Page 223 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Jade.She needed to find Jade.

Another cry, far to the west. Then a guttural roar from the walkway as the crowd’s cheering went deafening. One of the royals hastened across the crystal, his cheeks stained as red as the blood she imagined was left pooled on the dirt from the beast feeding on its kill.

Alora steadied a breath. Two. Then three.

She wouldn’t die there. She would see her family again. Safe. Healed. Free.

Risking a glance around the ruins, Alora peered through the trees to the balcony. To Garrik hanging there as he had when the Hunt began.

Erissa circled him, wineglass in hand, dragging her finger along his tunic and scowling when his blood stained her finger.

Howdareshe touch him? How dare she touch her husband, her mate,herGarrik?

Alora imagined starfire burning in her palms. Imagined Erissa tied to that stake as her flames languidly climbed the princess’s dress, drawing out the torture, until she was engulfed in an inferno only the likes of Firekeeper had seen.

She knew he couldn’t hear her, but even so, if there was any chance, any bit of magic that could cleave through the poison in their veins, Alora threw across that empty tether,I’m coming, Garrik. Hold on?—

Sputtering clicks bounced around the stones. A purring-like sound of a creature entered the ruins.

Close—too close.

Tiny stones crumbled from the wall as Alora pushed from it, veering to the right toward a slender opening harboring a dense forest beyond. Perhaps she could climb a tree, anchor herself in the canopy, scan the arena, and find Jade and?—

More clicks. More sputtering purrs. Closer—much closer.

It seemed the entire arena had quieted the moment two faeries slipped between the trees in front of her. The freckled sunlight glistened against their stained-glass-like wings, glittering pearlescent dots dusted from their amethyst fingertips to their necks. One limped, and blue blood ran from a wound in her thigh while the other held her close, terrified at the sight of Alora.

The same terror Alora had seen in the High City when that female was forced on her knees atop shattered glass. It was her. And … a sister? Alora wondered how the other ended up here. Did she attempt to free the female only to be seized and suffer the same fate?

She’d never find out.

Alora raised her hands in surrender and called out, “You need to run?—”

The female’s heads snapped upward at the same time Alora’s did.

One blink—one starsdamned blink—and the leathery streak of dark wings soared above her with imperceivable speed. Then the crunch. The bloodcurdling crunch of bone and blood and glassy wings. Bile burned her throat as the females were squelched and snapped into pieces feet away.

A nightdiver. A male faerie turned into a flying creature made of night. Of leathery wings and scales, two legs, and a vicious barbed tail with even more lethal rows of teeth.

She didn’t dare whimper for fear she’d be its next feast.

Alora whirled to those ruins and kept running, not slowing until she flew from them and out to the arena to find Jade.

It turnedout the little faith Alora had in seeing the Hunt past nightfall was wrong.

Somehow, through the never-ending sounds of death and dying, dusk crested outside the glass dome.

She’d managed to conceal herself in brush. Lying low, tightening her fists around sharp stones or makeshift spears,slowing her breathing with every snap of a branch and low growl. The safety of a dam was enough to hide in the waters, washing most of Jade’s mud-crusted runes away, while collections of footsteps raced by hour after hour.

Silas’s bored stare had followed her every step. Never too near to expose her position, but always searching for her like a creature haunting the night. Calling to his collar with every twist of the ring.

And now, lingering at the edge of a barren field and concealed in shadows, Alora clung to a tree as she had when Garrik had sought Kerimkhar, unsure if she should step out. The blood of five crow-picked faeries was enough of a warning. Perhaps any creature thinking of scouring the meadow would see that something else had made a meal and nothing more was of interest.

Perhaps she could pile the bodies and hide underneath—no. She’d leave the dead in their resting place.

Hope fluttered the more she scanned. In the distance, a crumbling tower broke through the trees. If she could barricade herself inside, make some sort of signal, something only Jade would understand …

It would work.It had to.

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