Page 72 of A Queen Of Broken Realms
A collective gasp climbs into the stalactites. Those on stage from the Council are just as shocked as the rest of the demons. The only people I told of this plan were Ashen and Ediye. I’m most pleased with Imani’s reaction as she lets out a delighted laugh.
“Congratulations, Queen Leucosia,” she says, leaning forward in her chair. “You have succeeded in surprising those who thought they had seen it all in the Gauntlet. Even me.”
“And the surprises have only just begun,” I reply with a sly smile.
The shock in the audience gives way to entertainment. The crowd is thunderous. Valentina cackles a wicked, triumphant laugh as she whips her sword free of the demon’s abdomen and the crowd cheers. He falls to his knees in a pool of blood, the vampire slipping away between the slits in the wall before he even hits the ground. The other unarmed demons stall at the corner, caught between the hidden danger and the one creeping toward them. They decide to take their chances with the opponent they can’t see.
“I think I would have preferred facing down the dog,” Ashen says.
I smile, not taking my eyes from the scene as the bloodied demon struggles to his feet and staggers after the others as they pass. “You flatter my kind.”
“You’ve killed me too many times for me to not learn my lesson.”
My smile grows brighter. Valentina darts out from another slit in the wall and drags the toe of her blade up the back of a demon in a long slash. Another tries to grab the sword as Valentina swings it over her shoulder to deliver another blow. She wrenches the sharpened steel from his strong grasp, slicing his palms with two deep cuts. He bellows in pain. Valentina turns on him with a savage hiss before she kicks him in the chest, sending him backward into the demon with the abdominal wound. She slips away into another slit in the wall.
The crowd cheers as Valentina continues to dart between the walls, hindering the progress of the group down the corridor, slashing non-lethal cuts as she laughs like a horror villain. While the audience remains focused on her bloody dance, I look to the other group progressing deeper into the maze.
“Zida,” I call over my shoulder. Her attentive, quiet hiss flows toward me. “Have fun. No eating.”
Zida slithers by, possibly annoyed by my request to not eat the players, though truthfully, it’s a little hard to interpret snake facial expressions. She keeps her eye on me as she passes and then she flows down the stairs, drifting through the guards who stand aside as she serpentines to the edge and slides into the pit. The chants begin again when the audience spots her heading for Joash’s group.
Beast. Beast. Beast.
We watch as both groups struggle past obstacles and booby traps, Urtur and Zida always on their heels, pushing them further into the maze. The players leave bloody trails behind them. Sometimes I catch the scent. Sometimes I think I can hear the alarm in their pounding hearts, but it’s the sound of the crowd, their chants and stomps like a pulse in the cavern. As both groups come closer to converging in the heart of the maze where the weapons wait, I turn to Ashen.
“I’d better get going,” I say, trying to impart a comforting smile to alleviate the fear in his eyes. His emotions fill my mated mark with heat, as though the invisible tether between us is made of frayed wires, their ends burning beneath my skin.
“You don’t have to do this, vampire. The Shadow Realm is already more than entertained.”
“I’m not just trying to entertain. You know this. I need to give them a reason to think differently of me. They need to remember why I stood up on that dais and gave them mercy.” I squeeze Ashen’s hand as his gaze drops from mine, his brow furrowed as he looks at our laced fingers. I nudge his arm with mine, drawing his attention back up to my waiting smile. “You didn’t worry this much in House Urbigu when we fought the hyenas. You told me to have fun and not hiss too loud.”
“That was before I lost you.” Ashen’s free hand folds across my jaw and the rest of the world falls away. He leans closer. His pounding pulse drums in his veins. Fear marks Ashen’s scent with notes of sulfur and salt as his breath whispers across my lips. “Twice you were wrenched away from me. Stolen.” A feathery tremor ghosts through Ashen’s lips as he presses them to mine in a gentle kiss. He pulls away to stare into my eyes so deeply that I feel his presence in every hidden corner of my soul. “You are not just my most precious star. You are every constellation that lights up the night, and I cannot bear the darkness without you.”
I place my hand on Ashen’s. When I lean into his touch, the aching worry I feel in my mark becomes tendrils of pressure in my chest. “You need to trust me, Ashen. If you can’t,” I say, gesturing toward the audience, “they never will.” I take Ashen’s hand and gently lower it from my face, bringing his knuckles to my lips to place a kiss to his glowing tattoos. When I release my grip on his hand, he doesn’t do the same. There’s a little shake of his head, the thinnest sheen of glassiness in his eyes. “It’s okay. Have faith in me. Just let go, my love.”
My words seem to break something in him, but whatever part of Ashen fractures, it splits wide enough that he lets my hand slip away. His expression is tortured despite my reassuring smile. Even when I turn to Ediye for mykatana, I still feel the presence of his gaze like gauze on my skin.
If this really is my destiny, it’s about time I seize it. And I’ll do it like any ancient vampire would.
I will mold myself to be what they need in this moment, so that I can get exactly what I need from the Shadow Realm.
I need their allegiance.
So I will become their wicked queen.
I walk to the front of the dais. The guards part as I descend to their lower platform. I stride to the ledge of the playing field.
And then I leap into the depths of the Gauntlet.
CHAPTER28
In one heartbeat, there’s silence.
In the next, a crash of sound.
There are gasps and shouts and roars and whistles. If anyone dares to stoke Ashen’s rage by booing, I don’t hear it. I focus on my surroundings as I stride through the maze, every corner and cache of traps burned into my memory. I follow the path of Pyrrhus’s group, rounding the corner where Valentina remains hidden now that the demons have passed. Her eyes glow, crimson beacons in the shadows. I give her a nod, but I don’t stop. She gives me one in return.
I don’t break stride as I reach behind my back and pull mykatanafree of itssaya. And then I take off running.
