Page 55 of Vow of the Undead (The Bloodrune Saga #1)

“Vampírkarl,” he said, his breath on the back of my neck as he propped the runestone on the shelf in front of me.

“ Vampírkarl: The Undying Witch .” I traced the runes that followed, my eyes flitting from one piece of the text to the next, trying to absorb the entire saga at once.

It spoke of a seer who prophesied the fall of her loved one in a combat called “Battle at Folkvangr’s Gate.

” Though I struggled with the next few runes, I understood the basics.

This witch trained as a warrior, perhaps a shieldmaiden, and then followed him into every battle, hoping that if she died in combat with him, they’d both be chosen to feast together in Valhalla.

“Lux,” King Drakkar said softly. He brushed a finger down the back of my arm.

When the witch saw her own afterlife was chosen by Freya for Folkvangr, she fought harder, trying to change this fate, hoping to be cut down by their enemies with a weapon still in her hand so that the Valkyries may deem her worthy to sit at Odin’s table.

As her lover died, she witnessed a Valkyrie, becoming the only person to have ever seen one of the warrior women.

She touched the bottom of the Valkyrie’s wings as the Valkyrie carried her lover to Valhalla.

“Lux.” His finger traced back up the line he’d drawn down my arm and his hand rubbed down my back. Slowly, he dragged his hand down my side until his fingers hooked around the bone at my hip. His grip grew firmer as he leaned his whole body into me.

My lips parted and my breath quickened as I deciphered the runes as fast as my mind could keep up.

The witch vowed she would not succumb to death until she figured out how to thwart their eternal separation, and having touched the Valkyrie, she gained the power to take a soul.

She could turn the near-dead into a state between living and death.

Existing. Undead. Goosebumps prickled over my shoulders and down my chest.

She created the first vampire to siphon immortality from—as long as they fed on humans.

She chose a friend who’d fallen in battle, a man bleeding out from an abdominal wound. A man named Kayn.

A gasp escaped me and my hand flew to my mouth. The saga ended with a line about the first vampire set apart from the rest. This vampire created all the rest, robbing warriors, shieldmaidens, innocent humans of the afterlife they’d fought for.

The next rune called Kayn the “king of monsters.”

It explained that he could only be unmade by a stake from the tree of Yggdrasil, the tree that this runestone said was branded into his skin—the mark of the first witch. A mark that said he was created by her power, according to the history.

With my eyes fluttering, the runes blurred in front of me. This was the source of the guilt he spoke of. And now he wanted me to do what he couldn’t. He wanted me to wake, track, and eradicate all the monsters he’d created. I already knew this, but not the addition that sank my heart .

My eyes flew over the runestone, absorbing the last lines explaining that when the first witch made Kayn undead, he’d lost his soul—a soul he could never get back.

But it said that he could take someone else’s soul as his own, if they unmade every monster he’d created.

Like he’d asked of me.

Like the Gods had asked of me, but Kayn had a vested interest. This wasn’t just about protection for the people of Midgard.

He didn’t care about humans. He didn’t care about me, only what he could get from me. If I followed through with this, he could take my damn soul.

Anger burned hot in the base of my belly.

Kayn was gambling with my entire existence, my afterlife.

“Lux,” King Drakkar demanded my attention as he grasped my arm and forced me to spin and face him. Shoving me back against the only smooth wall in the library, he seemed to enjoy pinning me against cold stone.

My back slammed against the stone and I couldn’t stop what came out of my mouth. “That hurts. Fuck!”

He tilted his head, a wild and hungry look glazing his icy eyes. “That’s exactly what I want to do.” I looked away, not giving him the satisfaction of my focus. “You seem to have forgotten our deal. You asked a question, and I answered.”

“No, I—” I snapped my mouth shut. I’d asked about the rune I did not know. Annoyed at the interruption, I quickly stretched my neck and pressed my lips against his.

When I cut the kiss short, his mouth twitched. “Oh no, my curious little killer got everything she could have asked for, now it is my turn. This room is full with as many answers as I can possibly give you. I did tell you, I’d give you every answer I can.”

“For a price.”

“If you want to look at it that way. Really, you’re the one benefitting. ”

“Am I?”

He smiled wickedly. “You’ll see. I have a taste for you now.”

I should have retched, should have spit in his face, should have fought the monster pinning me to the wall.

These were nearly the words Sten had threatened me with.

Except King Drakkar’s words weren’t a threat, and for some reason, I wanted to know what he’d say next.

Perhaps because he always said exactly what he wanted.

His grin held steady as his eyes searched my face. “You’ve been teasing me with these kisses.”

“You asked for them?—”

He slammed his mouth against mine, silencing me with his lips. When he pulled back, it was just enough that when he moved his mouth, his lips nearly brushed mine. His forehead gently pressed against my brow. “I asked for you . Because I really don’t want to have to kill you.”

My breath stalled. He lifted his free hand and dragged his thumb over my bottom lip, parting my lips so that he could kiss me openly again.

He finally allowed me to breathe when he spoke again, his voice ragged, full of craving, and drenched in desperation. “How else am I to convince you to marry me?”

I drew in a breath, gathering courage with the fresh air in my lungs. “You’re so arrogant that you think your mouth will make me forget that you murder innocent people?”

He only chuckled and his hand fell to my hip again.

He dragged it down, down the back of my thigh.

“I suppose you’re right, this is a weak excuse to have you.

” When he tilted his head again, his eyes narrowed.

“And Lux, I will have you. But I know you admire honesty, so allow me to confess that I do hope that this helps change your mind.”

“I’ve already kissed you.”

“And now I must have more.”

I stooped to reach for the stake at my thigh, but something stupid crawled at the edges of my mind and stopped me halfway. He looked down at my hand and smirked.

Why did I want him to touch me again? Only a day ago I’d been in Kayn’s arms, only giving my lips to him and by choice, but now I couldn’t even think of Kayn without gritting my teeth.

The king of monsters didn’t deserve me, not after he’d kept the real reason he wanted my help from me.

A sudden ache flared in my chest. I thought I could trust him, but he’d only wanted to use me.

To wipe away thoughts of Kayn and ease the ache, I parted my lips and tilted them to the king’s mouth.

“There’s more,” I said when I broke the kiss. He only laughed and shook his head, a wicked smile bent across his face.

Slowly, he gathered my skirts in his fist, pulling it up higher and higher until my thigh was exposed.

His hand slipped under the fabric and closed over the stake bound to my leg.

Another chuckle rumbled in his chest as he gripped the stake.

“Clever girl.” His arm flexed as he pulled at the stake, yanking the silver chain that’d held it in place.

“I will take what I am owed, and that was in the way.”

For one horrible second the chain link dug so deeply in the soft flesh at the back of my thigh that I had to swallow a scream.

Finally, the chain snapped and he threw the stake on the ground behind him.

It rolled across the rug and clattered on the stone by the far wall.

The back of my thigh stung where the chain had ripped along my skin.

He seemed to sense this because his cool hand quickly found its way to my thigh again. He cupped the raw flesh, his fingers a relief against the burn. I sucked in a few quick breaths as shame wriggled in my gut for relishing his touch after he was the one who’d caused the pain.

Tilting his face to me, he closed his mouth over mine as if quieting my rapid breaths.

He gripped the side of my thigh and squeezed so hard a yelp escaped me.

“Good,” he whispered. “I wanted you to forget the feel of the weapon and instead remember my hand on you. Remember who you belong to, my wife.”

I jutted out my chin. “Funny, I don’t remember our wedding.”

“So you’re not a seer, but perhaps you can sense what’s coming next.” His hand brushed over the top of my thigh to the inside of my leg. He turned it over and dragged two fingers along my core, eliciting another gasp from me.

Before I knew what was happening, he dropped to his knees in front of me and shoved my skirts up.

Breath caught in my throat and my entire body stiffened as his tongue followed the same path his fingers had just trailed.

He licked along the sensitive center between my thighs.

I breathed faster and faster, my heart pounding, my entire body flush with goosebumps.

Desperate to hold onto anything, my fingers plunged into his hair, pulling it loose from its knot.

His tongue swirled over me from a new angle each time and it left me feeling intoxicated as the sensitivity built and built.

I gripped the bundle of his hair tighter and tighter in my fist until my fingers ached.

His two fingers found my core again where they split me and dipped inside.

I sucked in a breath and threw my head back, forgetting the stone wall behind me.

I hardly registered knocking the back of my skull against stone, too entranced by the feeling building within me.

Tension climbed up inside me, begging to be released.

I whimpered, involuntarily giving voice to this begging.

His fingers slipped out and he pulled back for what I thought was a breath. Instead, he stood and he lifted his fingers that’d been inside me only moments ago. They glistened wet against the flickering light of the torch. He dipped them inside his mouth while he watched for my reaction.

My chest heaved as I imagined his fingers not between his lips, but deep inside me again. He slowly pulled his fingers out and his mouth curved into a grin.

His eyes lingered on my heaving chest until he tilted his head and whispered into my ear. “Don’t look so surprised, Lux. A kiss is a kiss.” He pulled back, his eyes consuming me. “And now you know what it feels like to be teased.”