Chapter 5 #2
I bit my lip, resisting the temptation to spew a promise I couldn’t keep.
Though King Drakkar had loyal subjects, Silver attracted those who hungered most for battle and blood.
She promised a force that would provide them with more humans to feed on as she expanded her reach beyond Vylheim.
Countless executioners, groomed for brutality, had fallen in line behind her.
Only enough had remained to hold Mara’s Keep, and the rest were spread thin, attempting to keep Silver’s army out of the vast kingdom of Vylheim.
Drak stepped up beside me, taking the woman’s hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I will fight back,” he said. His gaze burned into me, and I turned my head to meet it. “The huntress and I will. Both of us.”
“You can kill them all?” Hope laced the woman’s words, though I had no doubt she didn’t fully understand what it meant that I was a huntress.
Only select members of The Blood Council, Drak, and Silver knew the pieces of history that were once buried in the hidden library of Mara’s Keep.
Only on those pages did a record exist of a witch who had bound herself to the undead, proving that she had been severed from the Gods.
And the remaining members of the Blood Council were dead or had defected to Silver’s army.
To the people of Vylheim, a union between a vampire king they trusted and a huntress blessed with skills against the enemy army was the perfect hope.
“That’s what I became king to do,” he said. It was the truth; I knew that much.
Satisfied, the woman bent forward and kissed his cold hand. “You’re not like the other vampires.”
“And with any luck, I won’t be a vampire much longer.” He spoke more to himself than to the woman who was now shuffling away from us.
Before the next villager stepped up, I faced him. “When are we leaving for Yggdrasil?”
“When I’m confident that your sister won’t be able to kill you. And me, for that matter.”
I dropped my eyelids, narrowing in on him. “And what will that require?”
“Well, killing her first would be the best option.”
I frowned. “You still want to lead her here.”
“I believe I used the word ‘lure’. And yes, she’d risk her life for that throne.
She’ll do anything for it. Why do you think I had to sew her mouth shut?
She tried to compel me into giving it to her the moment I became a vampire.
She believes all she has to do is sit on the throne and let destiny take its course. ”
I winced. Witches were dying because of her, sucked dry by rogue vampires, and under Silver’s command to torture them. Had they targeted my friends in Skaldir yet? Was Ragna safe?
The witches from my home village were on the outskirts, far from where Silver’s army camped along the border of the wasteland, but also exposed and with little help from Mara.
The image of my friend, Ragna, dragged from her farm with the vampires shattering her bones and feeding from her in front of her husband and children, knotted my stomach and clawed at my heart. My pulse pushed bile up into my throat with every erratic beat.
So much of my life was based on lies, and Silver knew this. Were these messages more lies? Bait? The woman’s pain seemed authentic enough.
Drak turned back to the line of people and addressed as many of the villagers as he could before Axel interrupted.
He insisted on a brief break for Drak to consume the offered blood, and for me to sit and eat.
He guided the villagers out and returned to stand before us with a bronze goblet for Drak and a cup of stew for me.
The lanky man gave a quick bow of his head before he left Drak and I alone in the vast, echoing room. While Drak paced and drank, I sat on the arm of the throne, devouring the warm beef and potatoes.
“Are you ready to say yes to my proposal yet?” Drak said, turning to me when the door fell shut behind Axel.
Ice hardened in my veins.
“Don’t we have to speak the vows in front of Mara according to tradition? How would that be fake?” I asked.
“The blood seal,” he said simply. All marriages in Vylheim included a blood seal between husband and wife.
This was the true seal that bound the couple beyond mere words.
The witness to the vows would present a wax seal with the overlap of the husband’s and wife’s initials imprinted in the center.
Their pricked fingers would bleed into the seal and complete the marriage.
“We would use animal blood. Not our own.”
It could work. Easy even, if I hadn’t already almost married him and our wedding hadn’t sent the entirety of Vylheim into chaos.
When I said nothing, he strode back to his throne and sat down. I promptly stood so that I could welcome our visitors.
Before long, the room was teeming with eager villagers again, coming to us with every request imaginable.
Beckoning the next villager forward, Drak leaned against the back of the bronze chair and rested his elbows lazily on the shiny arms. The village man knelt, bowing his head for a moment before addressing the king. I shuffled back to my post beside the throne when the man’s words stopped me short.
“I come from Skaldir,” he said. I swiveled, heart skipping.
“My village experienced an attack.” No. “Ransacked. All the women have been accused of being witches.” No, no, no!
“I am the first to make it here with this news.” What of Ragna?
Of the other friends I left behind? My heart splintered in two, like the stories about Thor’s lightning cracking the earth open.
“Many were fed on until they died. Some of us escaped. Our plea is for Mara to send more help. The vampires came with a woman who said she once lived among us, and for that, she spared us torture, ending those she killed with a swift death. But only for one more fortnight will she allow this reprieve. She promised torture when she returns. I beg you, my king, please send men and women to help us defend our farms. Our homes. Our families.”
Drak said nothing, deferring to me as he lifted his eyes.
“Do not stay there,” I said.
“We will not abandon our homes.” He spoke between tears. “And it doesn’t matter, she said she will know us anywhere. She will track us down. The vampires have already scented us.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I had to get Silver away from our home. Away from the village and where I could reach her and her vampires, but only one thing would lure her...
My heart skipped a beat as I dared a glance at the king.
A royal marriage would distract Silver from destroying my home, my people; yet something about the thought of being with Drak made my pulse race.
Perhaps it was simply that I wouldn’t have to face this world by myself anymore.
Even if it were a sham marriage, I’d never truly be solitary as long as we were both playing along.
Could I really do this? Could I toy with marriage to a monster just to draw my sister’s attention?
Yes. I shivered.
It helped that Drak always told me the truth, and in my opinion, liars were the true monsters. Maybe it was wrong that I could picture myself walking down the aisle with him waiting at the end, even after our last wedding had begun with his threat to kill me.
“Whatever it takes.” Odin’s voice boomed like the crash of thunder behind my eyes.
What does that mean?
Odin didn’t respond right away. The Gods weren’t exactly at my beck and call, but I felt his approval. The pain in my skull softened before he explained himself.
“Whatever it takes to bring you and the vampires together.”
Shouldn’t we go to Yggdrasil?
He said nothing. For some reason, the Gods didn’t approve of this plan. At least not outright, and not with words or softening, and of course they didn’t, not with Drak leading me there, with his plan to take Odin’s place.
This fake marriage was a cleaner alternative to ignite the war between huntress and vampires.
I draped my hand over Drak’s shoulder again as I spoke to the man from my village.
“Don’t abandon Skaldir permanently,” I said.
“But accept our invitation to come here and visit for a while instead. The entire village of Skaldir is welcome to attend our wedding.” The man’s mouth flipped in confusion while Drak’s anticipation showed in his tense shoulders.
I licked my lips and dropped my eyes to him, giving him a faint nod.
He took my hand in his and stood. “Spread the news,” he told the man. “Lux Quinn and King Drakkar are to be married here in Mara’s Keep before the end of this fortnight. At the full moon.”
“A wedding?” he said. “Vampire and huntress?” He was bold to say it like that, but Drak didn’t care.
Drak chuckled. “Aren’t we the perfect pair? We both have a taste for blood.”
“We’re the same,” I whispered the words Drak had once said to me. We were both twisted enough to pull this off, and knowing it should have made me sick or nervous, but it didn’t. The only explanation was that being in Drak’s presence silenced those self-hating thoughts. His honesty calmed me.
The man stared at us. I couldn’t decide if his eyes held hope or fear.
“For our enemy’s blood, of course.” Drak clarified as he met my gaze and lifted my hand to his lips. “I love that about her.”
Despite his stony gaze, warmth unfurled up my neck. The sudden urge for him reared its head like a wild horse, and though I understood little about this traitorous feeling that tugged me toward him. He was a vampire who bled people dry, and yet I didn’t notice his fangs.
He’d always looked like one of the ancient warriors described in the stories of our ancestors—like the men I dreamed about while I was alone in the dark. Before the desire building in my core became slick with wanting, I dug my fingernails into my palm.
Drak wanted to kill the Gods I worshiped. And even knowing this, I couldn’t deny my desire for a man as determined as a warrior from our history.
The darkness in me calls to the monster in him.