Page 38 of The Stolen Bride

He didn’t stop.

His men did nothing to help him but turned toward me. Bodi looked as if he would like nothing more than to give me the turul treatment and shred my internal organs.

“Yo, Tor,” I called, lumbering closer. “Vik. Calm down, and I’ll play a fourth song for you.”

“Why should he calm down? He’s going to lose you and become a shifter, and you’re responsible for it,” Bodi said, his tone chilling. He bit the blade of his bloodied sword. Another soldier plucked out the shifter claws embedded in his chest, which were attached to a severed hand, andtossed the appendage aside. Both stepped toward me, their intent clear. Punish the interloper. The others looked unsure.

The pair took another step closer. And another. A third joined them and trepidation skittered over me. Despite the agony of movement, I hurled myself against Viktor. The prince was wrong. He wasn’t losing me or becoming a shifter. I just needed him to calm!

Contact snapped him out of his fog. He gathered me close with a single arm, throwing back his head, and releasing a wild, otherworldly whistle. His men immediately stilled.

The burn in my neck reached an almost unbearable degree. Beads of sweat popped up over my brow. “Um. Quick question. What’s vargbane root?”

A barbaric sound burst from Viktor. “The vargbane root.” Anxiety-tinged fury twisted his features as he clasped my chin and angled my head, giving himself a better view of my injuries. Whatever he saw caused the anxiety to spike.

Tremors invaded my limbs. “What? Tell me.”

“Won’t let you die.” He swooped down, setting his lips around a puncture and sucking, then spitting. An action he repeated, as if I’d been bitten by a snake and he sought to remove venom.

His men rushed over, encircling us. Exactly as they’d done when we’d first entered this land.

“Majesty,” Bodi rasped, shock and alarm dripping from the title. “You should not do this. You must stop.”

But he didn’t stop. Not until the last of that sizzling heat cooled in my veins. As he lifted his head, my knees knocked, weakened by relief. Until I realized blood filled thewhites of his eyes.

“Viktor?” I breathed.

Releasing me, he stumbled backward and crumbled to the ground. He landed atop a slain turul-shifter. Fresh horror besieged me, and I pressed a hand over my mouth. Reason crested only a split second later. I rushed to him. Or attempted to. His men formed a blockade. To make a bad situation worse, Bodi grabbed me, imprisoning my arm in an iron clasp.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” the second-in-command demanded.

“I didn’t do anything!” I burst out.

“You let yourself be drugged.”

“Let myself? You saw the guy with his claws against my neck, right?” I sputtered for a moment. “What’s vargbane root?” I repeated.

“An ancient poison able to trap an immortal inside his own mind, keep him asleep, dreaming, and projecting his thoughts for anyone to see while he slowly wastes away, suffering in silence. There’s no antidote. No cure. The more powerful the immortal, the faster the toxin works. That is the reason we avoid using it against our enemies, despite its effectiveness. Now, Viktor is as good as dead.” Accusation laced his harsh tone.

The blood whooshed from my head, my ears ringing. Why, why, why had Viktor endangered his own life to save mine? That…he…I fought Bodi’s hold. “Let me see him.”

“Never again. Be thankful you’re still alive.” To the men, he called, “Carry him beyond the battlefield. There should be a hidden camp.”

I could do nothing but watch as the warriors lifted him and carted him from my midst. Along the way, they cast me final menacing glances.

A barbed lump grew in mythroat. This was it for me, wasn’t it? “You’re going to end my life.” A statement, not a question.

“Ja. But only after we end his.” Bodi dragged me to a nearby tree, and I didn’t fight. “We won’t leave our beloved king in such a state.”

Shock held me immobile. Viktor. Dying. Killed. Gone forever. The last remaining original. The guy who’d saved me from shifters. Who’d agreed to help me rescue my sister. Who’d calmed for me.

I’d known him only a short time, yet an almost unbearable sadness weighed down my heart.

Bodi yanked a thin silver bracelet from his wrist. The prince shook the metal, its links expanding, somehow pliable and yet strong enough to interlock–to cuff my hands together and bind me to the tree trunk. Out of spite alone, he stole the coat Viktor had secured around my shoulders.

“Why not kill me now?” I grated, tugging at my bonds. Intractable. No slack.

The prince met my gaze. “The amount of suffering he endures will decide the amount of sufferingyouendure.”

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