Page 54 of The Blood Crown

Karro looked up, eyes piercing the darkness as the noise rose around them, the terrible sound traveling up into the hills.

“What is it?” Tanis whispered, her brown skin blanching.

Karro threw a glance toward Aurelia, silent as he turned away to scan the mountainside once more.

Valea finally answered when no one else volunteered. “Things far worse than you could imagine.” But her words didn’t have the same bite as before.

Karro went back to cleaning his nails, but the rigid line of his shoulders never quite dropped. The human wrapped her arms tighter around herself, the room falling into silence once more—perforated by the jarring noises out in the mountains.

She hated that she’d brought this down upon all of them. Hated that every part of this had been her doing. Had she not asked for the Wraiths help in the human realm, Karro and Ven never would have been stranded in the in-between without their magick. They never would have encountered the silver sirens—never would have been taken captive by Ven’s father . . .

But there was no use for guilt, now.

She leaned her head back against the rough stone wall, knowing damn well sleep would not claim her. She had only just closed her eyes when the sound of Tanis’ soft voice broke the silence again.

“You killed them.”

The words were hushed.

Aurelia cracked her eyes open at the accusation, holding her breath as Valea’s gaze slid to the human.

Tanis did not shrink from the female’s stare, giving an assessing sweep over Valea’s moon-white face—as if searching for some answer there. “The children,” she breathed.

Karro’s knife stilled from where he’d been twirling it between his fingertips.

Valea's eyes hardened as she held the human's gaze, though she did not deny the charge. She did not move, did not so much as shift her eyes—but Aurelia knew the female was silently tracking every blink, every breath that she and Karro took.

A caged beast, waiting for her moment to strike.

Karro’s expression was carefully neutral, gaze still trained on the floor—but the grip on his blade tightened.

Tanis' voice was soft, low—as if she only meant the words for the female across from her. “I know it for the mercy it was.” She narrowed her green and gold flecked eyes, seeming to see through the fierce warrior, the cold-hearted daughter of the Nostari King. "I watched you whisper words to them, whatever you said seemed to take their fear away . . ." Her brown throat bobbed. "And you killed them quickly. Painlessly." She looked down at her small, open palms for a moment before meeting Valea's stare again. “You saved them from the fate that awaited the rest of us."

The Captain’s expression softened just a fraction, the line of her shoulders dropping almost imperceptibly, though she didn't offer a rebuttal. And it seemed Tanis did not expect one as she let her head fall back against the rough wall, closed her eyes, and curled into herself.

The sharp angle of Valea's jaw twitched as she found a spot on the floor to fix her attention, settling back against the stone. And some of the tension leaked out of Aurelia. There would be no fight tonight, it seemed. She glanced to where Karro stood, his eyes lingering on the female—his expression unreadable ashe roughly turned away to stare out into the night-soaked pines once more.

Chapter 28

The path through the Shades was rugged, the terrain growing rougher with every mile they climbed.

They’d been forced to leave the safety of the riverbanks, pushing them deeper into the forest to avoid the Nostari, but leaving them more exposed as night fell. The procession was slow, but thankfully the hills were quiet. They traveled by daylight, keeping to the cover of the pines for Valea’s sake. And much to her credit, the female never uttered a word of complaint as she pulled the hood of her heavy cloak low over her face.

Karro’s eyes lingered on her when she wasn’t looking, his hand reaching out involuntarily at points during the climb only to yank it back when it was clear she had no need of his assistance. But it didn’t escape Aurelia’s notice that Valea watched Karro as well. Not the look of someone sizing up an enemy—something that softened the severe angles of her face, the sharp edge of her stare.

And all of it was preferable for her to focus on than what was still left unsaid between her and Ven.

They’d finally made it out of that place.Allof them. And now?

She’d been so focused on surviving—on finding a way out—that there hadn’t been a moment to consider what would come after.

She glanced over to where Ven stoked the fire to find him already looking at her, the muscles of his jaw working as he held her gaze, his expression unreadable.

I am yours, and you are mine.

Heat flooded her body as his voice whispered across her memory.

Karro approached him, making her tear her eyes away.

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