Page 90 of The Blood Crown

Ven pulled her further into his lap, the callused pad of his finger brushing the claiming mark at her throat. “I know that you belong here—I know that you are as much one of us as Seth, or Nira, or Embra.” He placed a featherlight kiss on her lips. “I know that you belong to me, and I to you.”

And the certainty in his voice was enough to unclench the fist around her chest.

“Come with me,” He pulled her up, tugging her out of the invitingly warm covers.

“Hey—” Her protests were cut off as he pulled one of his shirts over her arms, his fingers deftly finding the buttons.

“Being clothed is theoppositeof what I had planned for the night,” she groused.

He brushed a kiss across her lips, whispering wickedly, “Then you should realize how important this is that I’m denying myself of that.”

Massive wooden doors towered above them, somehow seeming even taller than she last remembered.

Ven dropped her hand from where it had been wrapped in his, gesturing toward the Armory door in front of them. “After you, Love.”

She pushed aside the iron latch covering the intricate locking mechanism in the door. A flare of impatience at whatever he’d drug her down here to prove as sharp metal bit into the pad of her thumb.

Pressing her finger to the lock, she watched as a bead of scarlet rolled through the channels. Another breath later and metal groaned as the lock opened for her.

Ven pushed the doors open, bare-chested and barefoot as he stepped inside the chamber. His hand outstretched, open and waiting.

The Armory looked exactly as she’d remembered. Torches flooded the space with amber light, picking out the threads of gold and bronze throughout the black stone surrounding them. The cases illuminated with gleaming weapons, rows of blades, every shape and size lining the walls.

Ven stalked toward the back of the chamber, past the familiar room and into a darkened alcove beyond. Following him, her breath hitched as the torchlight scattered, fracturing into a kaleidoscope of light as it reflected on the walls of glass filled with glittering jewels.

Rubies so large they would have filled her entire palm. Emeralds and sapphires. Diamonds that sparkled and glittered, seeming to radiate their own light.

“Some of my predecessors were more—ostentatiousthan others.” Ven crossed his arms over his chest, watching her with a wry smirk. “Any of them are yours, should you wish,” he offered.

“Are you trying to seduce me?” she teased.

“Had I known it would be that easy—” he began, cut off as she gave him a playful swat. But the laughing smile fell from her face as she looked to the wall above them. To the two crowns nestled in blood red velvet.

Dark swirls of iron crested at their centers, capturing crystals of black tourmaline. Smaller chips of diamond clustered around the midnight colored stones, scattering the torchlight. The larger was proud, solid. The other, slightly more delicate, though just as commanding.

Aurelia rubbed a finger along the matching ring that now adorned her hand. The emerald cut of the black stone smooth against her thumb.

“The Armory doors only unlock with the blood of our people,” Ven murmured from inside the torchlit chamber. Her head snapped up at the realization. “Some spell put in place by my forebears,” he continued. “Even Embra cannot open the doors despite being Bound to Nira.”

It’s why he’d made her open them tonight when he easily could have done it himself.

“Tomorrow,” Ven murmured from beside her, “you will stand beside me and wear the crown of the Blood Queen.” He turned toward her then, his eyes sparkling like a crimson sea in the flickering light. His deep voice rumbling through her chest as he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "The Blood Folk are your people." His large hand wrapped aroundhers, putting it to his chest, the steady beat of his heart beneath her palm. “And this place is your home.”

They made their way back through the Armory, passing the rows of gleaming broadswords, shelves of black-bladed daggers, cases of the lethal, six-pointed hexes Seth preferred.

But it was the dull glint of iron that snagged Aurelia's attention.

She stopped, unable to help herself.

Even now, housed behind the glass case, power rippled and hummed from the coins of atonement. Only two remained . . . the only true weapons they had to fight against the Princes of the Void.

She reached out a hand, threads of golden-white light stretching toward her as if in answer.

Chapter 46

Agown the color of falling dusk skimmed Aurelia’s body.

Sleeves of deep charcoal bled into indigo, kissing her skin down to her wrists. Dashes spiraled down her arm, visible through the sheer fabric. The plunging neckline displayed the sunburst now etched there—a scaled down version of the one that spanned Ven’s chest—the rays ending just below her breasts and wrapping around her ribcage. She turned in the mirror, the length of the prayer to Fate inked down her spine exposed in the low back of the dress.

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