Page 72 of The Path of Blood and Betrayals

“We’re done,”Kadeninterrupts, face expressionless. Except his knuckles are holding the sword handle with shadowed fingers. “I’d really love to know how you plan to rescue a dead lord, kitten. I’m sure it’s riveting.”

Tucking my braid into my cowl, I shrug. “Simple. Climb the path, find the lord before the Fury finds us, and pray it we don’t die. Easy.”

Chapter 26

Kaden

“You didn’t tell me about the bard,” I murmur to my brother, watching as he leaps over a cracked section of stone.

Am I a little irritated he didn’t tell me of it? Slightly. My brother is known to tell me all of his conquests. I’m his confident.

“I knew you wouldn’t approve.” His lips twitch as I glare. “Musicians aren’t really your thing. Or Humans. Or Witches. Or pretty much anyone, ever.”

“It’s not that I don’t like others?—”

“It’s because of Sose,” he finished plainly. “I get it, Kade. Besides, ever since, you’ve all but barred us from marriage proposals.”

“No one should be forcing you into such an arrangement,” I defend. “Marriage is a large undertaking. Neither you nor Fee should be tied to someone you hate. You should be allowed to make the right choice.”

Climbing up the mountain, my eyes burn against the bright sunlight, the heat taxing us. With very little time to gather supplies, my siblings and I are at the mercy of the elements.

We don’t die from sunlight exposure like our citizens, but it will harm us if we stay out too long.

I didn’t think about that when chasing after the blood summoner on this insane plan. She’ll end up killed if I don’t follow and I need her alive.

“I know you weren’t given that choice.”

“No,” I agree, stepping over a rock. “And I care if you do. I’ve seen what an arranged marriage looks like from our parents. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Our mother, Serafina the First, died shortly after giving birth to Reid. He never met her. Some days, it hurts to know he’ll never know her laugh or her love, but it’s better he never saw how miserable she was in the Dark Court. How it drained her to live with our father, under his rule and abuse.

“You could have still told me about the bard.”

Clapping a hand on my shoulder, my brother nudges me. “Who are you truly mad at? Me, or the blood summoner?”

Rolling my eyes, I shrug him off. “Don’t push it, Reid.”

Laughing, he darts in front of me as I glance to the woman in question. She and the Witch are arguing, loudly, about her plan.

He’s worried, which I can understand. I don’t like the Witch but I can relate to his anxiety.

This whole trek is going to be fruitless. The Fury has already eaten the lord and we’ll be its next meal.

Max throws her hands up, fingers red. She’s not a fan of her friend today.

But my mind is stuck on the bard. Could she have love him? The Witch seemed to think so.

I’ve experienced love once. It’s a terrible thing to behold and then have it broken, taken from you without a second thought. Does she feel the same loss as me when reflecting? Does hearing the nameFinnickbreak her heart all over again?

The idea that he, a simple man with no skill, heard the intimate noises she makes when her orgasm crests, twists my heart. I’ve gone from seeing the blood summoner as a conquest, a cog in a machine to win a war, to now, hating that she would eventhinkof touching another man.

Not when I want to be the man she touches.

Gods. I rub my eyes, aggravation tightening my shoulders. What is happening to me? How has this slight thing, whocan barely walk up this incline without tripping, turn my beast feral and me into a yearning mess?

I kept my distance in the woods, to set my mind straight and restrain my beast. But once that lord tried to touch her—I saw red, my beast broke free and I wanted to spilt him into two as a message.

She’s mine. She’sonlymine.