Page 53 of The Blood Crown

The bridge crumbled under the impact, falling down, down, down into the dark abyss at either side and the churning current of the river far below. The silver-haired Nostari disappeared—along with Ven and Karro.

Horror clenched Aurelia's chest as she sprinted to the ragged edge of the bridge, gripping the stone as she reached—

A large hand clasped around her forearm.

A dark head appeared above the torn stone as Ven gripped her arm, hauling himself onto the bridge.

Beside her, Valea gritted her teeth, her pale skin burning as she threw all of her weight into pulling Karro up.

Arrows rained down, chasing their footsteps across the expanse of the bridge—the cover of the pines only a dozen feet ahead of them.

Valea glanced behind her in what seemed to be a final parting. The cold wind whipped the hood of her cloak back from her face, and in the glow of morning, her porcelain skin began to turn pink, then red. She did not scream, she did not utter a sound as her skin blistered, grasping Karro’s outstretched hand and finally letting him pull her to the safety of the forest.

“We need to be as far from this place as possible before night falls,” Ven uttered as they ran deeper into the Shades.

“I know a place,” Valea panted, throwing her blood red cloak over her silver hair.

They traveled as fast as they dared, cutting through the darkest patches of the forest, where the winter sun was still blotted out by the canopy of pines. The sunlight would keep the bulk of the Nostari forces from following them—but by nightfall they would have not only the king searching for them, but Maloch and his demons as well.

Valea was weak from the exposure to sunlight, and Tanis from being locked in a cell for months. But even so, neither of the females complained as they scrambled boulders and cut through the harsh terrain to find the abandoned outpost.

Dusk began to fall, the pale purple settling into violet and magenta as at last Valea pointed to a pile of boulders. “There,”she panted, the left side of her face still raw beneath the hood of her cloak.

Only a shell remained of the crumbling watch tower, the stone columns and roof mostly collapsed. But the ruins were far enough off any trail that they would be well hidden, and if anyone happened to pass close by, they’d never take notice of the worn remains that looked no more than a collection of stones.

Karro helped Valea into the interior of the darkened ruins with surprising gentleness, and the female must have been hurting enough that she didn’t fight him as he wove an arm beneath her shoulders. She grimaced, looking a little too long at Tanis, hunger apparent in her red eyes.

Aurelia stepped in front of the woman, drawing Valea’s gaze, that familiar cold expression crossing her features once more. The look of a predator.

She angled her body between the two females. They didn’t need a fight in the midst of everything else they were running from, but she wouldn’t sit idly by at a threat to the human.

The corners of Valea’s lips curved up into a sharp smile, challenge glittering in her red eyes—but finally—whether reason won out, or she didn’t have the energy for the fight, she turned away.

It wasn’t until she was out of sight that Aurelia let her shoulders drop. “Don’t stray too far,” she murmured over her shoulder to Tanis.

The space inside the outpost didn’t leave much room for privacy.

Aurelia picked a spot along the wall, legs stretched out in front of her as Tanis took up the place beside her. Karro leaned against a crumbling doorway, knife in his hand, picking at his nails. Ven stood somewhere just beyond the threshold, meltinginto the night as he kept watch. And even though she couldn't see him, she couldfeelhim. Sense the steady beat of his heart as if it pounded inside her own ribs.

An unnerving sensation that had only amplified since they'd shared blood beneath that cold, dark mountain.

Their reluctant savior had claimed her own patch of floor at the far end, knees tucked under her chin—the position making Valea appear far more innocent than she truly was.

Aurelia watched her, trying to make sense of the ruthless female that had helped them escape.

She’d gotten them out of that place as she’d promised, but could they truly trust her? There was something about the female that spoke to Aurelia. Something buried beneath the hard exterior of the king's daughter that leaked through when she wasn’t careful.

Valea’s pale red eyes flicked up to where Karro stood across the room, tracing the lines of his body until she caught Aurelia studying her and seemed to remember herself. The angles of her face sharpened, the faintest blush staining her cheeks as she lifted her chin. Bright red eyes slid toward Tanis, then back to Aurelia. “You have a peculiar affection forthem,” she drawled.

A deflection.

Aurelia didn’t owe the female an explanation, and she didn’t offer one.

So Valea stretched her long legs out again, crossing lean arms over her chest. “You have not done her a favor." Her full lips thinned into a sneer. “The Shades are no place for a human. She will die a more gruesome death out there than whatever fate she would have faced at Mountveil.”

Something blazed in Valea’s carnelian eyes. Whether it was anger that the human might slow them down, or fear of their own demise, Aurelia couldn’t have said.

“Maybe that’s what’s coming for all of us,” she answered. “But better to die outside those walls than within them.” A harsh truth—but they’d witnessed too many harsh things for her to lie. She glanced through the crumbling stone, out to the inky black that had descended over the forest, and as if in answer—echoing shrieks rose up the mountain face.

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