Page 64 of Vow of the Undead (The Bloodrune Saga #1)

W ith the rest of the vampires giving Kayn a wide berth, and the king and Astrid locked in a wild and relentless fight, we were free to run. At least in the seconds that Silver’s control still focused on Ylva.

Human guests were frozen with shock, their mouths hanging open as they witnessed the bloodshed unfold. Their minds likely couldn’t catch up with the scene of monsters, and I didn’t blame them. Vampires had kept their secrets close.

The door groaned as Kayn shoved it open and pulled me out of the throne room along with him. The hem of my wedding dress collected dirt, darkening the edges until I looked less and less like the bride King Drakkar demanded.

Guards shouted at us to stop from where they were posted at the front of the keep. I pivoted. Switching now, I led Kayn away from the castle’s main entrance. We could escape through the tunnel in King Drakkar’s room.

My sister wouldn’t be aware of it, and for now, she was the greatest threat, even if my mind wanted to reject every part of this. I’d come to save her. She’d come to kill me. And of course she did, because my attempt to rescue her was too little, and far too late.

The labyrinthine halls swallowed us in a maze of stone. I navigated the path with Kayn at my heels. Footsteps echoed behind us. I didn’t know who I expected to see pursuing us. My sister? Or the vampires.

We ducked into a room, Kayn pulling me into the shadows behind the door and between the wall and a massive wardrobe.

Falling silent, we barely breathed as the footsteps stopped at the door.

Kayn positioned himself in front of me, ready to take down whatever vampire dared to face him now.

When the footsteps faded, we emerged from the room and I led the way this time, guiding Kayn to the king’s wing where we could escape through the tunnel.

If one of the vampires followed us, I prayed they didn’t know of it.

And if my sister did, we’d surely lose her.

In the king’s bedchambers, I paused over the rug.

“What are you doing?” He asked, looking at me and then back to the fireplace. “We have to keep moving until Odin grants you his gift.”

I pointed between my feet. “The king’s mother is trapped here.”

Kayn’s eyes shot to my feet. “Ingrid?”

My stomach dropped. The king’s mother was the last chosen witch before me? But…

Before I could respond, the door flung open and the king stormed into the room.

Instead of coming for me, he crossed the space in a single blink and slammed Kayn against the wall beside the fireplace, his hand at Kayn’s throat.

In his other hand, he gripped the dagger he’d used to roughly hack Dante’s head from his shoulders.

Sickness sloshed in my gut as clarity hit.

He intended to decapitate Kayn and without having recently fed on a human, Kayn didn’t stand a chance.

They were both created by the first witch’s power and should have been equally matched, if Kayn wasn’t honorable.

If he’d never cut off his fangs and existed on a diet like mine, he could fight off the king—now he relied on me.

“All you have to do is answer the Call. One more step, Lux.”

The last step to come into my full power. The last step to become the huntress chosen by Loki, Freya, and Odin. The last step to end life as I knew it.

I traced my forefinger down the rough ash, the wood splintered where Kayn had ripped the branch in half. All I had to do was drive the stake through the king’s back, straight into his heart and it’d all be over. I’d be free and Kayn saved. So why the hell wasn’t I burying it between his ribs?

A guttural groan escaped from Kayn as his resistance waned. The king pressed the blade into his throat and the pure white gold singed Kayn’s skin. With every second the cursed metal pressed into him, the weaker he grew.

“It was you who made her a monster,” King Drakkar breathed over him.

“Wasn’t it? The Exile who needed her help.

I should have known the moment I saw you with her at the Forsaken Hall.

Ever the dutiful servant to Odin. It’s a shame I didn’t pay closer attention until I saw the other vampires giving you space the way they do me. You’re their true king.”

King Drakkar leaned in closer, his fangs bared at Kayn, his eyes fiery red and boring into him.

In a desperate attempt, Kayn shoved him away, but the king was just as strong.

“But you’re in my kingdom and when I told my wife to run, I never intended it to be with you.

And since you were the first vampire, made by the same power Silver has now, do you know what that means? ”

Kayn grunted.

The king didn’t let up on Kayn’s throat long enough for him to respond. He kept him pinned, and answered his own question. “It means I don’t need that damn tree’s stake to destroy you. Unlike everyone else, I can kill you with my bare hands. ”

Kayn could die.

He was going to die if I didn’t do something. Anything.

I raised my arm, gripping the stake tighter and tighter until my fingers ached, all thought of the life I was accepting forgotten at the sight of pain twisting Kayn’s mouth.

I charged forward and brought my arm down just the way he’d taught me, with the same arc I’d done a thousand times in the shadowy hours practicing with Kayn among the graves.

Stake to heart.

King Drakkar dropped the dagger and whipped around before I brought it down.

Behind him, Kayn sank to the floor, his hand at his throat where the curse scarred him.

The king’s hand wrapped around my wrist and yanked me closer to him, the stake still tipped to the center of his chest. All I had to do was push.

One push and I’d destroy the man I was supposed to marry today.

I had the strength to overpower him, thanks to Odin.

Kayn groaned from beneath us, free of the threat but still weak from where the gold drained him.

The king’s icy eyes glittered with an unknown emotion.

Hatred? Fear? No, the flex of his jaw and curve of his mouth said otherwise.

He was the same cruel vampire who wanted to claim me as his wife.

Facing the end of his existence did nothing to change the cold hard confidence that shaped every firm angle of his face.

“Don’t give in to the Gods, Lux.”

A laugh escaped me at this blatant lie.

“Listen to me!” His rough voice cut me like a jagged blade.

I didn’t want to listen anymore. All I’d wanted was the truth, the lost history, to say the Gods’ names aloud without fear of executioners, but I was done with it all, ready to become what they intended the moment they sent my mother the vision of the Call.

“Why don’t you find out for yourself? Compel me, Lux.

This truth I’ll be forced to give you. But I’m already telling you, the council is at odds.

Astrid and Sten and Dante went astray from Ylva and Darius.

They let Silver out and now everything hinges on you marrying me. ”

Another empty laugh burst out of me. He closed the distance between us.

Not touching me, he beared down on me with only his presence, his eyes intense and his face inches from mine.

“Fuck if the Gods are listening, Lux, the vampires are preparing for war. I’m sure of it now, and neither side will win, because if the vampires are the victors, truth will only be restricted more. ”

“And if the humans win?”

“The Gods will have free reign to use you in their games.”

Of course he didn’t trust the Gods, he was a creature cut off from them. It was impossible for him to understand humanity’s connection to Odin because he wasn’t created by him. The vampires were created by the first witch, and then the king of monsters. This much I knew of the lost history now.

But none of that brought Silver back to me, and it made my stomach revolt and anger burn at the pit. I shook my head as I gave him a hollow smile. “You threatened to kill me and my sister. Why shouldn’t I destroy you right now?”

“Because I’m the only thing standing between the Blood Council and the humans. Everything they do is to protect our source of sustenance.”

Like the executioners. I’d always felt how wrong it was that we couldn’t even defend ourselves without the executioners being sent to cut us down.

“I don’t need you. I’ll kill them too?—-”

“Because you’re chosen. I know. But killing the vampires won’t free you.” He pressed a finger to my brow. “The Gods already have you, and when the vampires are gone, they’ll have everyone. It’s all about control.”

“No, the Gods don’t control me, they grant me power. You control me, your executioners control everyone, and why? ”

“For the blood source.”

I huffed and swallowed back a swell of bile.

Even pinned, he showed no fear of me. Only a strange sadness swam in his eyes.

“What about my sister?” I asked. “How is she part of all this?” As much as I needed to run, or to stake him, or to give in to this ache inside me and crumple to the floor, I still begged for answers. I still wanted the truth.

And after all this time, I was more lost than ever.

“They want to kill her but they can’t yet.

They fear her body can be used as a vessel by the first witch to reincarnate and control all vampires.

Just like yours. But this is a risk they’ll be willing to take to kill both of you and me, because they know that together we’re a threat to their way of life and they’ll go to war to keep their control.

If the lost history is accurate, none of the chosen have come this close since the war that left us with the wasteland. Lux, this means you’ve terrified them.”

The wasteland. The war. Each of these words frayed my nerves a little more each time I thought of them, but it was the mention of Silver’s death that struck dread in my heart.