Page 59 of Vow of the Undead (The Bloodrune Saga #1)

That moment was etched into my memory forever. Her little fist holding the doll. The executioner lifting her off the ground by her hair .

The blade at her throat.

They hadn’t killed her, but my father insisted she was dead. That they’d beheaded her when they dragged her away. I didn’t know what to believe, but I chose to forget her. It was supposed to be the safest choice.

Twenty years ago, the executioners came for me, but they took her. King Roderic had called for the capture and execution of a young witch with dark eyes, more powerful than the others.

I was weak, selfish, evil , and I sentenced her to a lifetime of this .

Sourness bubbled in my throat. Black dots spotted my vision but I blinked and refused to succumb to the swaying in my head. I would not let my knees buckle. I would not be weak again.

Astrid clucked her tongue as she stared down at Dante. “What a waste of time,” she said. “If you boys had just listened to me, he wouldn’t have to spend the next few months healing.”

“If I don’t burn him,” King Drakkar growled.

Astrid only rolled her eyes. “Whatever. A waste is a waste.”

“Astrid,” Sten said. “We had to act before the rest of the council returned.”

She shook her head, her look deadpan. “I love you Sten, but you’re a fucking idiot. I told you both to wait for me to retrieve her first.”

“You were taking too long,” he spoke through his teeth.

“I arrived precisely on time.” She tipped her head to the side, shifting her gaze to Drak. “Isn’t that right, my king ?”

“I know what you’re doing Astrid,” Drak said. His fists flexed and released, flexed and released. It was taking every ounce of his control not to attack. And why didn’t he? Because they were part of the council and she was not coming after him like Dante had?

Astrid’s messy hair stayed in place as she dropped her head back and laughed. Silver winced and tried to pull away from her but Astrid tugged her back and then shoved her forward. Stumbling into Drak, Silver could not catch herself with her hands roped behind her back.

I lunged for her but Drak was faster. With his eyes still locked on Astrid, he stooped to catch Silver in his arms. She fell into his chest and he righted her easily.

I stood at his side, unsure if I wanted to reach out to give Silver a reassuring touch. Everything seemed to cause her to flinch. The poor child.

No, she was twenty-six, the same age as me. We were no longer children, but she was just as terrified and I was…just as selfish. I’d successfully pushed her from my mind. For twenty years, I willfully forgot the real Silver.

When they stole her away, I stole her name, her identity, her life.

My father said it would keep us all safe, that the Grimward wouldn’t come back looking for the black-eyed witch if they believed they’d already executed her.

So I forgot Lux. I became Silver.

I hid behind her name just as I hid behind the hatch door under our shared bed.

Everything within me wanted to brush my fingers over her face, to twine my hand with hers.

We used to fall asleep holding hands, snuggling for warmth and for the love we’d shared since birth.

Even if she wasn’t a witch, she honored the Gods just as much and our mother raised us the same, secretly, with the truth of our ancestors and the Allfather who created us all.

I’d follow in my mother’s footsteps as a seerborn, and Silver was supposed to be right there with me, gathering supplies for sacrifice, watching for the eyes in the darkness that lurked after me and our mother.

She’d always helped protect me, but I didn’t do the same for her when the time came.

“So,” Astrid said, folding her arms now that her hands were free of Silver. “I trust that you don’t need your little seer wife to tell you what will come next?” Her smooth plump lips cracked into a crescent smile. Her eyes slid to me.

Drak stiffened. “You let Silver out to fuck with me?”

I flicked my attention up at the king. His gaze slid between Astrid and Sten.

Astrid’s laugh radiated like the clang of metal on metal.

“Did I even need to let her out for that? Your betrothed would find out eventually.” Turning her gold eyes on me, they flashed red.

“What is your name anyway?” I opened my mouth, unsure if I would actually tell her when she cut me off.

“Actually, I don’t care as long as your little betrothed kills you.

Which I have no doubt she’ll do now that she’s seen what you’ve done to her sister. ”

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” he breathed. “Lux isn’t just a witch.”

Astrid’s brows peaked. “You think I don’t know? She’s the huntress. Those hideous eyes prove it. The black ink of Odin’s runes is written into her very soul.”

I drew a jagged breath. Even Astrid knew more than I did about my Calling.

The courtiers and council members knew the real history.

They knew of the Gods. It was never about believing Odin and Freya didn’t exist, it was about hiding the truth.

Like King Drakkar, I suspected they all wanted to be Gods—in control.

The witch hunts, exiling anyone who dared breathe Odin’s name was evidence of this.

Evidence I should have seen a long time ago.

But as much as I wanted to be, I was never truly a seer. Not like my mother. I was never selfless enough to see into the past, into the future, for the good of the people of Vylheim and all of Midgard.

Silver shuffled away from King Drakkar, but his hand shot out and wrapped around her arm. His hold was so tight her skin turned white.

I seethed. “Drak, what’s going on? ”

Astrid swept her eyes over me. “Don’t you see, girl? Your king has kept your sweet twin sister imprisoned and tortured. He could have released her when he took King Roderic’s throne, but he didn’t. In fact, he ordered for her lips to be sewn shut.”

Pain lanced through my chest. My heart ached with every erratic beat as my gaze sliced from her to the king.

“Is this true?” I whispered, unable to find the energy behind my voice.

His jaw flexed and it was enough for me to understand. Even still, he confirmed it, and King Drakkar never lied. “Yes. Your sister is unstable?—”

“No.” I shook my head and stepped back. Silver’s eyes darted from me to him. The poor girl. My sister never deserved this. “What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s been here all this time and you let me believe you actually cared about me? All while you kept my sister trapped.”

His voice dropped low and curled with menace. “She’s unstable.”

I scoffed. “Like your mother? Do you torture that poor woman too?” Like Silver, I’d shoved Drak’s mother out of my mind. I’d locked away the pieces of this world I wanted to forget, and I’d done it successfully.

This was my greatest skill and the only way I survived—selfishly ignoring the people who suffered the most. I was so good at it that I didn’t even think of her when I kissed her son. When I let myself enjoy it, and almost enjoy him.

I was even more fucked up than I wanted to admit.

“I don’t torture anyone,” he said.

“Right, you just kill them and then taste their blood.” I nodded, mouth twisted into a grimace.

King Drakkar turned to me, towering over me. Like Astrid’s, his eyes shifted from icy blue to gold, then red in a blink. “Silver wants my throne.”

A strange laugh escaped me. “What? ”

“She’s threatened to take it many times?—”

“Is that why you sewed her mouth shut? So you wouldn’t have to hear it?

” I wanted to reach for her and rip her from his arms, but she was already so frightened, like a small rabbit, cowering in the claws of a wolf.

And even if I could take her, what would Sten and Astrid do?

What would King Drakkar do? My stake was discarded by the servant’s door and my pendant couldn’t take all three of them down.

Not without the element of surprise that my burning blood had given me in the woods against Astrid and Sten.

“She can compel vampires too.”

“You’re fucking sick,” I spat.

“It’s my throne, Lux.” He spoke clearly, unafraid of upsetting me now. He didn’t care for me, he never had. All he cared about was his fucking throne and claiming a wife to sit on it with him.

My stomach knotted at the thought of what he did to me on that throne. What I wanted him to do.

“Let her go,” I said.

He shoved past me, pushing Silver forward with him. “I can’t do that.”

Astrid’s laugh boiled in my blood. I gritted my teeth and glared at her as she waved her hand toward King Drakkar as if to present him to me. Sten had shuffled to his partner’s side.

King Drakkar hissed at her as he passed by. “I’ll deal with you two when I return.”

“Good luck,” Astrid said. “The rest of the council has returned. We’ll be tied up with the Blood Council for hours after you beheaded Dante.”

He cursed under his breath as he marched toward the door, my sister still in his grasp. I ran after him, stopping in front of the doors to block his exit. “No way in hell are you going to lock her back up.”

Astrid’s laugh echoed again.

“You can’t stop me,” he said .

“I won’t marry you.”

He cursed again, shouting so loud this time it made my sister jump.

“It’s too late, Lux. You’ll be my wife tomorrow.

I told you, at first light you will either marry me or I’ll kill you.

The council is returning before the sun, and they’re expecting the end of the huntress just like I am, whether that’s through binding yourself to me or your death. ”

“I came here to destroy you.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. I couldn’t help it. Seeing my sister flinching away, his fingers holding her with such force her pale arm was already bruising.

“You’re buying right into what Astrid wants. She wants us to kill each other so she can take over.”

“Because everyone wants your throne?”

“Yes.”

I stood my ground. “Then add my sister to the deal. I’ll give up the Gods and on becoming the huntress if you let her go too.”

He released a string of curses this time. “You’re fucking impossible. That’s not happening, Lux. We already agreed on the deal and Silver is not part of it. Unless you want to add her to my deal? Marry me or you both die.”

My heart lurched. Cold fear curled around it and slowly crystalized in my veins. Everything hurt. I could have accepted my own death, but her’s? After a lifetime of suffering? I couldn’t allow that.

King Drakkar tilted his head, throwing his chin out to direct me to the side with a mere flick of his head. “Now get out of my way or I’ll be forced to imprison you too.”

I could not move. Even if the smart decision would be to stab him with the pendant and run for the stake, I could not do it.

My eyes fixed on my sister and I only thought of her.

I would not risk scaring her more. What would King Drakkar do to her if I attacked him?

I opened my mouth to compel him but I could not even do that.

Exhaustion stripped me down more naked than I had been bared before the king.

Then, I was only without clothes. Now at the vampire king’s whims, I was vulnerable, broken down to my bones.

Exhausted or not, I remained upright. Here in front of the king, at the threshold of his throne room, I stood my ground.

I only moved when he grabbed my arm and forced me to move.

When he dragged me to my bedchambers.

And then when I crawled to the door after he tossed me to the ground inside the room. A lock slid shut on the outside.