Chapter 21 - Jael
Jael
XXI
I was still sitting on the floor when the curtain ruffled and four vampires strode in.
Hethyr and Pimmin jumped to their feet immediately, while Corban remained slumped where he was, lazily resisting whatever our enemy had come to do.
It wasn’t until I spotted Kalla’s crimson hair among the others that I slid my spine up the wall.
Had she come to kill me herself? I didn’t know if I hoped for it or feared it.
To finally learn what those fangs felt like sinking into my neck would be one last gift before the nothing took me, but to think she might carry the guilt of ending my life—to think that my death might haunt her for the rest of her long years… that would crush me.
Unless it wouldn’t haunt her. Unless my decision to choose the Coynfare had shifted whatever existed between us and she agreed that my death was the best way forward. In which case I couldn’t blame her. We both had our duty.
I pushed away from the wall to face her, standing straight and tall and summoning whatever courage remained to me.
The other vampires spread out, barring our way and leaving Kalla on her own in the centre of them.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and stepped forward, pretending I could protect my comrades from whatever wrath she was about to unleash.
Her blue gaze darted across my face, her pupils darkening, but it was the only reaction she gave to seeing me. I wondered what she was reading off me. Could she recognize my apology? My regret? My wish that I could have one more night with her? The one we’d shared had been far too short.
“Are you here with our sentence?” I asked without anger or accusation.
“Try to tear my throat out, fucking fangers,” Corban spat from the floor. “I’ll take at least a few of you down with me before you do.”
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath, wishing one of these vampires would kill him so I didn’t need to listen to him anymore. At the very least, I hoped he was the first to go so I could enjoy my last few moments in peace.
Kalla didn’t so much as acknowledge him, and when I opened my eyes again, I found her attention firmly on me. “We’re here to get you out.”
The world swam around me, and I squeezed my hands at my sides. “You’re what?”
She didn’t repeat herself, but the determined glint in her eyes made me confident I hadn’t misheard her.
“Why?”
The changes in her face were minor, so much so I doubted I would have noticed if I hadn’t become familiar with her various expressions over the past few days.
The tightening around her mouth, the shift of her jaw, the tautness of her throat—they spoke of pain she was striving to hold back.
But when she spoke, her voice was strong.
“I saved your life. To let you die now would be an insult to my efforts.” That wasn’t all of it, but she took a moment to compose herself before continuing.
“Thorn gave permission for you to stay if you wanted to.”
My stomach dropped. I could have stayed. If I were a stronger man, I could have stayed.
“Since you don’t…” she continued. “Well, even if we hadn’t been ordered to kill you, I wouldn’t want you to stay because you have no other options.
I’d rather… I’d rather you stayed because, out of all the options, that’s the one you chose.
” Her last words came out strangled, and she trailed off to clear her throat.
“As that’s not the case, then the least I can do is help you as much as I can. ”
Corban snorted, and at the sound, Cliff rolled his eyes skywards. I empathized. Corban was set on making everything unpleasant for everyone. But now I had to hope they didn’t kill him. If we actually had a chance to take Brynna down, we needed him. Curse the skies that we did.
I reached for Kalla’s hand, but she drew back and gestured to the others. “This is Cliff, Ria, and Birch. They’ll be putting themselves on the line to help you, so if any of you value your lives, you will cooperate and not make this difficult for us, do you understand?”
I turned to the others. Hethyr and Pimmin nodded without hesitation, both appearing stunned by the turn of our fates.
Corban glowered at the vampires until Pimmin kicked him in the leg, then he scowled.
“Yeah, sure, fine. But know that if you turn on us, I’ll fight back.
This could just be some fanger trick to fuck with us. ”
“If they wanted to fuck with us, Corban, they’d turn us into dinner right now,” Hethyr shot at him. He gritted his teeth but didn’t argue. With a shake of her head, she turned back to the vampires. “We promise. Whatever you say.”
Kalla dropped her chin. “Then be ready to move.”
Cliff returned our weapons, and we strapped them on without another word. Corban seemed to debate drawing his broadsword, but one glance my way and he thought better of it.
I had no idea what Kalla’s plan might be. By the sounds of it, the party continued right outside our room. It wasn’t like she could sneak us out. And as soon as anyone noticed we were missing, they would know who was involved.
“Kalla.” I hated our audience, knowing both fae and vampire ears would hear anything I said no matter how softly I said it. “You don’t have to do this. Your family…”
Her stare hardened. “My family will have to forgive me. And they will.” She turned towards the door. “In time.”
They would as long as the fury remained safe and we kept our mouths shut about what we’d seen here.
I’d make sure we did. If by some miracle we survived the run-in with the royal guards and the princess, I would ensure none of us uttered a word about the secret under the mountains, and I’d send a prayer to the skies that anyone else who came close had an encounter with the dragons lurking above.
But what was the point of telling her that?
Either she already believed it, which was why she was taking this chance, or she never would.
All I could do was pay attention so we didn’t miss our cue.
“What are we waiting for?” Corban demanded as the pause stretched out.
Cliff squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers twitching at his sides.
Kalla’s nostrils pinched with a sharp inhale. “Our way to open.”
Ria and Birch exchanged an uncertain glance, and my stomach twisted. What had they done? I couldn’t see them planning anything that would harm their fury, but obviously they’d readied some kind of distraction. Curiosity nagged at me, but I kept my mouth shut and waited.
Gradually, the sounds of revelry faded, until all that was left were a few soft mutters and—was that a snore?
Cliff nodded to Birch, who left the room first. Ria followed and stuck her arm back in a moment later to beckon us forward.
“Here we go,” Kalla murmured, and stood aside to let us go first.
“What—” I started.
“Sleeping draught in the blood supply,” she said, her voice cold. “It won’t last long, so we need to move quickly.”
To his credit, not even Corban dragged his feet as we hurried out of the room and into the tunnel, though he remained wary when we turned into the large cavern.
Even I wasn’t sure I believed our escape would be so easy.
I’d known Kalla for a few days. It was possible everything I’d learned about her had been a lie and even while she accused me of being the trickster, she was the one playing the dual face.
But when we reached the main room, all I found were vampires slumped against walls or lying curled around each other on the floor. A few were still awake, but their eyes were glazed, their stares directed at the ceiling as sleep dragged them under.
We moved with ingrained fae stealth, our footsteps silent across the stone. A shiver ran down my spine as Hethyr pulled on her magic, gently drawing the shadows around us to help us blend in where the candles hanging from the ceiling didn’t cast their light.
Even so, I caught the gaze of the vampire in the chair across the room.
Thorn sat with her head propped on her hand, her posture so slouched it was obvious she fought sleep the same as everyone else.
Yet her grey stare was sharp when it landed on me, and I prayed to the sun Kalla wouldn’t come to harm because of her actions.
She didn’t seem to notice that her leader had spotted us. With resolute focus, she ushered us into a tunnel leading towards outside, and we broke into a jog.
Before we could get too far away from the cavern, Cliff stopped at the front of the line. Corban skidded to a halt behind him, his teeth bared, and Hethyr and Pimmin looked to me. When I didn’t panic, they turned their attention to Cliff, who held up a strip of white cloth.
“Blindfolds,” he said. “Only vampires can know the way in and out of this place. We’ll need to cover your eyes until we get you to the edge of our territory.”
Corban sputtered. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding. You say you’re helping us escape, but you don’t trust us to keep our fucking eyes open? It’ll take us days to reach the carriage. What are you going to do? Lead us all the way like we’re fucking sheep?”
“You should be dead,” Cliff said, his tone bland. “We’re breaking every rule for you fae fucks. You want to go back to your room and wait for someone to drain you? Be my guest.”
“Wear the damn blindfold, Corban,” I said. “Be grateful you’re still breathing.”
He cursed under his breath but stood still when Kalla stepped forward.
She took the strip of cloth from Cliff and tugged harder than necessary on the knot at the back of Corban’s head. When he let out a grunt of discomfort, she sneered and turned to the others. They eyed her warily, but her handling of them was much gentler than with our mouthy compatriot.
Hethyr relaxed as she twined her fingers through Pimmin’s, and I experienced another frustrating twinge of jealousy. How nice it was for them to have someone to lean on when the world unravelled. What I wouldn’t give for the same.
Again, my gaze turned to Kalla, and this time she made no show of looking away from me.
Her blue eyes were deep with emotions I couldn’t name but that made my mouth go dry, recognizing them as the same feelings raging in my own chest. I wanted to run my fingertips along her throat and taste the faintly metallic flavour of her lips.
I resisted all such temptations, kept my hands by my sides, and bowed my head to make it easier for her to wrap the blindfold around my eyes.
My heart thrashed against my ribs at the idea of being trapped in darkness for the next few days, but I stifled my terror.
Either I allowed this to happen, or I could die right here.
Resolved, I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut as the material brushed against my face.
When all sight of Kalla was gone, everything else about her exploded through my senses in bursts of vibrant detail.
Her sweet, earthy scent, the softness of her hands where they drifted over the back of my neck, the warmth of her breath fanning over my cheek.
My body warmed at her proximity, and for a few brief moments, I hoped I would get my wish and she’d kiss me one last time here in the sanctuary of this mountain before the emptiness of my life consumed us again.
But then she was gone. Cool air wafted over my face, and a light hand on my arm guided me forward. The dream was over. Only death awaited.
Accepting my future, I allowed Kalla to guide me into the unknown.