Page 129 of Of Blood and Banes
“It’s not that I hate her. I just don’t necessarily…enjoy her company.”
“It’s because she’s a Spoiled. You’re not supposed to like her because of it, but it’s nothing she can change now. It was forced upon her. Just as you don’t like Darian?—”
She snorts. “No, I don’t like him because he’s threatened you so many times that if you asked me to put him on my back, I’d roll over and crush him.”
“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not asking you to.”I glance over to Darian and Nolan who leads him by the nine-foot-long chain.
Something about riding a dragon and not flying has an awkwardness to it. We sway and slide in the saddle with each step Daeja takes, and I hook my fingers into the back of the waist belt on Marge to steady myself. We cross over the bridge, my eyes glued to the lake below with every step and holding my breath in the event the water dragons, or any other dragons lingering about, decide to attack us. And as Daeja accidentally bumps her tail into the bridge wall, crumbling some stones off the top ledge, my stomach twists at how long it takes for them to crash into the lake below.
Luckily for us, we make it across to the other side. Though, we get about twenty feet across the northern side of the bridge and into the main street surrounding Vitalis before Sethan, Melaina, and Archie all abruptly stop ahead of us.
Sethan calls back to me, “This is where you come in. Only those with a direct bloodline can enter.”
I unhook Marge and dismount Daeja as Cole comes up to my side to help me get Marge down.
Archie presses a hand to the invisible wall, then a second one, and scales it like he might find a secret gap. “How are all of us supposed to go in with her?”
I flex my hand with the Blood Ring, ready to siphon magic to pull the wall down if I need to. Though, I haven’t quite yet mastered pulling.
I glance over at Marge who brushes away Cole as she steadies herself on her feet. “What do I need to do?”
Marge glances up to the castle spires stretching into the sky. “I don’t think you’ll be able to pull enough to take down the barrier without severe consequences. They likely have it warded from top to bottom.”
“But only those with a direct bloodline can enter…” As I sweep my attention back to Sethan, my gaze gets caught on Cole. Who is already staring at me with that stern tension to his jaw. That shake of his auburn hair already warning me not to propose the idea of using my own blood. He knows me too well.
“We can try to hold hands?” Archie pitches. “If we’re touching Kat, maybe we can breach the wall?”
Darian tosses him a glare like he’d rather jump off the bridge and call it a life.
“While that seems like a warm proposition…” Sethan grumbles, “I don’t think it’ll work.”
“We should try it nonetheless.” I pull my attention off Cole and don’t miss the slight sag to his shoulders at a tamer solution than what I was originally considering. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Marge’s gray-blue eyes are still on the distant angled rooftops of Vitalis. “Depending on how strong the magic is—who set the barrier and how long ago—it could rip you apart from the inside out if we try to force it…”
Archie gulps and turns his attention back to prodding the invisible wall with less enthusiasm. “Think I’d like to keep my insides just the way they are…”
Daeja joins in, nudging the barrier alongside him.
If Daeja can’t get in either…
“I have a better idea.” I remove my glove and unsheathe one of my daggers. I slice a three-inch cut along my palm. “You said only those with the direct bloodline can pass the barrier, right? What if I cut through the wall with my blood so we can pass through?”
“You won’t have enough blood to cut a big enough entrance to let the dragons through,” Sethan responds.
But leaving Daeja isn’t an option. I fold my fingers over my palm to keep the blood welling in my hand contained as I take a few steps toward where Daeja and Archie are. “I have to at least try.”
Melaina slaps an arm out across my chest to stop me. “Wait. Do you understand how much of your blood it would take?”
Daeja is the smallest out of the three dragons, and I’d need a solid fifteen feet wide gap to get her through. Maybe ten feet high if she ducks her head and crawls in. And the other two fire dragons? They’ll need close to double.
“Melaina’s right. By the time you cut through half of what you would need for the dragons, you’ll pass out,” Cole warns like he’s been fighting himself from chiming in. He withdraws his sword and slices open his palm. “Here. Let me mix my blood with yours?—”
“Wouldn’t that null her blood’s effect on the magic, though?” Melaina interjects before we can decide.
“No,” Marge says.
“Yes,” Sethan responds at the same time.
