Page 140 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“I love you too, my darkness.”

55

SCARLETT

The general public didn’t know what the infamous Scarlett Hale looked like, so we didn’t exactly need to hide. We took a shadowbird to Talomon, and then we walked the rest of the way.

Race, the male turned, was a face I recognized. He’d guarded me a few times before I was taken. The woman, Kallie, was tall, lean, and muscular with a blonde buzz cut. She was supremely untalkative, and I could detect a great deal of magick beneath her skin.

I didn’t really care to make small talk either, so we walked in a comfortable silence until we reached a camp of turned soldiers on a wide street.

A massive man with a shaved head eyed us suspiciously before nodding at Race and Kallie. His arms were crossed, leaning against a lamppost as he spoke to a group of uniformed turned. In the distance, I heard the unmistakable sound of stomping, yelling, and conflict—but it wasn’t close.

Between looming buildings ahead, I could see magickal wards, a tinge of color that rippled out in both directions.

I wondered what these soldiers saw as we moved through their camp. Did they see a human willingly crossing the border, perhaps to reunite with her family? Or could they tell from my face, the way I walked, that I was a fighter like them, even if my fight looked different from theirs?

Would they one day accept me as one of them? Let alone a ruler?

I dimmed my succubus powers just in case, boarding up my glamour the way Rosalind had taught me. I imagined myself as small and invisible, my aura opaque, my body uninteresting. I needed to be as inconspicuous as possible until I was back at the palace.

Race glanced over at me. “What was that?”

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head, staring back ahead. “I don’t know, never mind.”

Kallie glanced my way, but she didn’t say anything.

I’d perhaps made the shift too violent, too jarring to vampires who’d grown accustomed to my energy. Looked like I was still learning new things about my magick every day.

“Hey,” a loud voice boomed.

I couldn’t help but jump at the sound, my heart hammering.

The buff bald man jogged to catch up to us. “There’s increased activity on seventy-fifth street. I’d slip in using Stratford Alley.”

“Understood, thanks, Thom.”

I could taste Thom’s ripe curiosity on his tongue as he looked at me, but his desire to be loyal and discreet was the prevailing force. The turned were an interesting bunch. I admired their commitment to each other. At first, I thought it was blind devotion to Rune, but now I understood that humans became turned because they wanted to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They found purpose in defending Valentin, in protecting the powerless. I knew that vampirism was a corrupting force, and many turned still succumbed to the less desirable traits of immortals. But they never lost their loyalty, and I found that noble.

“Grab drinks when you’re back?” Thom asked, his gaze flickering between Race and Kallie.

“Pass,” Kallie said dryly.

“Yeah, of course,” Race said with a grin.

The absurdity of this kind of exchange, as the turned were unknowingly leading a succubus to Hatham to destroy the born from within, nearly made me snort with laughter.

When we reached Stratford Alley, my heart was in my throat. I could hear the boom of magick and conflict all around, even if it was distant. I knew the bulk of the fighting was on the other side of this flickering red ward.

It was translucent, and I could at least see that through this alley, the other side was clear. I was about to willingly cross over into Hatham.

“You understand where you’re going?” Race asked. He looked uncomfortable, as if he were sending a lamb to slaughter and didn’t truly understand why.

“Yes,” I said.

“We would accompany you further, but we’d set off the wards,” Race said.

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