Page 66 of Vanquished Gods

I inhaled again, deeper, trying to push down the unease that nagged at my thoughts. The scent drew me to the bed, where it clung to the sheets. I always made my bed, always kept things in order. What was she doing messing around my bed?

My thoughts raced as I crouched, pressing my nose into the fabric, the smell overwhelming. Panic prickled at the edges of my mind.

I ripped the blankets away, heart hammering in my chest, and slid my hand under the mattress to the spot where I’d hidden Bran’s pendant. My breath hitched. My hand grasped at nothing.

Gone.

She’d found it.

A cold wave of panic slammed into me, making my hands shake. I continued to scramble, searching frantically for something that wasn’t there. No, no, no.

It was then I heard it.

Armor clanged outside, snapping my focus. Footsteps—heavy, rhythmic—moving closer, so loud that they boomed through the stone. Soldiers. They were coming for me.

The door burst open in the next moment, the force shaking the walls as six vampire soldiers stormed inside. I spun, baring my fangs in a low, guttural snarl. “What are you doing in here?” My voice trembled with fury, but I already knew. The answer was written in the cold indifference of the vampire leading them, his pale face framed by dark, slicked-back hair.

“You are under arrest for the murder of Master Bran Velenus.”

A growl rumbled deep in my chest as I watched the soldiers. “Where is Sion?”

They didn’t answer. Instead, they encircled me, stakes of hawthorn gripped in their hands, ready to strike. Tension coiled through my muscles as they surrounded me.

And then the pain hit, sharp and blinding as a stake pierced through my back. I gasped, the agony ripping through me like fire. Darkness swarmed my vision, dragging me under.

I woketo a searing ache in my arms, which were wrenched behind me in chains, the sharp metal biting into my wrists. My vision swam, blurred and thick with the fog of pain, but slowly, the world sharpened around me. Iron bars enclosed me, cold and unforgiving, and beyond that, nothing but the yawning darkness of a cavern. It was damp, the air thick with the smell of wet rocks. From the oculus above, moonlight poured into my cage.

They’d taken my butterfly pendant. My gaze flicked up to the top of the cage, which was covered in iron. There might be just enough shadow cast by the roof of that thing that I could avoid getting burned, but I wasn’t sure.

Hollowness carved through my chest. The pain in my shoulder spiderwebbed through my body from where they’d jammed the hawthorn stake into me.

It wasn’t anywhere near my heart, so it wouldn’t kill me—but gods, the toxins slithering through my body felt like poison. My veins burned, and the hunger made it difficult to think straight. I swallowed hard, trying to think clearly.

Was there a way out of this?

I forced my gaze to the cavern walls. Symbols were carved into the stone, worn from the centuries, etched with the weight of old magic. I remembered reading about symbols that had been carved generations ago, well before the Tyrenians came, when people sacrificed to the gods. Bones lay scattered across the rocky floor, bleached white and brittle with age. This place wasn’t just a prison—it was the shrine to the death god. I was trapped in the pit, not far from where I’d practiced magic with Sion.

Before he learned what I’d done.

I leaned against the iron bars of the cage, trying to force the panic down.

I couldn’t afford weakness now.

I closed my eyes, imagining myself in a cozy cottage with Leo. The light of the setting sun streamed in through the windows, casting a golden warmth over a kitchen of rough-hewn wood. The scent of fresh apples filled the air as Leo carefully worked on his honey glaze for the tarts, his expression beaming. Lydia and Anselm would be over soon. The table was set, and distant laughter floated on the wind. Through my window, I had a view of the sparkling sea.

For a moment, it felt so real, like I could reach out and touch it. Then I opened my eyes, and reality hit me like a punch to the gut. My breath caught, gasping for air that suddenly felt too thin.

I closed my eyes again, fighting the tears. If I were going to survive this—if I had any hope—I’d have to stay in that imaginary place. I tried again, forcing myself to imagine something better than this cage in a pit.

This time, the image that came was different. I was in the forest with Sion under the glow of the stars, bathed in the crackling warmth of a fire. The shifting light illuminated his perfect face, and his golden eyes sparked in the firelight like twin flames. I’d never seen someone so beautiful. I never wanted to leave him.

“I made you something,” he said quietly.

My eyebrows arched. “You did? For what?”

Sion leaned in, close enough that I could feel the heat of him. His lips curved into a faint smile. “It’s only fair. You’ve been feeding me for days.”

“You didn’t eat any of it.” I frowned at him. “How do you survive without eating?”

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