Page 88 of On Wings of Blood

I felt sick. Kage was enjoying the chaos he had sparked. The tension between the two men was palpable. There was a long rivalry here and somehow I’d gotten stuck right in the middle of it.

This was worse than Regan.

Blake had just fucking killed for me.

Maybe the worst part of it was... For a moment, I’d liked it. He’d done what I’d wanted to do.

Blake remained rooted in place, staring at the place Kage had been standing, before finally shifting his gaze down to me.

I watched his eyes and for the first time noticed the unfocused glaze. He’d been drinking. He was drunk or at least halfway there.

His eyes lingered on me, moving from my face slowly down my body.

A slow, lazy smirk spread across his handsome face.

“You look good tonight, Pendragon.” His voice was low, almost amused. “I think I’ve changed my mind. You should stay. Enjoy the party.”

My pulse quickened. The casual way he spoke after what he'd just done made my skin crawl.

He took a step closer, his tall frame towering over me.

His hand moved, as if he was about to touch my waist.

Instinct flare, quicker than thought, and in a heartbeat I had a knife in my hand–drawn from my corset, from the hidden sheath between my breasts.

The cold steel was pressed against Blake’s throat before his hand could reach me.

His eyes widened, ever so slightly, surprise flickering over his face.

Then his smirk widened. My heart sank.

But still, I leaned in, spitting the words with a venomous intensity. “I’ll never be yours, Blake Drakharrow. Ever. If you’relooking for a girl who will do what you want, you won’t find her here. Remember that.”

For a heartbeat, the world stood still around us. The fire crackled from afar, casting shadows across Blake’s pale face. I spotted the curling swirls of his tattoos rising up from the open collar of the white shirt he wore and I tried not to think about that day I’d first seen them, the way he’d moved, the way his body had looked gleaming with the sheen of sweat. The way it might feel to run my hands over it.

Blake stared down at me, his expression unreadable.

I didn’t know if I wanted him to talk or not. I didn’t know what I wanted. And that was becoming a problem. A problem I could end–right here, right now. It would be so easy. For a moment, my breath hitched as I thought of sliding the blade across his throat.

Would the other highbloods kill me in an instant for daring to touch one of their own?

Silence was best, I decided. I pulled my knife away, sliding the blade back into my corset. Turning on my heel, I strode across the sand, away from the fire, away from the highbloods, away from Blake.

As the darkness swallowed me whole and I left him standing there alone, I didn’t look back. Not once.

CHAPTER 18 - MEDRA

As I stumbled across the sand in the dark, heading back towards where I’d left my boots, a shadow drifted out of the night.

I reached for my knife, heart pounding, waiting for the moonlight to illuminate the stranger.

“Medra? Is that you?”

I stopped, my heartbeat slowing. “Vaughn?”

It was Vaughn Sabino. The mortal boy who had nearly been my match in Basic Combat class the first day.

“What are you doing here?” I asked with surprise.

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