Page 183 of A Vow of Wrath and Ruin

The rider held up his sword ready to lop off Caiden’s head.

Caiden held his breath, saying a silent prayer to Illya to let them live. He watched as the horses’ hooves grew closer and closer, throwing mud in their wake.

“Caiden…” Aelia whispered.

The horse was nearly upon them. The rider lowered his sword.

“Now!”

They broke apart and fell to their knees, pulling their chain tight.

Caiden’s wrists twisted against his manacles but did not break. He let out a guttural cry as the chain buckled under the weight of the horse. With asnap, the chain broke.

The rider’s eyes widened. He tried to stop his horse, but it was too late. The animal’s leg hit the trip chain, sending the horse tumbling headfirst into the brush.

The riders called to each other in wicked screams sending a shiver down Caiden’s spine.

Aelia picked herself up. The chains linking her manacles fell to the ground. Caiden’s did the same. They were free. Aelia’s face brightened and darkened in an instant.

The other riders closed ranks around them. Caiden and Aelia stood back-to-back.

“If you have another plan, now would be the time to implement it,” Aelia said.

Caiden’s chest tightened, and adrenaline coursed through his veins, but he had no plan. There were too many for him and Aelia to take on; his ankle was broken, and neither of them had magic.

“Uh, well, if you pray to the Trinity, now might be a good time to put in a cry for help.”

The Blood Riders licked their bare teeth. The smell of their acrid breath wafted through the air. Closer and closer, they moved until Caiden and Aelia were within inches of the horse’s long fangs.

“Don’t harm them. The lady wants them whole,” one of the riders called to the others, raising his fist in a sign to hold. “We are to keep them here until she arrives.”

Dread coiled like a snake in Caiden’s gut. This was it; they were done for. Erissa would take them back and probably give them parasites like the others. He reached for Aelia’s hand, intertwining their fingers.

“I’m sorry, Caiden,” she whispered. “For everything.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. We’re going to get out of this. We didn’t escape and face the Night Folk, just to be captured again.”

“Alright, well, any actionable steps we could take would be great.”

An arrow soared through the air, hitting a Blood Rider between the eyes. The man didn’t even have time to blink beforehe was on the ground. His water horse ripped into his lifeless body with its massive fangs.

The knot in Caiden’s chest unraveled. Baylis wouldn’t kill a Blood Rider. It could only be a friendly court coming to rescue them, but who? Court of Honey? The Woodlands? The Stormlands? Strangers looking to hunt Blood Riders?

The other men looked around to see the source of the arrow. Caiden swore he could see a flicker of fear in their cold dead eyes. In an instant, the other three were on the ground.

He blinked stupidly at the lifeless bodies. The sound of crunching bones echoed in his chest as the water horses devoured their riders, a reminder every triumph balances on the edge of a knife.

“Run,” Aelia said.

Caiden looked at his twisted ankle, and dread pooled in his stomach. He couldn’t outrun a water horse even with a good leg.

“I can’t.”

“Lean on me. They’ll hunt us down when they’re finished. They’ve had a taste of blood now, and they’ll want more.”

With his arm looped over her shoulder, he rested his weight on her, trying his best to help her as much as he could. He couldn’t help but see the woman she was. The one from long ago who tamed horses and charmed dignitaries. The one he knew in a different lifetime. The one he let slip through his fingers.

Dark hooded figures emerged from the forest.

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