Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Guild of Assassins, Shadow Court
Freya
I wrinkle my nose at the scent of mold as I creep down the stone steps into the Guild of Assassins dungeon. I glance over my shoulder, checking that I am not being followed.
Lucius distracted both Wraith and Taran, but being in a guild run by killers, even though I am disguised as a servant, isn’t my idea of fun.
I don’t have long.
I need to slip in, feed my Alpha, and slip out again.
Yet this dungeon is nothing like the one underneath Aurelius’ palace, which Daire was locked in.
That shithole was functional and ordered, although brutal.
As I followed Lucius’ directions through this labyrinth to the right cell, however, my guts filled with dread because this wasn’t about justice.
It was cruel entertainment.
The walls were blood-stained.
Vampires were locked in too-small silver cages. The Bloods didn’t even lift their heads as I passed.
The sound of the distant clash of steel, as if somewhere the assassins were sparring, mingled with screams.
Every step downward into the Guild’s bowels tightened the knot in my chest.
Now, I clutch the guttering oil lamp, which casts jumping shadows around me.
May the Shadow Gods have protected my Alpha even in a place like this.
Was Lanlin’s willingness to sacrifice himself for the realms enough? Or have the gods abandoned us?
I tighten my hold on the tray.
Prayers alone won’t save us. We need to save ourselves.
My heart beats faster, as I pad down the final step onto the damp floor. My breath ghosts in front of me in the freezing cold. My skin goosebumps.
I approach the cell, which is isolated by itself in the pitch black. It is empty of anything — no bed, straw, or even blanket.
Something…someone…is lying in the back corner.
I raise the lamp higher. “Lanlin…?”
Then I freeze.
That can’t be my Shadow Vampire King.
On the moon, it can’t be.
My hands tremble, and in my shock, I almost drop the tray. The blood slops onto the soft loaf, soaking into it.
I hiss out a breath.
Lanlin is facing the wall. He is shivering, curled as tightly into a ball as he can around himself with his arms wrapped around his middle. He doesn’t even move.
His bare back, which is revealed through a tattered leather uniform of golden leather is a mess of welts and blood. In fact, every patch of bare skin is a colorful map of bruises in shades of green, purple, and black.
I clench my jaw in fury.
It’s lucky that Daire didn’t come instead of me, or he’d likely assassinate everyone who had left those marks on principle.
Why isn’t Lanlin turning around to me? Why is he scratching at the wall with his claws?
Is he feral?
“This time, I have even imagined the heart beating in your chest, my sunshine. I hear it thud, thud, thud. Why so fast? Do you fear what I have become? Or are you scared of the guards?” Lanlin rasps like he is hoarse from screaming.
“This bond sickness is cruel to create such realistic daydreams. On my fangs, I can even smell Daire’s blood. ”
He curls even tighter around himself. His shoulders shake. He still doesn’t look around at me.
He doesn’t believe that I am real.
My eyes prick with tears.
I had no idea that being separated from me would mess with Lanlin’s mind this much.
Did Aurelius know?
After all, my dragon survived being parted for months…or did it actually wreck him in ways that he has hidden from me?
What does he mean by bond sickness? Is that what’s causing his delirium? His hallucinations?
How dangerous is a killer vampire who is lost in this madness?
My throat is dry, as I carefully approach the cell. “I’m truly here. Didn’t you expect that I would find a way to sneak down to you? That’s the type of wolf I am, yeah? Want to see what I brought for your dinner?”
“It even sounds like you. But you have said that to me three times today already.”
“Rude.” I set down the lamp by my feet. “I’m that predictable, huh?”
“Reliable, my dear, because you’re the only sunshine in my dark life.” To my relief, Lanlin finally turns to face me.
I try not to let the horror show when I see his face.
Lanlin is clutching a misshapen lump of metal to his chest like it’s the most important thing in his life.
Lanlin has been stripped of his jewels and makeup, although he still has his beetle pendant clasped around his neck, which I am relieved to see. I know how much it would hurt him to have that taken from him.
He is still as beautiful, however, without any of the symbols of his kingship. It’s his swollen eye, burned cheek, and bruised jaw that is making it hard for me not to react.
He’s been fucking beaten within an inch of his life.
I have seen Lanlin destroy entire armies. He’s the most powerful warrior in the realms apart from Aurelius.
My gaze blazes as it drops to the hateful silver shackles bound around Lanlin’s reddened wrists.
Someone like Lanlin should never be locked up and diminished in this way.
It feels wrong down to my bones.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He cocks his head. “You never said that before. Don’t vanish yet. A figment of my dying mind or not, you light my life.”
Dying?
Alarmed, I demand, “Don’t you dare fucking die. I am here now. Daire and I will get you out of here.”
“Comforting thought. How strange that I should cling to lies at the end.”
My throat feels like it is closing up. “What would you say to me if I was real?”
Lanlin licks over his fangs like they’re hurting him. “I would tell her that I miss my moths. But I understand now that I am the moth. He will fly to the false moon of the candlelight, burning to ash. He will sacrifice his life willingly for that brief moment with his love.”
“That’s sad.”
“Is it?” Lanlin releases the metal that he’s holding, struggling to sit up.
“The moth doesn’t deserve the moon. But at least he gets to touch the fire before he dies.
He experiences the sensation. And in that moment,” Lanlin’s eyes are haunting; I can hardly bear to look into them, “it hurts. You die happy, however, because it’s like touching the sun, rather than the moon.
And I have always craved to experience the sun’s warmth. ”
“You have.” I march to the bars, clutching onto them. “I’m here, my darkness. I’m fucking real.”
Lanlin sniffs deeply. His red-wine eyes flash.
Then he bares his fangs, and his bat wings burst out of his back. Ragged shadows hang around his wings like cobwebs.
With supernatural speed, he bursts to his feet and sweeps to the front of the cell.
I gasp, as suddenly his face is just the other side of the bars.
“Blood.” Lanlin’s eyes are wild. He focuses on the terracotta cup, which swims with Daire’s ruby blood. His reflection looks back at him on the glossy surface. Then he glances back at me with desperate hope. “You’re real.”
“Last time I checked.”
Lanlin licks over his fangs compulsively like he can’t stop. His gaze is focused on the blood, as his hands reach dangerously close to the silver bars.
“Careful,” I warn.
I crouch down, placing the tray as close as I dare to the bars.
Lanlin copies me, kneeling on the other side.
He frowns. “My Blood Lover hurt himself for me.”
“Daire does that a lot.”
Lanlin is shaking, but he smiles. “My Little Raven is devoted.”
“We both are.”
Lanlin’s gaze darts to mine. “I never doubted you.”
Fragile, I whisper, “Never?”
“Never, my dear.”
When Lanlin reaches through the bars to grab for the cup, panic spikes through me.
“Don’t,” I rush to say. “What is it with Daire and you burning yourself? I have a better idea.”
He pulls his arm back. “I’m already burned.”
I scan Lanlin, confused by the tiny burns that scatter his skin like dark freckles.
How the hell did he become injured like that down here in this windowless cell?
My expression hardens. “Whose ass do I need to kick?”
“My Omega, I have no doubt that Taran should fear you. He has already dug his own grave, however, and I intend to have the satisfaction of filling it in over his dead body. Or possibly, over his living, screaming one.”
I grin, viciously.
I study Lanlin’s black leather breastplate, which is emblazoned with Aurelius’ Golden Dragon emblem. It looks more like a fighter’s outfit than a prisoner’s.
What’s truly going on in this Guild?
“I can be smart too. Watch.” I click my knuckles like I’m about to show him a trick.
Then I simply tip over the cup, spilling the blood onto the floor and through the bars into the cell.
I half expect Lanlin to haughtily demand why I would expect a king to lick their food off the floor.
Aurelius would. In fact, he’d probably starve to death rather than let go of his ego.
Lanlin has been the outcast in his kingdom, however, being treated as a beast.
I imagine this isn’t a humiliation to him.
His fangs extend further than I have seen them grow before, as well as fresh fangs gnashing from his widening jaw, as he finally loses control.
A shiver of fear races down my spine.
Lanlin snarls and growls. His dark, dominant pheromones fog the shadowy dungeon in plumes of intoxicating incense.
I choke. My mind clouds.
Lanlin laps frantically at the blood.
I rush to shove the sticky bat cake through the bars, which it clings to, followed by the rose.
I watch Lanlin, as he is lost to the rush of blood. He chases after every trickle of scarlet.
I settle on my heels, delighted to have fed my Alpha.
Finally, he sits back, as his eyelashes flutter.
Lanlin’s hands clench and unclench. His mouth widens into a toothy smile.
He’s fucking flying.
“Dearheart,” he murmurs, swaying, “I shall reward my Blood Lover with anything he wishes if I survive. He is my god.”
“And what am I?”
Lanlin’s liquid eyes open, soft and unexpectedly vulnerable. The intense feeding he’s just been through is clear in his blissed-out gaze like he hasn’t yet come back to earth.
He smiles. “My everything.” Then his smile widens, as he picks up the honey and date bat cake. “This is…?”
My lips quirk. “Our attempt to create the wedding breakfast. How about I tell Daire you did recognize that as a bat, even though it looks more like a flattened dragon that has made poor life choices.”