Chapter 23
Archer
It’s Valeria.
I move Colette behind me. I scan the trees, summoning my vampiric senses and abilities in defense of my mate. They rise in a way they never have before—quickly, definitively.
“Isn’t this lovely…” Valeria’s low voice ripples through the crowd, turning heads and eliciting gasps.
She wears the same type of clothing she always has.
A tunic and trousers in bone white. No cloak covers her shoulders because she feeds only on blood.
The cold isn’t an issue for full vampires and those who have chosen to feed in such a way consistently.
A flash of light sparks at her hand. A two-sided blade.
So she is here to claim me or to hurt me.
Or both. I am growling before I realize it.
Colette steps out from behind me and crosses her arms. “What in the hells do you want, Valeria?”
Valeria blinks. She was probably hoping to surprise Colette with her existence. I am incredibly glad I told Colette everything. I stand beside my chosen mate, ready to fight as best I can if it comes to that.
Valeria sniffs the air and lets out a low growl. “Get away from my betrothed.”
“Fuck off!” Tully shouts. A green cloud of sparkling magic erupts from the end of her wand, pushing Valeria back.
I immediately love Colette’s friend that much more.
Grumlin walks toward us, his salt and pepper hair rising in the winter breeze, and dots of light like small stars dancing across his hands and head. “Or don’t fuck off and my fellow Leafshire Cove folks will have a grand chase for our Snowlight entertainment.”
Chuckling and dusting snow from her tunic, Valeria walks forward. “That’s not how this is going to go and most of you are wise enough to realize that.”
Mayor Rustion and his guards have surrounded the clearing. They hold their swords at the ready. Valeria glances at them, but she doesn’t react. She’s confident that she’ll win here.
Colette takes my hand and I hold her fingers tightly.
“You’re not wanted here, Valeria,” I say, loud and clear. “You have one minute to leave without suffering the consequences.”
“Aw, Arch, come on. You didn’t think I would come alone, did you?”
Vampires appear between the trees behind her. Twenty of them. Three males step into the clearing to stand beside Valeria.
“It’s not as if I need you, really, Arch,” she purrs. “But tradition is tradition and we must protect the bloodlines.”
I look at Colette and the townsfolk. Some wear masks of courage despite their trembling and the fear leaking from their tight expressions.
Others appear enraged and fully prepared to take the vampires on.
Halvard, for one, has grabbed a fallen limb.
He shakes the snow from it and lifts it onto his shoulder like a battle axe.
He went from a fellow who grins at his youngling and cooks amazing cuts of meat to being the scariest thing aside from Valeria.
His support warms me despite the dire situation.
What should I do? Offer to fight her one-on-one and let everyone else leave? Would she even agree to that? I take a deep breath and try to keep myself calm and clear-headed.
“Let’s you and me talk,” I say with more bravado than I actually possess. “Your friends and mine can move on. This is between us.”
Colette makes a sound full of disapproval, glares at me, and tightens her fingers around mine. “We’re not leaving you, Archer,” she whispers.
“At least this human you’re cavorting with has a good head on her shoulders.”
“Fuck you,” Colette says loudly.
I pull her closer. “Please. Don’t.”
“I’m not afraid,” she whispers back as the vampires come closer. Their boots crunch over the snow and their scent is nauseating.
A chill travels down my back. “That’s only because you haven’t seen them Feed.”
Colette swallows, but she keeps her head high.
“Just say when, Archer,” Tully calls out.
Grumlin nods as does Cyrus. Rom stretches his wings and puts Laini behind him.
Valeria snorts. “If you’re planning on throwing stones, gargoyle, know that vampire flesh is nothing like any other creature’s,” she says with a grin that makes me want to strangle her.
The swish and whipping motion of Tully’s wand catches my eye.
Colette squeezes my hand. She’s looking down. The snow is changing somehow. Golden lines form in the glistening white. Runes. Grumlin is holding up a fist and whispering. Blue light joins the golden magic, and within a few fast beats of my heart, Colette and I are encircled by a runic pattern.
Valeria stops and stares, a growl building in her throat. The other vampires step a bit closer. There are three I hadn’t noticed in the branches above us.
A cold breeze blows from the runic circle, up Colette’s and my legs, and swoops over our heads before turning warm and rushing back to the ground. The runes flash brightly. The vampires turn their heads and wince.
“Their vampiric vision is activated,” I say. “They can’t handle the bright light.”
Tully stops waving her wand and points it at Valeria. Grumlin crosses his arms and gives the vampires above us a flat look that dares them to attack.
“This circle will break your first betrothal bond, Archer,” Tully says. “If you wish to keep that bond in place, all you need to do is step out.”
“What?” Valeria starts toward me, her hand outstretched like she’s going to grab me.
Gold and sapphire light shoot upward and slam into her. She falls back two steps, blinking and swearing.
“Archer,” Valeria hisses, “you’re going to let a witch break our bond? After all I did for you? The Vampire Council wanted you dead for your disloyal behavior.”
Colette looks to me, her eyes full of defiance and pride. I feel the support beaming from her like the warmth from a fire.
I face Valeria. “I never had the choice to make that bond. I don’t feel its pull as you do. Let me break it, and you can be free to marry someone of your choice.”
“You are my choice. I swore an oath to your mother.”
“My mother doesn’t value promises of any kind. Just stand back and let me break this bond. I guarantee my mother would do exactly as she pleases, despite any promise she made to you. She knows nothing of loyalty.”
Valeria spits like I’ve said something blasphemous. “Your mother is a shining example of a true vampire.”
“Well then, I’m the farthest thing from that. I’m half goblin, in case you’ve forgotten. Why do you even want me? My blood isn’t pure.”
She steps closer, her gaze sliding along the runes like she has an idea of how to defeat Tully’s magic.
“You’re mine, Archer Darkheart,” Valeria hisses.
Halvard, Cyrus, Laini, Rom, Kaya, and Argos make a loose, outer circle around the runes, placing themselves between Valeria and Colette and me.
Valeria’s lip curls and she snarls at Kaya.
The baker pales, and Cyrus roars, his body contorting.
Claws grow from his boots, and magic sparkles thickly around him in a circle.
His wings grow to twice their usual size, and his body and face elongate as his clothing disappears.
Cyrus roars again, this time as a fully sized dragon.
The three vampires in the tree above us drop onto him, fangs bared.
He lunges away from everyone, with all three clinging to him.
With a great shake, he throws them to the ground.
Snow flies as they slam into the drifts, and Cyrus blows fire.
The ice and snow shatter the light, and the rest of the vampires turn away from the brightness.
“Are the runes working?” Colette asks breathlessly. “Will you know if the bond is broken? Will she leave if it is?”
“I don’t know. I—”
Valeria grabs Argos by one of his horns and thrusts him into the runic circle.