Page 68 of A Bond in Blood

Ulrich crossed one leg over the other, his eyes staring into my soul. “Yes, I bet this littlewhoremakes the most delicious noises.”

My knife was flying through the air in an instant.

Olen stood, shouting at me but the sounds all drowned out when Ulrich caught the blade, his black blood dripped onto the table as it sliced open his palm.

Those unnatural shadows of his whipped around him, crawling up the walls while he stood.

“Do you not like being called awhore, Brenna?” he asked with a smile.

My ears rang as I tracked the beast. He stalked around the table, shoving the chairs between myself and him to the side. His eyes swirled with black behind the horned mask over his brow. A fitting disguise for the creature preparing to attack.

Olen may have been shouting still, but I couldn’t hear him. Not when my hand had wrapped around my fork, ready to stab it into Ulrich’s neck.

His shadows grew around me, creating a wall. Blocking his right hand from reaching us.

“Do it,” the king taunted. “Please,Ursa. I have missed our little game.”

My hands shook while I stared into his eyes. “You’re a monster.”

“I’m abeast,” he sneered. His tendrils of shadows shot out, wrapping around my wrist, lifting it from my lap. “I’mdespicable.” The shadows pulled and I was lifted to my feet, the pathetic weapon in my grip now placed at the pulse on his neck.

“I’m ademon.”

He released his hold on me, tilting his head, providing the perfect target for my attack. But my hands shook, unable to press hard enough to break his skin.

“Can’t do it?” he sneered, wrapping his massive palms around my wrist. He shoved down, forcing my trembling hands to break the skin, his dark blood now trickling down his neck.

“Let go,” I demanded.

“Do it, Brenna,” he replied. “Do it and see what happens. See what horrors unleash upon this world without me in it.”

“You’re a monster.”

“I amDeath.” He pressed harder and the fork plunged further into his neck. “Youcannotkill me.”

The shadows around us disappeared in an instant. Olen’s hands wrapped around my arms as he pulled me away. His shouts were loud but still muffled behind the ringing in my ears.

Ulrich stood, ripping the fork from his neck and throwing it onto the table. He turned to his red-faced, yelling right hand.

The ringing stopped at the clearing of his throat and Olen’s shouting silenced.

“I want her at the docks tomorrow,” the king addressed his most trusted confidant. “She sleeps in the dungeon. A shame, Brenna. We were just beginning to get along.”

Ulrich left the room with his shadows trailing at his feet as Olen twisted me around, leading me out of the main doors. When we reached the hall, I shirked away his hands.

“I know the way to the dungeons!” I cried out, picking up my pace.

“You chose to ignore my advice the other night,” Olen said beside me.

I refused to glance at him. “You’re as demented as he is. Your friendship with him is not surprising. I, however, could never be close to such a monster.”

“You don’t know that,” Olen replied.

I stopped my steps, turning on my heel to gaze up at him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He grinned back at me. “Neither do you.”

“I hate you.”

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