Page 108 of Bound in Blood

A strangled cry comes from behind me, and I scramble to my feet just in time to come face-to-face with a vampire wielding a dagger. Anikêtos scorches him to ash.

“That was close.” I suck in a breath, then drop to my knees as pain burns along my side. When I press my hand to my ribs, I find them sticky.

I know what I’ll see when I move my hand, but I do it anyway. My fingers are stained red with my blood.

“Looks like he got a little closer than we thought, huh?” I force out a laugh as my head spins.

“Between us, we should have enough energy to at least stem the flow.” Nazeel crawls up beside me, the deep wound in her thigh weeping with her own blood.

“Who did that?”

“One of the undead. It will be fine. My soldiers took care of him.”

I glance behind her to see four heavily armored—and heavily armed—soldiers battling a group of warlocks. “When did they get here?”

“A few moments ago. Kameen sent them to bring me back, but they have too much honor to walk away from a battle.” She takes my hand, places it over my wound, and rests hers on top. “Let us patch this up the best we can, shall we?”

I nod, grateful to her. Grateful she is alive and hopelessly anguished that Enora didn’t make it.

Chapter

Fifty-Three

ALEXANDROS

40 MINUTES BEFORE THE LIGHT GOES OUT

“Alexandros!” Malachi snaps me out of the daze I was in, and I run to him. He is bound with silver chain, but there are no links and no obvious end point. No weak spot at which to break or snap or unlock. It appears to be forged from a single piece of silver, and the only way to break it is to snap the metal.

The silver burns my hands, but I ignore the pain and try to break him free. My efforts prove futile. I roar my frustration and glance at Axl, who is bound by the same magic.

Lucian lies bleeding out onto the unfinished cellar floor, his eyelids fluttering. “Wraith m-magic.”

“I’m okay. Go help him,” Malachi urges. I give the chains a final wrench that does nothing and run to Lucian.

Ophelia could break those chains, but that would mean leaving the protection of Anikêtos, crossing campus grounds, and potentially encountering the wraith. She is not doing that without me by her side. “As soon as Lucian is healed, I will fetch Ophelia and she will set you all free.”

Axl nods. “We’re okay. Help him.”

I drop to the ground beside Lucian and cradle his head to my chest, squeezing the folds of his neck together whilst it heals.

Are you still protecting her?I askAnikêtos.

Always, Dragon Whisperer, but we have a problem, he answers.There are more coming. Hordes of shadows we cannot kill.

What do you mean shadows you cannot kill? More wraiths?

No, Alexandros. They are the undead. Someone has opened a crack in the veil.

How do we stop them? How do we protect her from beings we cannot kill?

Elpis and I will set up a ring of Dragonfyre. None of the creatures will be able to cross it, not even the undead.

The veil has been cracked. How is this even possible?

Chapter

Fifty-Four

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