The Blood Crown (The Blood Folk #2)

23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

S he would have recognized that sound anywhere.

Aurelia turned, already knowing what she would see.

Phosphorescent green eyes lit up the dark as a hulking shape emerged from the corner of the room.

The Fengul prowled the distance between her and the door, eyes blazing green, a low snarl rumbling through her chest as it stalked closer to where she gripped the bars of Karro’s cell—frozen.

In the dim light, she could see a latticework of scars across its leathery hide, a slight limp in its hind leg . . .

But it had been a mistake to take her eyes from it as the Fengul lunged for her.

Her magick answered in response. Gold and white branches of power ripped from her, arcing toward the creature as its green eyes shifted to her hand, coming to a halt as it crouched low. Not the snarling, raging beast it had been.

Lightning set it aflame. A torch in the pitch black of the dungeon.

The beast screamed in pain, swiveling its head to pin her with the unnatural green fire raging in its stare as its hide went up like tinder.

Whimpering . . . that was the sound carrying across the black stone floors.

Those things had hunted her, had killed her father, but for all the disgust and hatred she felt—the cloying taste of pity welled up in her throat . . . It had been trapped here just like them.

They all had names once.

But there was no time for pity. There was only survival.

And so she watched the Fengul writhe in agony as its hide was consumed by her magick, crackling in the heat as it disintegrated into ash.

And she could have sworn, in those final moments—relief flickered across the death hound's eyes as it fell to the floor and dissolved into dust.

The stench of sulfur filled the already stale air of the dungeon, choking Aurelia as she wrenched the heavy lock from Karro’s cell. The door swung open with a rusty creak as she dropped to her knees.

“Karro,” she hissed.

His wounds from weeks ago were still caked in old blood. Festering. The smell of infection soured the air. Pale—he was so pale. They’d starved him. Those bastards had starved him of blood since they’d been taken captive.

His head rolled to the side as she tried to prop him up, putting her fingers to his neck.

A pulse. Faint, but still there. Alive.

Lifting her wrist to her mouth, she pierced her skin, pressing her arm to his mouth.

He was unresponsive, the sound of his shallow breaths the only thing giving her hope. Pressing his mouth harder against her skin, she whispered, “Drink, you son of a bitch. Today is not the day you die.”

A featherlight brush made her breath catch. So faint, that she wondered if she’d imagined it.

She let out a strangled sob as she felt the sweep of Karro’s tongue. A heartbeat later, his mouth opened wider, the fangs on either side piercing her arm.

Every draw he took was longer than the last, until he was gripping her arm to his mouth like a man dying of thirst.

Lucidity slowly came back into his ruby eyes as they met hers through the gloom of the cell—widening with panic.

He shoved away from her. “Ari—what did you . . .” He wiped a hand across his mouth with a curse. The puncture marks along her forearm already sealing up as she glanced down in confusion. “Fucking Fate,” he said, wiping at his mouth again. “Ven will never forgive me for that.”

She looked at him incredulously, “Would you have preferred I let you die down here?” she hissed.

“You’ve only been one of us for a short while—you wouldn’t understand,” he answered with a groan as he got to his feet, his movements stiff with disuse. He shook his head, “No taking it back now.”

"Fucking males," she uttered under her breath, bracing an arm under his shoulders and hefting his considerable weight onto herself.

She carried them toward the door, Karro doing his best to mask his grimaces, sputtering curses as her hand pressed into his ribs to keep him steady. Some color was coming back to him, but he’d need more blood if they were going to fight their way out of here.

Both of their heads snapped up as voices carried down the stairs, echoing outside the thick iron door.

"Regretting that I gave you my blood now?" Aurelia hissed.

Karro swallowed. "Ask me that after we find Ven."

She led them behind the door, easing Karro against the wall.

“Three, maybe four,” he breathed from beside her.

The footsteps in the stairwell grew louder. The pounding in her chest drowning out nearly every other sound as the door shrieked on rusted hinges and all hell broke loose.

Karro lunged at the first guard that entered, slamming his head back against the wall as the other three guards tried to barrel through.

Aurelia heaved the heavy door shut, hearing the distinct snap of bone as another guard screamed in pain. But it was only a moment before the other two pushed the door open once more, throwing their comrade aside as one tried to subdue Karro and the other reached for Aurelia.

A flash of white flooded the room as branches of lightning turned the pale blue veins at the guard’s neck gold and silver, the stench of seared flesh filling the dungeon. The male restraining Karro whipped his head around just before she unleashed her power on him as well.

When the smoke cleared, there were only charred remains. Smears of blood and a fine mist of red that coated Karro where he knelt on the floor, his breathing labored. And she realized what it must have cost him to fight back when he hadn’t fed in weeks, still injured from the silver sirens they’d encountered in the forest.

She put a slippered foot onto the only guard left unscathed from her magick, hefting the sword from his dead body.

"Well," she glanced at Karro, tilting her head toward the body, “now would be the time to take your fill.”

Karro looked up at her, nose wrinkling in disgust as he tossed her the guard's boots. “I would have preferred him prettier, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Their footsteps were hushed as they made their way up the dark stairwell.

Karro’s strength had returned to him, but they hadn’t been lucky enough to find the key that opened his shackles—she didn’t have the nerve to tell him how she’d managed to rid herself of her own. Still, he could wield a broadsword well enough.

The hazy gloom of the upper level appeared before them, and Karro took a tentative step into the corridor, jerking his chin toward Aurelia as she followed closely behind.

Without warning, Karro sliced the blade through the air, leveling it at the shadows behind them.

A voice made of silk and ice cut through the darkness.

“Impressive.”

Aurelia’s stomach sank as she whirled to face the sound.

Valea’s sharp, beautiful face was awash in the torchlight. “I wasn’t sure you had the balls to do it,” she uttered, her red lips twisted into a smirk as a row of guards fanned out behind her, flanking them on either side.

The clash of metal rang out in the corridor like a bell as Karro brought his blade crashing down. Valea blocked the cut, two wickedly sharp daggers in her hands and a gleam in her eye that seemed to suggest she was enjoying it.

A guard lunged for him as he blocked another strike, and he kicked her in the chest, sending her toppling into the two behind.

Another handful circled Aurelia, and she swung wildly with the sword she'd stolen off one of the dead guards. She made wide, sweeping arcs—drawing blood from at least a few of them, but she was untrained and unskilled with the heavy weapon, and soon they closed in on her. A hand wrenched her wrist, sending the sword clattering onto the floor.

Karro fought like a caged beast, but even his brute strength was no match against so many. He was brought stumbling to his knees, the broadsword kicked from his hand and a blow that would have caved in a normal man’s face with a final, deafening crunch.

Aurelia reached for her magick, feeling the gathering heat in her palms—but the guards grasped her hands, cold metal clamping around her wrists, the bite of the venom coated spikes cutting into her skin like a dozen sharp claws.

Valea’s carnelian eyes widened as metal plinked to the floor.

With a single graceful motion, she swept the ruby ring into her palm, along with the last shred of hope that Aurelia possessed.