Chapter 47
Irun to the wardrobe and arm myself with a holster and an iron dagger strapped to my thigh.
I will not be letting Vero’s attacker leave the dungeons alive.
I whirl and grab the grail from the table by my bed. Shaking, I shove it into the bag.
I race out the door, thundering barefoot down the stairs. I waited too long reading the note, staring at the lock of hair, and I’ve lost my chance to catch up with the kidnapper.
I run, clutching Vero’s hair in my fist—the lock of white blending to red.
Fury snaps through my body as I think of Vero. I was so close to keeping her safe. Someone from the Veiled Court must have followed me out last night, stalking me all the way to the cottage. That’s how he learned about Vero.
My first thought is that this is Rion’s work, since I know he wants the grail. But what’s the point? I already agreed to give it to him by noon tomorrow.
As I run into the courtyard, the cold breeze buffets my skin, chilling away the last vestiges of my tipsiness.
I sprint for the door that leads down to the crypt, and my heart slams against my ribs.
Cold stones chill my soles. It’s empty out here.
I reach the stairwell door to the catacombs and pull a torch off the wall. It’s completely dark down in the underkeep.
I fling open the door, and my torchlight wavers over the rough stone stairs. I descend as fast as I can, my bare feet on dirty stone. I move swiftly through dark tunnels, taking the paths I already memorized.
In the distance, I hear soldiers’ voices, and I snuff out the torch. I can’t risk getting caught by patrols while I’m trying to save Vero.
I can find my way to the crypt by the smell of burnt coffins and bones. As I walk, I listen intently for more soldiers, or for Vero calling for me. Anything.
I cross into a hall lit with a few torches, their fiery light dancing over dark stone walls. I’m almost to the crypt when a sound makes my stomach lurch.
A footfall, directly behind me.
I whirl to see Rion stalking closer, his silver eyes burning like a wolf’s in the dark.
He moves quickly as a storm wind, and he grabs me—one hand clamped around my waist, the other around my throat. In the next moment, he’s pinning me against the stone wall.
His fingers curl around my throat. It’s a light touch—just enough to trap me in place.
My pulse hammers, breath hitching.
“What do you think you’re doing with the grail?” His low, lethal voice vibrates over my body. “I gave you until tomorrow to give it to me. And then I see you running across the courtyard like your nightgown was on fire, stealing away the relic.”
“And how did you know I’m carrying it?”
“Because you have a very grail-shaped thing in a bag.”
My pulse races. “I take it the note wasn’t from you.”
“What note?”
All I can think about is Vero and the brutal threats in the note.
I will carve out her organs, one by one—
She’s only just become healthy, and now someone wants to kill her.
Distantly, from the depths of my skull, I hear the faintest hum of the Song. It’s blurred, barely audible—a melody that whispers in the hollows of my mind.
I take a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll give it to you.”
I feel his hands relax, just slightly, on my hip.
He leans down to say something to me. The moment his grip loosens by a fraction, I slam my forehead into his chin and drive my elbow into his face.
It’s just enough for me to slip away from him.
But as I try to turn toward the crypt, he grabs me from behind, yanking me back and crushing me against his body.
A blade flashes at my side, and my heart skips a beat—but he’s not stabbing me.
He slashes the bag from my shoulder, and it drops to the ground.
Panic ignites in my chest as he continues to pin my arms against my body in his vise-like grip.
“Take the dagger from your thigh holster,” he murmurs, “and throw it across the room. I don’t need you trying to murder me on my way out.”
I look down at the bag on the floor. Rion is going to fuck this whole thing up for me.
“What do you even want with it?” I ask.
He brings his blade up to my throat in a warning, just barely grazing my skin.
But that movement frees up one of my arms.
Auberon trained me for this.
The Song is humming louder in the back of my mind, a distant, distorted melody, enough to spur me on.
I grab his knife-wielding wrist and yank it down hard, twisting. I duck under his arm and wrench it behind his back, but he tears himself free in the next moment.
I turn to run from him into the dungeons, but a powerful arm clamps around my shoulders from behind, pinning me again. I kick off the wall, using the stones for leverage, and thrust hard, slamming us both back onto the ground.
I land on top, but he rolls us over. Now my nightgown is up to my waist, and he’s pinning me to the crypt floor, crushing me with his weight.
“You really need to stop trying to kill me,” he mutters.
I jerk my hips upward and drive my elbow into his ribs. The impact knocks him off me.
I roll, reaching for the dagger at my thigh—
I’m too slow.
His blade is at my throat again.
But this time, I see it in his eyes—a flicker of hesitation.
Hesitation is death. He has the chance to kill me, and he’s not taking it.
I draw my iron blade and drive it into his chest, between his ribs.
The moment I do, guilt twines through me. I don’t know if he’ll live. I avoided his heart, but I stabbed him with iron. Without a healer, he’ll die down here.
My thoughts go dark, my blood roaring.
Vero.
I need to fix the mistakes I made long ago and keep my family safe. Then I’ll come back for Rion.
So, I scramble for the grail.
“Sorry,” I whisper to Rion. “I’m sorry.”
He slumps back, clutching his chest, and blood pours between his fingertips.
For a moment, I look into his silver eyes, and I read the pain there. My twisting thread of guilt grows sharper, angrier, coiling in my chest like a poisonous serpent.
He could have killed me the moment he found me in here. He didn’t. Am I the monster here?
My eyes sting, and I blink it away.
I rush toward the dungeons, through the next tunnel.