Page 9 of Of Nine So Bold

“Care to try again and see how much pain you can withstand?” Queen Melisandre asked, almost as if she’d enjoy watching me try.

I reached for my magic anyway.

It felt like my wrist was being chewed by a rabid dog with knives for teeth.

Her laughter was the first thing I heard when the pain finally abated.

“Such fools. Even when you Erenlians look like men, you never listen.” Her brow rose and fell. “But then again, it’s not like men do either.” She folded her long fingers in front of her. “The manacle suppresses your powers, rendering you incapable of attacking or using them to free yourself. And when you attempt to use them around me, the manacle reacts as you’ve just experienced. Trust when I say it can get worse. The more you try, the less likely you are to survive your own stupidity.”

Gods help me.

Heart pounding, I tried to keep from showing my horror. But my eyes still darted around, seeking out an escape route as well as attempting to locate anyothernightmarish threats—though the gods knew she was more than enough. My legs shook with residual agony and with the aftereffects of whatever sedative the soldiers had given me, but I still managed to straighten to my full height.

I wasn’t nearly as tall as the massive creatures by the doors to my left and right, though.

Stunned, I stared at them for as long as I dared. Her guards weren’t Huntsmen. Weren’t human or Erenlian either. There were four total—two on each side—and their torsos were like oversized barrels while their limbs were thick as logs. Their skin was green like unripe fruit, and they wore nothing but loincloths of fur, necklaces of bleached bones, and leather straps crisscrossing their chests, the latter of which held more weapons than I cared to think about.

But their eyes were familiar, if only because of the eerie glow they held. Yellow lights. Pink ones. Colors that—even though I knew nothing about whatever these creatures were—I could swear were not natural to their species.

No, Voidborn were inside these creatures, and that alone made me pity these monsters who otherwise looked like they would happily kill me and add my bones to the necklaces hanging around their thick throats.

Queen Melisandre’s smile remained in place when my attention returned to her. The more I looked at her, the more I realized the expression was… wrong. All of this was, of course, but her smile was justflat, like the soulless smile of a painting that had somehow been brought to a semblance of life.

“Come closer.” The command could have come the shadows of a cave, where a predator planned to lure me to my death.

When I didn’t move, low hissing sounds came from the monsters on either side of the throne room. Bone rattled and leather creaked as they took a threatening step closer.

Drawing myself up, I walked a few paces forward.

More details became clear, and suddenly my skin went from crawling to staging a full-blown riot, demanding I get away from herright now.

With effort, I held my ground, nothing in me foolish enough to believe I’d survive a retreat.

Her eyes weren’t merely blue. They were striated by virulent yellow, almost like a strange amalgam of human eyes and those of a creature possessed by the Voidborn. Fangs peeked past her red lips, while her deathly pale skin held the faintest sheen of silver, as if she was becoming one with the same metal as the thrones on either side of her. She gripped the arms of the throne with nails that had clearly worn grooves into the gold, if the scratches below where her fingertips rested were any indication.

But it was the look in her eyes that made every instinct I possessed scream for me to flee, because it was clear she wasn’tonlya predator.

She was insane.

“You allied yourself with my traitorous stepdaughter, did you not?” At my silence, she merely smiled again. “I think I’ll send you back to her as a gift.”

Unease swirled in my gut. I was no warrior, but I could imagine the horrible implications of those words. How none of them meant I’d be returning to my treluria alive.

Or in one piece.

Deep inside, my heart broke at the prospect of never seeing Gwyneira again. Never caressing her beautiful skin or kissing her soft lips. I’d wished to hold her close and cherish her for the rest of my days, though it had not escaped me that the length of my days and hers would differ greatly.

My beloved was a vampire. From all I’d seen of other vampires over these past several weeks, I’d been able to deduce that her lifespan would be measured in far greater lengths of time than mine. Decades, most likely. Possibly even centuries.

There always would have come a day when we were parted by my death.

I just hadn’t anticipated it would come this soon.

Drawing myself up, I held my voice steady and calm as I said, “Do what you will. But know that I will never betray her, and she will never stop seeking justice for all you’ve destroyed. Nothing will change that.”

“You think I plan to send her your body?” She chuckled. “Ido…” Her lips curled, her smile becoming more of a cruel smirk. “After a fashion.”

She twitched her chin at one of the green monsters by the door.

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