Page 2 of Queen of the Crimson Throne (Queen of Blood and Stardust #2)

2

LENNOX

The male didn’t notice my dagger had pierced into his side until it was too late. He didn’t even have time to scream before I removed it and shoved it through his heart. Blood splattered my clothes, I could feel it against my bare chest as I removed my dagger, stepping back to allow the male to slump to the ground with a thud.

His eyes searched mine in confusion as he lay on the ground, looking for some sign of remorse as blood leached from his wounds, forming a puddle beneath him.

“Does that always work?” A soft feminine voice called from behind me. A voice tinged with judgment, which I had grown all too accustomed to over the past weeks.

“Does what always work?” I didn’t look over my shoulder as I knelt next to the male’s body, cleaning the blood from my dagger on his shirt.

“Seducing them so they’re too distracted to know you’re going to kill them?” I rolled my eyes. Grasping the male’s arm in my hand, I drew a small ball of flame in the other as I assessed the tattoo on his arm.

The three interlocking circles with an intersecting triangle glared back at me under the soft light. “It makes it easier, that’s for sure.” The male continued to gasp for breath as I rifled through his pockets for anything of value. “People are a lot less suspicious of me when I’m giving them the impression I’ll give them pleasure. It’s a surefire way to get anyone stupid enough to work for the Vanir to follow me down a darkened alley.”

Finding nothing in the male’s pockets, I stood and faced my sister. Kara stood with her arms crossed glaring at me. Her dark cloak concealed her subtle body, revealing only her narrow nose and full lips under the shadows of her hood. Her emerald eyes sparkled in the dim light of the moon.

“You’re killing for sport now?” Kara’s gaze flitted toward the dying male on the ground. “You didn’t even try to get any information out of him before you killed him.”

“There was nothing useful he could have given me.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I have my ways.” She didn’t need to know I had killed his friends earlier. That I had taken my time to get the information I needed out of them before I killed them. They had nothing to share I didn’t already know. The only piece of information worthwhile was about their friend who traveled with them to Alethens on the Vanir’s dime only to abandon them once they arrived. This male might not be working with the Vanir, but he had been associated with them at one point. I couldn’t leave any loose ends.

“One of these days this is going to come back and bite you in the ass,” Kara countered.

I shrugged. “How so?”

“Someone is going to catch you one of these times, Len,” she whispered angrily. I laughed, the sound cold and bitter as it ricocheted through the alley.

“And what if they do? Are they going to report me to the queen? Do you forget who you’re talking to?”

Kara let out a harsh breath. “Goddess, I knew it was a fool’s errand to try to tell you to be less reckless, but Lennox, I’m worried for you.” She approached me, taking my hands in hers. “You need to be more careful.”

I pulled my hands out of her hold and crossed my arms instead. “I need to take down the Vanir and stop them from killing any more innocent people.”

“And killing them on the streets every night is going to do that?” She took another step towards me. “Tell me, Lennox, in all the nights you’ve spent out here, stalking and killing Vanir, have you found any information of use?” Her words stung like a blow, my jaw clenching as I rolled over her words in my mind.

“We both know the real reason why you distract yourself with this task every night, Lennox; you come out here and distract yourself with vengeance to keep yourself from addressing what’s really bothering you.”

I whipped my gaze to her. “You can’t avoid it any longer Lennox, you leave for the Blood Court in the morning.”

You don’t think I know that. I wanted to scream. But I didn’t. I kept it locked up inside, as I did with all my feelings these days. After that first night, spent with my tears staining my pillows, I hadn’t allowed myself to feel sadness for what I had lost that day.

Not for the innocent people lost because of me.

Not for— no . I had one more day until I had to confront that. Not yet.

I let all sadness go and traded it for vengeance instead.

Vengeance for my people.

I don’t have it in me to get vengeance for my heart. For myself.

I turned my attention back to my sister, taking in her blazing red hair for the first time as she removed her hood.

“Care to explain to me what you’re doing here so late?” I raised a brow. “Looking like that?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.” I knew Kara wasn’t sitting around by herself at night while I was gone, but I never imagined I’d find her out here, deep in the pit of the city, long past reasonable hours to be out, glamored, to hide her appearance.

I knew my sister; she wasn’t out here like me, killing to feel something, but what was she up to? I wanted to ask, the shattered remains of my heart tugged towards her—begging to let her in.

But if I asked questions of her, that allowed her to ask questions of me.

So I bit my tongue.

“I should get going,” I turned from my sister’s assessing gaze. With the snap of my fingers, the Vanir male’s body burst into flames.

“I’ve got a lot to do before dawn.”