Page 99 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

“I apologize for Wyn.” Her silence was beginning to worry me now. “She makes things happen, but it comes at the cost of our peace of mind.”

Cirri smiled again, an edge to the expression.Believe me, I’ve learned that peace of mind is not her forte.

I flexed a hand over her waist, cautious of my claws and the fine cloth she wore. “Is she telling you tales of fiends? Be assured, none of the vampires here will touch you. It is completely forbidden. All of them know this and none will break that decree.”

My wife shook her head as we stepped into the outer courtyard, where the paving stones had been scrubbed clean of lichen.I’m sure it’ll be fine, she said.I’m fine, Bane, really.

I didn’t believe her in the slightest, but perhaps meeting Wroth in person would help alleviate her worries.

“Open the gate,” I called up to the wall guard. Cirri was with me, and there was no greater protection against wargs; she had yet to step foot on wild Rift soil outside the keep.

“Come with me.” I took her hand, holding it gently, and led her outside the thick walls and off the road, into the forest proper, lifting my nose to breathe.

It was the clean scent of pine and mist that I loved, the faint mineral tang of the mines to the north. I breathed in deeply, tasting a hint of salt and leather: Wroth, approaching from upwind, letting me know of his presence.

Cirri craned her head to look up at the tall trees, walking over a carpet of moss and dry needles.It’s so much more peaceful out here.

“Yes. Sometimes I love the hunt, not for its own sake, but to just be outside, away from it all.” I took another deep breath, clearing my head. “Sometimes the keep is too much.”

She was loose and relaxed again, a forest sprite with that red hair, walking between bars of golden light.Yes. It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve really been outside. I didn’t realize how…

My wife trailed off, fisting her hands.

“How?” I prompted, curious as to her thoughts. Cirri’s cheeks reddened, her jaw tightening as she took several more steps into the forest.

She finally turned, that line between her brows back in place, but instead of signing she pulled her journal from her bag and quickly wrote.How trapped I felt. Please don’t be angry, or think that I’m complaining. Sometimes the walls feel like a giant cage. In Argent I could at least walk the city on my days off, and visit the parks. I would walk and think. Here, there are walls and guards around me everywhere I go. I don’t mean this as criticism towards you; I understand why. I just missed it—the quiet, the open space.

“How could I be angry to hear that?” I asked her softly, stepping towards her with my arms open. She came to me, resting her head on my chest. “I feel the same.” I stroked her hair, letting my fingers trail over the smooth nape of her neck, where the bruise had faded to an ugly yellowish green. “One day, all the wargs will be dead, and you will be free to leave the keep whenever you wish. All the Rift will be yours to walk.”

Only if you’re walking with me, she said, and my chest ached at the thought of it; Cirri and I, for all eternity, walking together. No part of the forest untouched by our feet, complete freedom to go wherever we chose.

But… I still could not fathom trapping her forever. Not in the walls of the keep, and not with eternal life, to be forever tied to me, a thing of blood and darkness.

“I’ll walk with you for as long as you desire.” I pressed my lips to her hair, tasting her scent, my thirst sated by the sweet blood she’d gifted to me.

I finally released her, letting her have this time in the forest to clear her mind, vowing to take her outside more often. She was a human who needed sun and fresh air, not a bird to be kept in a pretty cage.

As she strolled the clearing, touching trees and getting sap on her hands, crunching needles underfoot, I kept watch; tasting the air, untainted by wargs, idly planning where to take Cirri when the wolves were gone. There were places in the Rift that were untouched by people, places of beauty that she’d love to see…

Her soft gasp pulled me from the reverie. Cirri stood at the far edge of the clearing, frozen in place with her back to me. Her hands moved jerkily:Hello?

There was an enormous, pale splotch in the trees, half-hidden by sprays of pine. It moved, the scent of salt and leather filling my nose.

The fiend stepped into the clearing, ice blue eyes fixed on my wife, his pupils dilated to the thinness of a thread.

“Wroth. Brother.” The relief that swamped me at the sight of one of my fellows, my brothers in blood and war, was unexpected. It had been ten long years since any of us had really seen each other, ten years since we’d signed our lives away for the Blood Accords, all standing together and knowing that from that moment on, we would never be the same. Ten years since I’d convinced them to become fiends alongside me.

And none of us had looked to the future; we had seen only the glory of war, the pride of taking thrones.

I still remembered Wroth at that table like it was yesterday, a powerful vampire with the stamp of the far north all over him,bones braided into his long white hair, blue eyes flashing as he roared with delight at the legions of wargs to come.

Before he became this.

His upper lip was split into a true muzzle to show his fangs, ears more rounded than mine. He was still frost and snow, with a thick mane of white hair streaming down his spine, and a short, velvety coating of white fur over pale skin.

My muscles tensed as he gazed at Cirri, giving no sign he had heard me. I studied him, relief becoming alarm.

There was no sign of the Wroth I knew in this fiend, his eyes blazing with bitterness and hate, his lips curled up to display sharp teeth.

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