Page 15 of The Veil of Blood and Magic

And I remember why I’m here.

Why I’m running in the woods.

He told me to run.

I grip the too-big satchel over my chest, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Papa,” I whisper this time, my voice choked with fear and strangled with grief. “Papa, no?—”

The memories blend together in a nightmare I’m all too familiar with, jerking me awake with a racing heart as I try and fail to find my father in the woods.

What isunfamiliar, though, is the smell.

A musty, earthy scent that isn’t exactly pleasant but still tugs at something deep inside the recess of my mind. Something that is comforting in the oddest way.

My body sways back and forth in a rhythmic motion that almost lulls me back to sleep. Goddess, did I drink last night? I’m usually so careful with whiskey. Nobody likes a drunk succubus, after all.

Flashes spirit through my mind, memories much closer than my past. Autumn spices and bittersweet desire. Silver hair and golden eyes.

Drifters.

The Red Lion.

Fuck.

Zev’s magic put me under, and I can still feel its effects clinging to my bones. I peel back my heavy lids, a searing strip of white light stinging my eyes. I blink a few times, adjusting to the early dawn’s light.

I see a beaten dirt road several feet below me, covered in red and orange leaves, the air a crisp chill against my skin. My wrists are outstretched and bound—with rope and not silver, thank Aletha—bouncing slightly with eachclip-clopof the horse’s movement.

A horse.

They tossed me over the back end of a horse like some kind of cargo.

Pricks.

Though, I rather loved horses. They’re compassionate, loyal creatures.

“A horse doesn’t care if you’re a succubus,” Papa says, nuzzling our horse’s nose. “He’ll carry you to safety if you’re good to him. Be at your side when you need him.”

I swallow hard, unable to shake the sound of my father’s voice flitting through my mind. The action burns my throat, and I try to wet my lips but can’t.

I’m so damn thirsty.

And exhausted. Not just from the fight atThe Red Lionor Zev’s magic, but because I need tofeed, on blood and desire both.

My heart stutters in my chest, a dangerous reminder that I’m out of medication too. I take a deep breath through my nose, letting it out slowly as I plea with my heart not to act up right now.

I shift on the back of the horse, rising up enough to note the secluded path we’re taking. We’ve just crossed Riverthorne’s border, heading north toward Lingate, the township that houses the Collector’s Keep, his royal palace.

No, no, no.

I can’t meet the Collector in this state, starving and weak with no chance of soothing my heart’s ailment. I wouldn’t stand a chance against him, and I know I’ll only haveoneshot at repaying him the debt he gave me so many years ago.

We’re going the wrong way.

I push off the horse, landing on my feet on the path only to find that both my ankles are bound as well.

“If you two are into bondage,” I say, Jagger and Zev whirling around and stopping the horse in the middle of the path. “All you had to do was say so.”

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