Page 114 of Slaying the Vampire Conqueror

I’d thought Atrius couldn’t shock me anymore. But this—this shocked me. “Why?”

“These men and women have been with me for decades. I took them away from their homes. They followed me into nightmares. And never, not once, did they question me.” His eyes lowered to the bedroll, his jaw tight. “And where have I led them, to thank them for their loyalty?”

“You led them here.”

“A human kingdom that isn’t their home. Because they can’t go back to their homes, due to my actions.”

My hand fell over his before I could stop myself, clutching tight. “You led them to a second chance.”

“This place doesn’t deserve their bones. This place doesn’t deserve the bones of their children.”

“It doesn’t deserve our bones, either. And gods, how many we’ve given it.” My lip curled into a sneer, my fingers trembling around Atrius’s hand. “You say you don’t belong here. But neither do thePythora King or his warlords. And they’ve stripped and abused and destroyed this kingdom. The suffering they’ve inflicted on the people here—” I choked on the words, and the images they conjured. “It’s unforgivable. And we let it happen for too long. No more. Someone needs to make him pay for it. And if you won’t, I’ll find a way to.”

The last sentence took me by surprise. I wasn’t planning to say it. But Weaver, Imeantit.

Maybe I had broken my vow to the Arachessen. But this—this was a vow I would keep.

I had sworn myself to the Arachessen, and for so many years I had helped them fight against the Pythora King. But I was tired of fighting. I was ready to win.

Atrius was quiet.

Finally he said, “We can’t take Karisine like this.”

My heart fell, shattering against the harsh realities of our situation.

No, we couldn’t. His numbers were smaller than ever. Even before, he’d been relying on his cousin’s help to take Karisine. Now? Conquering it by brute force was out of the question, let alone taking the city-state that lay beyond it. And after that, we’d still have to cross treacherous cliffs to make it to the Pythora King’s isolated palace at the northern shore.

Even if we did have the manpower to make those moves, it would be slow, and it would guarantee many more losses we couldn’t afford.

My fingers tightened, nails biting my palm.

“We don’t have time to chip away at this,” I said. “If he was as easy as Tarkan?—”

Atrius’s seriousness broke for a moment, a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth. “You look murderous.”

I scoffed. Ifeltmurderous. “It’s a shame that all problems can’t be solved by cutting off a head.”

Atrius went very still.

My brows furrowed. “What?”

“Mm.”

That little non-answer, absentminded, his eyes distant, told me it was not nothing. And then, slowly, that smirk returned, this timeclinging stubbornly to the corner of his mouth. A now-familiar smug sensation rolled from his presence.

I sat up straighter.

“What an ominous silence,” I said.

“Mm,” Atrius replied, unhelpfully.

“You have an idea.”

I didn’t mean for the hint of admiration—Weaver help me, maybe even excitement—to creep into my voice.

“It’s not an idea yet.”

Yet.

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