Page 93 of Vows Forged in Blood

“Is that it? Scratching like a feral alley cat?” Kilgren scoffs, laughing mockingly. A few Revenants around us join in. “I’m honestly a little disappointed, Dahlia. I expected more from the legendary High General’s mate.”

A moment later blinding pain explodes through my stomach as his claws sink deep into my flesh, ripping through bone and muscle. I gasp, trying to breathe around the pain, but it’s impossible. I hear Alaric roar in fury, screaming as he feels my pain through our bond. I blink at Kilgren, trying to keep my thoughts focused.Just a little longer. I need to hold on a little longer.

I grit my teeth against the pain and my legs nearly give out when I look down to see Kilgren’s fingers buried inside my body, blood pouring like a waterfall. He releases my right wrist and wraps his arm around my lower back, holding me upright and pulling me close to his body. It’s strangely gentle, almost intimate.

“And, to no one’s surprise, I am the victor of this little challenge,” he muses. I cough and blood fills my mouth, dripping over my lips and down my chin. I reach a trembling hand up to his face, laying it against his cheek. His brow furrows in surprise at the touch, but he doesn’t pull away.

“There was a better way,” I say softly, sliding my hand down his face to the side of his neck. “You should have listened to them.”

He scoffs. “Peace? You use your dying breath to speak ofpeace? How pathetic.”

I lean up towards him as I press the hidden release on the band of my ring, the one da had given me all those months ago. The one that was my own design.

Discrete weaponry has always been a habit of mine.

The thin needle pops out from the side.

“Not dying yet,” I whisper, and slam my hand into his throat. I feel the needle break through his skin, sinking directly into the thick vein there. The powder hidden inside the stone empties, flowing directly into his bloodstream.

He releases me, his claws sliding free from my gut. I nearly topple before steadying myself, one hand flying to my wound. I cringe at the feel of my ruined flesh, the blood and…slimy things that I don’t want to think about too deeply. His hand goes to his neck, confusion clear on his face.

“Wh…what did you do?” he gasps before falling to his knees and clawing at the ground in pain. The veins in his neck and face and hands begin to turn black, like the roots of a rotten tree spreading beneath the soil. They’re moving faster than they had with Alaric when he’d been poisoned. My blow was directly to the vein, where Kilgren’s archer had missed by a few inches.

“Silver powder,” I say with a surprising amount of strength. I know I only have so much left, know deep in my bones that this wound won’t be healed, even if Alaric were to get to me in time.It’s alright. It’s worth it. It will protect them all.“You weren’t the only one with a secret store of it. And I’m willing to bet you don’t have a mate to come and heal you,” I say, grinning wickedly at him through the blood in my mouth. There’s no waythe gods would be so cruel as to give this monster the gift of a mate.

He opens his mouth to say something, but the words are lost in a scream of agony that makes my ears ring. He falls to his back and writhes in pain. Cries of outrage and disbelief echo around us, but I focus only on Kilgren. My vision blurs but I force the pain away, force death itself away by sheer stubborn will. I have to see this through.

“Not yet,” I whisper through gritted teeth at the God of Death. I can practically feel him breathing down my neck. “Not fucking yet.”

The Revenants all around us look on in confusion and unease, but no one moves forward, bound by the ancient laws to watch as the challenge unfolds, I assume. I pull my gaze from Kilgren’s body as it bows and twists in pain and rage, as his veins seem to burn with poison, turning black and rigid beneath his skin, and scan the crowd, noting every scarred cheek among them. Xavier has moved forward, standing just outside the invisible ring that seems to have surrounded Kilgren and me during the challenge. He stares in shock but I see the flicker of understanding in his crimson eyes.

I look back to Kilgren as he gives one final screech of pain, eyes burning with fury as he meets my gaze one final time. The crimson is veined with black now, and dark blood leaks from the corners.

“No,” he mouths and then collapses, falling utterly still. Something seems to slam into me then, right into my chest, some invisible force that fills my heart and spreads out through my entire body. It’spower. A strange, raw, ancient power that I don’t quite understand but somehow understand completely all at once. This is the bond that connects every Revenant, the power over all of them now resting in my veins.

My eyes fly wide at the same moment the Revenants seem to understand what’s happened, when they feel their allegiance shift to me. A particularly ferocious looking beast bares his fangs at me.

“A human cannot lead us!” he roars.

Before he can say or do more, Xavier twists his head and snaps his neck with a sickening crack. The Revenant’s body tumbles to the ground and Xavier gives me a solemn nod. I need to finish this before any others get the same idea and try to attack me—or worse, issue their own challenge. I have no more tricks up my sleeve and know that I’m keeping the God of Death waiting in the wings.

“Drop your weapons!” I call out, putting as much authority into the power thrumming inside me as I can. Weapons fall to the ground all around me and I try not to show the surprise and elation that this is actually working. “You will remain in place!” I yell, scanning the army. Though some look to be trying to push against the mystical bonds holding them in place, they all obey, most looking more confused than anything.

“Dahlia!!” Alaric roars. I know he has no idea what’s happening and can feel the agony of my wound, can probably feel how close to death I truly am, but I have one more thing I have to do before this is over.

“I know some of you did not want war before Kilgren took the power as your Chieftain. I know many of you wanted peace and were punished severely for it.”

A tide of confused murmurs washes through the gathered forces on both sides, Revenants and vampires alike not quite understanding what’s happening. I find Malek, who has stepped up beside Xavier, and he’s staring at me incredulously, but there’s a tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes.This will work. This has to work.

“Dahlia what are you doing!? What’s happening!?” Alaric yells, still beating uselessly against the shield. I’m glad that Luca seems too terrified to let it drop now that Kilgren is gone.

“They wanted peace!” I call back, gritting my teeth as a wave of nausea and pain roil through me. I glance down and see that my hand is completely coated in blood, the ground slick with it, each flake of falling snow that hits the plain instantly transforming from white to crimson. I don’t have much time left.

“Any of you who do not wish for war, who only desire to live in peace with the vampires and humans, step forward!”

Malek steps forward at the same time as Xavier. All down the line, Revenants with scarred cheeks—and even some without—step away from their brethren. The others snarl and curse and rage, spitting insults and vitriol at them for wanting peace. I hold Malek’s gaze and incline my head at him before turning to Alaric. Seeing him nearly breaks my heart in two, the anguish on his face sending a fresh wave of pain through my chest. The urge to run to him is nearly overwhelming, but Iwillfucking finish this.

“Alaric, vow to me that any who have stepped forward will not be harmed. They will be given the opportunity to live in peace from this day forward.” His brow furrows, looking at me like I’m insane. I know he’s torn between trying to figure out what’s happening and the need to get to me.

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