.

I glanced down, finding the vampire’s arm around me, and jerked free. “Better than good. Let’s go before the others join us. ”

It wasn't like we could keep our plan secret, what with the explosion of cracking wood and screaming birds.

Drazen caught my hand, holding me back. He narrowed his eyes on Custodis, offering a mocking bow. “Leeches first.”

“Very well,” Custodis said, climbing up on the broken stump.

Arms out, he balanced, taking a few practice bounces.

When the tree held, he took measured steps, inching further until he cleared the ledge, standing over the chasm, free of any handhold, net, nor safety rigging to keep him from plunging to his death.

“Perhaps we should go one at a time,” I suggested.

“No time for that.” Drazen glanced over his shoulder.

Shouts rang out. The others were coming.

With no further encouragement, I climbed up, following the vampire.

“Move your ass, blood sucker,” Drazen shouted.

We scrambled across the makeshift bridge, with Kronk bringing up the rear.

Heart pounding a frantic rhythm, I dodged branches, careful of each footstep. The fallen trunk wobbled, shimmying beneath our combined weight. Wood cracked, and I screamed, dropping to my hands and knees.

Frozen, I stared at the bark under my palms. Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t…

My gaze shifted. Below me was a vast chasm of nothingness. Vertigo washed over me in a flood. My head swam, and I swallowed back bile. The panicked woman’s cries from earlier echoed in my ears. We’re going to die! We’re going to die!

“Runa!” a smoky voice called my name. “Runa, you have to go!” he repeated.

No. No. No. I was fine right where I was. What was the hurry?

Heat warmed my backside. Orange light erupted. “Damn it, Runa. Snap out of it. I can’t hold the bastards off forever.”

Smoke burned my nostrils. I blinked and peered out across the fallen tree.

Surely, Victor had reached the other side by now.

Hell, he was probably already at the flag, feet kicked up, watching my brothers and me on one of those ridiculous floating screens.

Like the dead woman, my mental breakdown would be broadcast for the world to ridicule.

Laugh it up, Custodis. Enjoying the show?

Beneath my nose, a hand appeared. I blinked, forcing my eyes from the relative safety of the trunk. The vampire’s silver-gray stare held me captive.

He really did have nice eyes. Something in his hypnotic gaze pulled me in. Warmth spread through my veins, my head growing foggy.

“Take my hand,” an angelic voice said.

I’d do anything for that voice. I swallowed, licking my dry lips.

“Take my hand. Your brothers are counting on you.”

What? My brothers?

I placed my palm into my savior’s grasp, and he helped me to my feet. “Eyes on me. One foot in front of the other.”

Someone screamed, the shriek fading as if they had fallen into a deep well. Cursing and the whoosh of fireballs roared behind me. Still, I did as the voice commanded, following in his path.

“Flark! It’s on fire!”

“Drazen, you fool!” a deeper voice shouted.

“I’d like to see you hold off a dozen men while balancing on a log,” the first yelled over the rumble of hungry flames.

Pounding footsteps thundered along our improvised bridge. “Move! It’s going up quick.”

As we neared the end, my legs wobbled and lurched beneath me. “Jump, Runa,” the angelic voice said.

We dove off the tree, hitting the ground, thank the goddess. Two bodies hit the dirt beside me.

Though I had leaped to the ground, something soft had broken my fall. The fog cleared, and I raised my head. Custodis rested below me with his eyes closed. Reality returned by slow degrees. He’d helped me?

I wiped a smudge from his cheek, smoothing back his silver-white hair. His chest inflated on an inhale, and he opened his eyes, scanning my face. But not with the harsh judgment I expected. No, this was something softer. Something that looked an awful lot like genuine concern.

“What did you do?”

He frowned. “Only what needed to be done.”

Instead of angelic, I now found his voice annoying. Realization dawned. Flarking vampires and their stupid powers. “You compelled me.” He took my choice away—my free will, my control.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“That’s not possible. Sorceresses are impervious to compulsion.”

“And yet you were susceptible to mine.”

No way. Except that would explain why I had trusted him.

It was the only reason I’d taken the vampire’s hand.

Warmth permeated my damp clothing where I pressed against him.

Victor’s heated palm rested on my bare thigh.

Instead of releasing me and jumping away as if he feared I would sully him, he stroked my flesh.

My bones turned molten. It had been a long time since anyone had touched me this way.

I eyed his firm lips. What would it be like to kiss this male?

Would he be icy and cold or wild and primal?

I suspected the latter. Many who appeared controlled and contained were hiding something darker underneath.

A tremor ran through me at the thought, and his pupils dilated, his breath quickening beneath me.

“Ahhem,” a voice cleared.

I peered up to find my brothers standing next to us. Smudged with soot, they stood with their arms folded, matching expressions of disgust on their faces.

I flinched, jerking free of the vampire’s embrace and snapping to my feet.

The vampire stood up as well, glancing at the burning tree. “It’s about to—”

Wood cracked. Embers exploded into the air. The flaming bridge tumbled from its banks into the ravine. Those who’d braved the fire, attempting to cross, tumbled into the void, screaming and cursing.

Drazen propped his hands on his hips. “Well, we crossed the ravine. Now what?”

I mimicked his stance. “Must you keep asking that? Every time someone says, now what , bad things happen.”

Dark laughter rumbled from above.