Page 52 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Something like velvet rippled over her body.

Smokeshadows crawled up her legs and over every inch of her until the leathery touch of battle-black armor returned.

That was when she heard it. What must have caught Garrik’s attention. Heavy footsteps inside the tree line. Snaps of branches and … bickering.

“I’ll have you know, I am the most coveted cuddler in Elysian!” Aiden’s voice cut through the bushes.

“Females, Aiden. With females.Not me!” And then she saw them emerging from the forest as Thalon glowered at their sea captain. “And I remember a time when a courtier ran screaming from your bedchamber from the horrors of your pimply ass.”

“For-stars-sake, get me out of here.” Jade shook her head at the sky.

Thank Maker of the Skies.Thalon looked well enough to sluggishly walk straight. His armor carried scuffs, with a white cloth stained with specks of dried blood wrapped around his forehead.

Alora’s focus shifted to Garrik, who had backed away. “What were you?—”

Later,he promised and turned toward their friends.

“The boys got handsy the last two days.” Jade’s crooked smile twisted when her gaze met Garrik’s unamused scowl.

They neared the barn as Thalon planted his boot on the ground and bellowed, “What?No.” He paused, glaring at Jade, then snapped back to Garrik, clacking his Earned. “No!I woke up spooning with Aiden against my will. And I don’t care if it was to keep me warm—I’d rather freeze next time. Can’t even begin to imagine the nightmares I’ll suffer.”

“Perhaps instead of giving us such horrifying images of Aiden’s ass, we could finish what we came here for and leave this unstable shit-hole?” Garrik offered.

Aiden scoffed. “Technically not a hole.”

A hollow thud resounded.

Aiden cried out as Jade’s palm retreated from the back of his head.

Garrik mumbled under his breath and shook his head, and twisting toward Alora, he held out his hand.

She knew what he was asking without saying a word. Alora dipped into her pocket, producing the glimmering ruby settled inside the necklace. With a twist of her wrist, Soulstryker sat in her palm, outstretched to Garrik’s awaiting hand.

The Shadow Order gathered as Smokeshadows tendriled around the necklace.

Thalon stood near Garrik, slowly shifting his eyes along their High Prince’s form with a sharp pinch of his brows.

With golden eyes burning at him, Garrik stiffened as his focus flickered to Thalon. Something wholly lethal flashed in his gaze, and Thalon shifted on his feet with a glance at Alora.

Alora furrowed her brows, a subtle shake of her head in question, but their Guardian merely turned to Garrik, who still glowered at him, before his attention settled on Soulstryker.

No one said a word as Blood was loosened from the necklace and lifted on a shadow whorl. It floated through the air, gleaming, until Garrik rotated the dagger, leaving Blood’s resting place waiting.

The gemstone settled inside the hilt, and for a moment, all was quiet.

“Well, is that it?” Aiden’s disappointment peppered his face with a whine. “Bit anticlimactic.”

Jade glared. “Shut up, you fool?—”

“Fuck,”Garrik growled.

Like the sand of an hourglass, the crimson stonedissolved.

Shards and dust and seared bits of leather fell, sprinkling off the handle and dropping to the grass below.

Life’s gemstone erupted in light, so bright and brutal that they winced away as Garrik and Thalon held their eyes strong.

But within the light …

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