Page 23 of Lifeblood

I kept backpedaling as the icy-cold pain seeped through the veins of my arm and down my back, a slow creep that felt like it might freeze me over for good. I only stopped moving when my back slammed into something solid. Then a hand, warm and out of place, rested on my good shoulder.

“You’re safe.” Mordred appeared from the shadows, the rest of his body forming from darkness.

Silver blood flowed between my fingers, pouring down my arm. My head spun. “I don’t know about that.”

Mordred glanced down, his jaw worrying, but Lance was there in the next moment, healing magic already on his fingertips. He began healing the wound right away, but I pushed his hand away.

“Tristan,” I said, pointing to where Tristan was trying and failing to order the wraiths to stop. He instead resorted to dispersing them with green-tinged magic. For a moment, I could’ve sworn his hands looked gray, like stone.

A warmth pulsed through the room, followed by a storm of fire so large, it was absolutely impressive such a torrent was masterfully controlled. Gareth. The fire lit the room, revealing the whereabouts of the remaining wraiths and burning at least one of them to cinders.

Another wail. This one closer.

I saw its eyes, hollow sockets darker than the rest of the room, before the wraith’s full body. It was coming right at Mordred from behind. I pushed him out of the way with my good arm and lifted a palm of light magic to its jaw. The wraith burned in the light but still tried to reel away. Lance spun fast, stopping my healing just long enough to fire magic into the wraith to finish it off.

Mordred met my gaze, a look approaching gratefulness in his eyes before they hardened and he grabbed my wrist. “We’re supposed to be protectingyou. Don’t make that more difficult.”

“Weird way to saythank you,” I commented. Lance’s warm, healing magic pulsed in my skin. The bleeding had stopped and he was knitting my flesh back together now. “Thank you,Lance.”

He winked at me. We all returned our attention to the great hall, but Gareth and Tristan had already rid us of the rest of the wraiths.

Tristan paced the room with angry, desperate steps even after the danger had ended. But that was probably for the best because Gareth was following his footsteps, seemingly waiting for a perfect moment to pounce on Tristan.

“What thefuckwas that?” Gareth roared. “Get your court under control.”

Tristan shook his head, but his attention was on a corner of the room. Spirits again, I guessed. “It is.”

“Clearly not,” Lance said, chiming in.

“Oh, fuck off,” Tristan exclaimed. “A lifeblood is found again and televised on live national TV, and you expect immortality-seeking rogues tonotcome knocking?”

“No,” Mordred said coolly. He was still nearby, but Lance had paced away. “I expect you to keep your court in check at all times, and especially now.”

“They know,” I said. “Everyone does. I… guess I didn’t take that into account when outing myself.” I’d not only painted a target on my back for the demon kings, but also for every supernatural seeking immortality.

“You thought we’d kill you,” Gareth spat.

I spun slowly to him. “Can you blame me when every—”

Tristan swung a hand through the air. “Stop accusing us of killing women when we’ve said time and time again that’s not true.”

I locked my jaw and kept silent.Fair enough.

Lance leaned his back against a nearby, magic-damaged wall. “They know we have to share her or risk war. Enterprising individuals will see this as a chance to gain power if we’re not careful.”

“Thank you,” Tristan said.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Lance replied. “We still haven’t decided how to handle this.”

At this, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Yes, we have. Share me. This mate bond belongs toallof us. If there really is some super dangerous threat on the horizon, we should face it together.”

Besides, there was no more ignoring the mate bond. Even now, with adrenaline pumping from the attack, I could hardly breathe straight for the weight of all four kings’ presence. It was like a straight shot to my heart, an anchor holding me together.

Lance gestured to me. “See, there’s a solution. Thank you, Ava.”

The kings looked at each other in turn. If I didn’t know better, I’d have assumed they were having some telepathic conversation. But no, this was just one they could apparently have with looks.

Mordred spoke first. “Then we must act fast before there are more attacks.”

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