Page 138 of To Bleed A Kingdom

“Lena doesn't leave her room.”

She nods her head and I release her and race out the door, not sparing a backward glance as she falls to the floor.

The night is quiet and peaceful. All the shops are closed and darkened for the night. Their owners are tucked safely within their beds. One could almost assume it's another ordinary night. But I can feel the underlying darkness. Can feel Desdemona's filth invading my lands.

I shut the inn’s door just as a shirtless Zander and a rumpled Kace rush out of the brothel, the madame and staff shutting all the doors and windows as they meet me in the middle of the street.

“Where is she?” Zander demands.

“Inside!” I shout, not missing a step as I barrel down the street. “Keep her there.”

He doesn't reply as he rushes past, climbing the porch steps and darting into the inn.

“What's going on?” Kace asks, running up beside me, straightening his vest. “Zander said we’re being attacked.”

“The Soulless are here.”

Frowning, Kace glances over his shoulder, seeing the quiet streets that surround us. “Are you su-”

A shrill scream suddenly pierces the air and we slow to a stop, right before the roof is blown off the Early Bird Inn.

“Lena,” I whisper, shock rooting me to the ground as I watch wood planks and debris float down into what was once the second floor of the inn, but now is just a blackened, smoldering hole. The same floor on which I chained and entombed a pleading Lena.

But the shock barely surfaces before a voice suddenly booms within my mind. A raspy, seductive voice I’m beginning to know better than my own.

“The East gate has been breached. The Soulless have invaded your city. Gather your weapons and protect your home.”

“Did you hear that?” Kace gasps. “That was -”

“Lena,” I growl, relief warring with irritation at the discovery that she has another Gift. A human with two Gifts.

More fucking secrets.

“The human district,” Kace whispers.

Then there are no more words as we bolt down the street. Not when Griffin rushes to join us. Nor when Calder, Silas, and Ajax appear. Not when bleary-eyed immortals, solemn fae guards, and terrified humans rush from their shops and homes, brandishing knives and swords to run beside us. No sounds can be heard besides our breaths sawing from our lungs and our feet pounding against stone. Not until we race through the market district do we begin to hear the screams, which grow louder and more tortuous as we round the hedges of the Gods Garden and enter pure chaos.

Hundreds of humans fill the street. Their shrill cries meld with that of the creatures’ frenzied shrieks. Screaming women drag sobbing children. Terrified men frantically board up windows. Families huddle atop homes. But there's no escape from the snarling Soulless crawling into windows and ramming through doors.

An undead scurries to the top of a hut and claws at the thatched roof, diving headfirst into the home. A woman’s scream quickly follows, but it instantly cuts off. A man rushes a Soulless with a pitchfork, stabbing it in the abdomen. It takes no notice. Pouncing on the man, it buries its fangs into his throat and then discards him, adding his bloodless corpse to the dozens of twitching bodies littering the pitted road.

It's a massacre.

Ruby flecked shadows trail behind the Soulless, blackening the night even more and obscuring my vision. I squint my eyes, trying to see past to the East gate, needing to know how the Soulless breached our defenses. My stomach hollows out when I see the East gate undamaged and spread wide open.

“Someone let them in,” I breathe.

Traitors… traitors everywhere.

“Fuck!” Kace shouts, running his hands through his hair.

A Soulless catches sight of us and snarls, racing towards us. Reaching over my shoulder, I unsheathe my sword and meet his snarl with a growl of my own, slicing cleanly through its neck. Turning my back on it before its body crumples to the ground, I look to where Silas and Calder hover nearby.

“Search for any survivors and take them to the brothel,” I order, assessing the ramshackle building. It’s not secure in the least, with its thin windows and flimsy door, but the Soulless haven’t reached it yet. That’s more than I can say for the humans’ homes. “Check everyone for bite marks before they enter.”

They both nod and unsheathe their swords, jogging away to the closest hut.

“Ajax, gather as many males as possible and form a barricade.” Leveling my sword, I draw a line through the air where the human district ends and the Gods Garden and market begins. “Don’t allow anyone or anything past.”

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