Page 73 of The Veil of Blood and Magic

Rain whinnies as he nudges the succubus in a worried sort of way. I shush him, pushing him back.

“The Collector made sure his armies targeted any surviving Enchantresses during the war,” Jagger says, kneeling next to me as he looks over the succubus.

“And The Drifter Academy has made sure we kill any ancestors or quarter-bloods for years.”

“How the fuck is she alive?” Jagger asks.

Something sharp spears through my heart as I look her over. She’s been hiding and running her entire life, fearful of anyone who uncovered her secret.

“This is what you’ve been hiding,” I whisper, pushing some hair out of her face.

“She’s nothing like the legends say,” Jagger says, shaking his head. “She never once tried to sacrifice us or siphon our powers. And she could’ve easily siphoned mine. I submitted to her twice already, giving her my blood willingly.”

She hadn’t.

Fuck.

“What do we do, Zev?”

“Duty demands we slit her throat and then burn her body.”

Jagger reaches for his dagger again so subtly I almost miss it.

“You would kill me for her?”

“I wouldn’t kill you.” He shrugs. “I’d wound you enough for me to get her somewhere safe.”

He’s so easily ready to betray everything we’ve been taught to protect her.

I’m not angry with him, but it’s reckless.

This entire situation is chaos.

I thought I’d found a succubus to trade and now…

A tress is inherently more valuable. I can get what I want andmore.

Turning her in would set us up for life, one free of bounties and hunts and death knocking on our door.

But the succubus…fuck.

My senses prickle, a new energy snapping through the air.

“Collector core,” Jagger hisses, eyes snapping to mine. “We can’t let them find her.”

I scoop her into my arms, her body so damn limp. “Move,” I command, mounting Rain with the succubus in my arms.

Rain propels us into the wooded area near the Banach swamp, and I send a silent prayer to Aletha to protect our backs as we run. Jagger follows us, keeping up his speed by shifting into his baser form that propels his strength.

Sweat drenches my skin beneath my leathers the longer we ride, despite the chilly autumn night. We weave through thedark tangle of trees, pushing ourselves harder and harder in the hopes of clearing Tamworth and making it to safe ground.

Fucking idiot Balan brought her here thinking the Banach territory would keep me from my bounty.

Primal possessiveness streaks through me, and I cling to her tighter.

“Almost,” Jagger whispers, now leading the way. His sense of direction has always been better than mine. “Caelfalls is close.”

We don’t stop riding or running, not even breaking to catch our breath. Not until we’ve made it across Tamworth’s border and into Caelfalls.

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