Page 48 of Cruel Vampire King

I didn’t hesitate. “How many vampires know that you secreted me away for clandestine meetings with the king?”

Thessa gasped, but Greyson looked unsurprised.

Marissa laughed. “That was quite fun to watch.”

It wasn’t an answer, but I didn’t push it. My mind was racing. Was there a possibility left for us to get out of this?

We were escorted into the colosseum and shoved through the low arches into the arena right away. I was glad they weren’t delaying it. A stadium announcer gave us our names and read the bios we’d given at the start of this. They conspicuously didn’t name Thessa’s crimes or why she’d been selected from the games. Her eyes were wide, her breathing rapid as she continually looked round. Several times I thought she was going to bolt, but she didn’t move.

The crowd jeered but suddenly fell silent. A prickle washed over my skin and I knew without turning that Luken had just entered. Thessa’s head jerked around and she gasped. Greyson was slower. His hands tightened into fists. I remained where I was, not looking. Even so, I saw him in the corner of my eye. He was dressed all in black, in the traditional royal garb. The one that Thessa said she had made. And Darcie…

I turned then, meaning only to look at the sash and examine my sister’s work. But as soon as my head turned, Luken’s eyes caught mine. My heart hammered. Dressed as he was in his royal finery, with a heavy silver circlet on his brow, he looked every inch a king… no, he looked like a god.

The oracle, swathed in a shroud that hid everything but their height from the crowd, stood next to him. They spoke in a wailing voice that changed in such fluctuations it sent shivers down my spine.

“The final trial will begin. You three will fight now, to the death. There can only be one survival of the Blood Trials.Only one will experience their rebirth in the blood that has been spilled.”

“And what if we don’t?” I demanded, speaking despite myself.

Luken’s expression didn’t change but the gathered vampires murmured to each other disapprovingly. Apparently, they didn’t like having their entertainment talk back.

“If you refuse, you will have insulted the Gods themselves,” the oracle said. Their voice wasn’t quite so mystical this time, and I thought the tone sounded feminine. “If you refuse, then they will have no mercy. You will be vanquished and the Gods will consume your souls.”

Thessa moaned and whimpered. “That’s exactly what I was trying to escape.”

“Give them their weapons,” the oracle ordered.

A handful of guards came forward, carrying with them three fresh swords. Apparently, our chosen weapons were being taken away. Thessa swayed on the spot as they approached. She shied toward me only to stop. Bracing herself, she lifted her chin.

Was it hopeless, then? I stared hard at Luken, and he stared back. I couldn’t read him. If all my begging and bargaining up to this point had been for nothing, was it worth trying again? Or would he just laugh at me? I handed over my staff without complaint. My mind was blank. There was no getting out of this alive, not with Greyson and Thessa surviving as well.

Who do I fight for? Thessa or Darcie?If I got Thessa through this, would be have the wherewithal for her wish to be Darcie’s freedom? Or would she succumb to Luken the moment he put his fangs in her? She only got her wish if she resisted him.I couldn’t imagine that she could. Not a naive young girl as she was. If anything, she’d end up like me four years ago.

Helplessly in love and doomed to suffer daily.

Could I really put her through that? And the guilt of survival… that might be as deadly for someone like Thessa as a sword would be.

Greyson traded his sword for a new one and tested its weight in his hand. “No point in delaying this any longer.” He shook his head as he sheathed the sword and began to braid his hair. As he did so, he met my eyes. His gaze was flat, hard, lacking all of the warmth he’d showed during our survival in the forest. “I really wish you had let me fuck you.”

The hard cadence of his words made me flinch but I pushed it aside. Right now, I was thinking the same thing. My heart pounded as I broke my gaze from Luken and reached for a sword of my own. I had to kill him. There was no other choice here. He had to die. I really ought to have given him my body. Maybe he would have some comfort in these last days of his life, then. Was my virginity really worth it?

I needn’t have protected it so much,I thought bitterly.I’m going to lose it to Luken. To the man who killed my family. I should have given it away to someone else. I should have been cavalier with my body. Instead, he is going to take the last innocent thing from me.

I had no doubt he would. He told me I’d be begging him to take me—and I didn’t doubt that, either. I would beg him if that’s what it took to save… whoever I was going to save.

Thessa’s sword dangling limply from her hand, the point tracing abstract patterns in the dust. Her head swiveled constantly, as though she still thought she could escape. I bracedmyself. If I saved Darcie, she would never have to know what happened to Thessa. She’d be free…

What exactly did Thessa mean when she said she was trying to escape the Gods devouring her soul?

This was it. I closed my eyes, preparing myself. Taking a few breaths, I tried to empty myself of emotion. The way Greyson already had. The way Thessa could not. I turned slightly, so my back was to the crowd. Greyson was the bigger threat. I’d take him out first. That way, whatever I decided for Thessa…

There’s no more time to vacillate! I should have chosen already.

Panic threatened to rise in my chest. I fought it down.

“Before the final battle begins, I have something to say,” Luken said, his voice clear and even.

My eyes snapped open. They sought him out without me telling them to do so, as though they were entities with minds of their own. He wore a sword at his own hip, and his hand rested lightly on the pommel of a knife. His amber eyes pinched at the sides as he smiled, but there was no humor in his face. A cold arrogance radiated from him that made me shiver as much as it drew me in.

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