Page 23 of The Blood Crown

She fought down the urge to flinch as he leaned toward her with a predatory flare of his nostrils.

“This one smells . . . unusual.” He resumed his slow pacing, a warning prickle trailing down her spine as he passed behind her. “You don’t smell human—but you don’t have the appearance of one ofthem, either,” he added with a nearly imperceptible nodtoward where Ven stood next to her, his feet braced apart as if he might try to strangle the king with the chains that bound his hands.

“Solari scum,” someone uttered from the periphery of the throne room. Laughter dispersed as some of the others echoed the sentiment.

Ven bristled at the words, his eyes trained on the king, who had stopped his circling to look toward the slender male that had thrown the insult. At once, the laughter died. The smug look on the male’s face drained along with what little color had been there.

“It would be wise of you to remember who you are speaking to,” the king said with deathly calm as his pale red eyes slid back to Ven. “The Wraith Commander,” he spat out the title like a curse. “The Black Veil of the Battlefield.” A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth in something resembling pride as hushed whispers scattered throughout the room.

If Ven could illicit such fear amongst a court full of monsters, he must have made quite the reputation for himself, indeed. It was a reminder that magick had dwindled over the centuries since the war. With the power that she’d witnessed Ven wield even in its depleted state, he must have been a terror to behold when magick had been rampant in their world.

“But what . . . are you?” The king turned his attention to Aurelia once more.

It reminded her so faintly of the night when Ven had asked her nearly the same question that it took her a moment to realize the king was waiting for her answer.

“A half-breed,” she replied.

Maybe not a truth, but not quite a lie.

“Fortunate that you found each other, then,” the king said, glancing to Ven.

And she was reminded once more that half of Ven’s blood, half of his power, belonged to this den of vipers.

“Your name, child,” the king purred, the sound of his voice making her skin crawl.

She lifted her chin, wincing as the wound in her shoulder pulled with the movement. “Aurelia.”

“An unusual name for an unusual female.” His eyes landed on her dark brown hair, the gold flecks of her eyes marking her as something other. “Who was your sire, girl?”

“I never knew him,” she answered flatly. The only true father she’d known had been buried nearly six months ago.

“You will forgive my curiosity—it’s been a long while since I’ve encountered a half-breed. The Solari have always been less . . . discriminating with their bloodlines.” His mouth split into a wide grin as a rumble of laughter burst from him. The hall rang out with echoing amusement, the simpering Nostari nobility desperate to please him. But the blade of a female remained impassive on his other side.

He stalked close enough to reach out his hand. “Though I’ve never met one in my lifetime where the blood of our kind didn’t win out.” He lifted a lock of her dark brown hair between his pale fingers.

Instinct overrode fear as she bared her teeth in a silent snarl, her sharpened canines proof enough of what she was.

Out of the corner of her eye, wisps of shadow gathered, slithering across the stone floor of the throne room. Thin and translucent, as if they were the last dregs of Ven’s power—all that remained of his magick now that they were injured and half-starved. The chains binding their hands stifling whatever small amount was left.

The king turned the heavy ruby ring between his forefinger and thumb, the firelight catching the facets of the jewel andsetting it aflame. “How was it that this came into your possession?”

She tilted her chin up, meeting his eye once more as she answered, “I killed the last man who wore it.”

Silence stretched throughout the cavern as the king’s gaze raked over her, taking her measure. Though from the power she felt rippling off him, he could easily kill her where she stood.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. “And yet Fate has decided that it belongs here.” He clasped the ring in his palm. “Interesting.”

He looked at her, then. Cunning and cruel eyes assessing her, and for a moment there seemed to be a flicker of genuine gratitude that crossed his expression as he said, “Thank you.” Gone just as quickly as he gave a jerk of his chin towards the guards nearby. “Kill her.”

The words barely registered for how carelessly he spoke them. The silence was shattered as Ven shouted, eyes widening in fury.

The grip on either side of her arms tightened and she was drug backward, her boots slipping on the stone.

Ven spun and kicked the chest of the guard holding him, breaking free for a moment. The shackles at his wrists bound his magick, but they did nothing to damper the strength that he’d honed for centuries. He twisted, tearing out the throat of the guard behind him, his chin dripping blood as the others fought to restrain him.

Nira’s instruction rang through Aurelia's panic as she became dead weight, going limp between the guards. Without the tension of her body, she slipped through their grasp for a moment, kicking between the legs of the male and using her bound hands to strike the female under the chin with a satisfying crack of teeth.

She cried out as a blast of heat seared along her arm, trying to dodge the red flames that shot toward her. Hands wrapped around her once more, restraining her.

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