Page 51 of The Blood Crown

And rage, hot and acrid, burned its way up her spine as the male tightened his grip on Ven.

Hers.

The word came unbidden—raging through her thoughts and smothering all else. He was hers, and hersalone. Fate help anyone who got between them.

It felt as if time stood still.

Fury blistered across Aurelia's shoulders. She moved so quickly that one moment she was a dozen feet behind Cassis, and the next, she was at his throat—fangs ripping into his neck in a spray of blood that coated her face, her neck, drenching the white uniform she wore.

The taste of his blood was bitter with fear, saturated with the same incensed look that was on his face as he whirled toward her.

Outraged bubbled up from his torn throat, eyes wide as his arm went lax around Ven and he slumped to the floor between them.

Ven stepped over his body, a bloodied hand reaching up to grip the side of her face.

His eyes found hers, bringing the wild beast that still raged within her chest to a low murmur.

Shouts echoed down the tunnels, ripping her from the haze of bloodlust as Valea led them away from the gory scene.

The clamor chased after them like hounds on their scent as they sprinted past the block of prison cells.

Aurelia tried not to let her eyes linger. Vacant, haunted gazes stared off into the distance, unaware of the disturbance around them.

All but one.

Hazel eyes locked with hers through the rusted iron bars.

Aurelia turned abruptly at the contact, like a bolt of lightning through her heart at the life still glimmering there.

Despite the utter despair around her, watching day after day as the will slowly leaked out of the other captives, this young woman still vibrated with life. And she wasn't sure if it was a gift or a curse that somehow, after being surrounded by such darkness, the woman still held onto her light.

Dropping her head, she cursed herself for pretending not to hear the whisper of small hands gripping the bars of the cell behind her.

Even if she could manage to get this human and take her with them—the world beyond these walls was not one for something so fragile. But what kind of existence was she damning her to if she left her here . . .

Coward.

She was a fucking coward.

She stopped, turning back to meet those hazel eyes. Bursts of green and brown and gold-flecked throughout. So utterly beautiful. So utterly . . . human.

Placing her hands on the bars of the cell, she let the lightning in her blood wind and sing its way through her veins.

The woman stepped back, but there wasn’t any fear in her eyes as Aurelia unleashed her magick.

With great branching arcs above her head, white streaks of lightning shattered the heavy iron bars. Metal groaned as the locks on every door gave way, bursting open.

And the sheer pleasure of releasing her power, unfettered and unrestrained, was unlike any other.

Light poured through every tunnel, every dark corner. Blinding and infinite.

Heat seared her fingertips and her face as the blast left her ears ringing, bleaching everything from her vision.

And when the light finally dissipated, she reached through the rubble.

Slender brown fingers grasped hers, a beautiful heart-shaped face emerging through the haze left in the wake of her destruction.

“Your name?” Aurelia asked breathlessly.

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