Page 48 of Hallowed Games

In the past few years, the Order must have created so many unquiet spirits. All those whose minds couldn’t accept the burning or death at the fangs of a wolf. This entire place must be haunted. A legion of the dead swept around me.

Just as that disturbing thought entered my head, a low growl echoed off the stones, raising the damp hair on the back of my neck.

My gaze flicked up to see the pale silver glow of wolf eyes. The world seemed to tilt beneath me. In the moonlight, I could just about make out its form, twice the size of an ordinary wolf. My blood pounded as I realized the creature was carrying a severed arm in its mouth, crimson dripping down the fingers onto the stones.

The wolf dropped the arm and licked its teeth. Its eyes were on me now. This was no ordinary wolf, but something otherworldly. The creature started prowling closer, and I tried to stand. Pain shot up my leg, and my scream died in my throat. My nerve endings sparked with fear.

While I struggled to rise, the wolf lunged into the air. I’d just caught a glimpse of an opening jaw and sharp teeth when a shadow darted from the darkness. A smudge of night hurtled through the air, and somehow, the shadow slammed into the wolf. As it did, a crack echoed at the impact. The wolf fell silent, its body collapsing on the stones. I stared, stunned. The creature’s neck lay twisted at a lethal angle, eyes wide open.

What the hell had just happened?

I felt the cold power of magic skimming over my skin, and I turned to see a cloaked figure looming in the shadows behind me. My breath quickened, and I felt as if death itself was upon me.

When he shifted closer to me, my body tensed. But to my shock, he lifted me into his arms. As his dark cloak billowed around me, he pressed me to his powerful chest.

Darkness whipped around us, but I knew him immediately by his seductive scent. Maelor held me against him as he started racing through the labyrinth passages.

So. The Raven Lord himself—the terror of witches across the kingdom—could wield shadow magic.

Moving swiftly as a maelstrom, inhumanly fast, he cradled me close to him. Somehow, he avoided putting any pressure on my injured leg, and I leaned into his chest. The world was a blur of shadows around me.

Exhaustion washed through me, and I wrapped my arms around him. Why did I feel safe with him?

He radiated the dark, addictive magic of the Serpent.

The wind whipped over me as he turned a sharp corner, then stopped abruptly. He laid me down gently in a small, cave-like space carved into the labyrinth walls. Moss covered the rocks beneath me, and a low, rocky ceiling arched over me. In here, there was hardly enough room for me, let alone him. And yet, he climbed in after me—over me. He straddled my thighs, then leaned down and planted his hands on either side of my head.

I stared up at him, the moonlight showing off his high cheekbones. My pulse raced faster, a frantic staccato.

“Why in the Archon’s name are you hunting those with magic?” I asked. “I can see what you are.”

“What I am is someone trying to help you,” he whispered. “But we must stay hidden from the Luminari still patrolling the walls. As long as I move fast enough, they won’t see me. If I’m going to heal you, we need to do it out of their eye line.”

My chest heaved for breath as I stared up at him. “Why don’t we just get out of here?”

“Because I need to stop the blood. Understood?” A razor-sharp edge slid under the low hush of his whisper. For a moment, I thought I saw a flash of a tooth, sharp as a wolf’s fang.

“Okay.”

“I won’t lose control,” he said sharply. “But it’s the scent of your blood, pumping hot…”

My mind whirled with confusion. Blood? Why was he so fixated on that?

“It’s not just magic, is it? You’re something else,” I whispered. In the hollows of my mind, I remembered what Hugo had said earlier: They say that north of Merthyn, in the black, snow-tipped Sumaire mountains beyond the wall, live creatures called vampires…

A creature who could live forever. Impervious to my touch. Indestructible.

Maybe those weren’t merely drug-addled ramblings. Maybe Hugo actually knew what he was talking about.

I stared up at Maelor’s face. His irises, once pale blue, had started to darken.

“What’s happening to you?” I asked, breathless. In my thoughts, terror twined with curiosity.

He was a creature of death, like me. And underneath my fear, I only wanted to touch him.

“I won’t hurt you.” He lowered his mouth to my throat, and his finely carved abs pressed against my hands. “I need to stop the bleeding.”

To my shock, his tongue swept over my throat at my pulse, making my body swell with heat.

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