The Blood Crown (The Blood Folk #2)

17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

D ays bled into nights inside the belly of Mountveil.

Roheer had only been the first of the rebels discovered within the court, and each night more traitors were brought forward and more justice doled out.

Ven seemed to collapse in on himself. Something like resignation in the set of his shoulders as night after night, Aurelia was brought before the court, a silent reminder of what would happen should he refuse his father’s orders.

Ven was no stranger to killing, but a foe who could not fight back was no true opponent. There was no glory in what he was tasked to do every night. No valor. And she knew what it cost him to use his gift—to pry the thoughts from the traitors’ minds. Enemies or not, it was a violation.

Some broke in moments, their eyes going vacant with a single glance. Others were stronger, taking Ven minutes or hours to wring the truth from them.

Though she would never voice the thought aloud she, too, was beginning to feel the despair of remaining here. And with every passing day, she lost hope that they would find a way out of this place.

The last of the rebels had been rooted out tonight, an entire bloodline ended as the king declared that their kingdom was free from vermin at last. But even the sycophants of his court couldn’t seem to bring themselves to revel after the bloodshed they’d all witnessed.

More humans were brought into the chamber, shambling forward with hazy eyes, and the Nostari tore into them, all pretense of civility gone in moments.

Aurelia glanced at the faces, hoping that a pair of hazel eyes were not amongst the ones led out to slaughter. But even if it wasn’t tonight, it was only a matter of time before the young woman with the chestnut-colored skin succumbed to the same fate.

And she couldn’t have said why it mattered—why she cared about the stranger . . . But she sent up a silent thanks to the Unnamed—or Fate or whatever god willed it, for every night she did not see her.

The guards at her side released her, leaving her to take their fill of blood as they did every night.

They’d grown lax. She was a half-breed, after all. A parfodai . And what need was there to watch someone who wasn’t a threat?

Moving toward the edge of the room, she melted into one of the dark corners where the torchlight and wandering eyes would not find her, until at last she ducked under the doorway leading to the tunnels.

Valea’s warning echoed in her mind—but there was no room left for cowardice.

Her heart pounded as she paused at every roughly hewn opening, peering into the spidering pathways that descended into darkness. Whatever guards might have been stationed throughout the fortress must have left their posts at the scent of fresh blood, but it wouldn’t be long before they would return.

She smelled the air, searching for the scent that had assaulted her when she’d been thrown into the dungeons. Stale, stagnant. A place where things were discarded and forgotten.

Stairs plunged into pitch black at the next branch. A gloom that was so thick, she wondered if she reached out that she could touch it. And the smell . . . the smell tumbled her back into that dark abyss.

Here—Karro was here. She knew it in her bones. And if she could find a way to free him, they could both get Ven and finally leave this fucking place.