Page 6 of Captivated
“What about Elaine?” My voice cracked on her name. “I still carry her blood.”
Centuries ago, House Camelot and House Shalott had come to an agreement that was supposed to end the bad blood between our families. Our once powerful houses had both withered over the years thanks to the endless curse that killed our queens. Children were harder and harder to sire, especially queens, and I’m sure my aunt feared that if I died, House Camelot would disappear for good. She’d delivered two sons, but never a daughter. Mama had lived for decades with that generation’s Arthur, and I’d come to believe that she’d relished escaping that life with her death. I never knew if she’d had a chance to love her Sir Lancelot or not.
I’d only been thirteen years old when I was given to Elaine to be her pet. For that was exactly what had happened, despite my aunt’s good intentions. Elaine had gained me and both my cousins for her Blood. She’d sworn to never kill me, and in exchange, my aunt made me exchange blood with Elaine.
She couldn’t have known that Elaine had been dabbling in dark magic.
I still remember standing there before her, barely more than a child myself, and watching the smug look of hatred on her face as she made me swear on my own blood that I would never call Blood of my own.
Denying me Lancelot. The man she’d coveted since the legend’s beginning verse.
Shara had broken that oath with her blood and her power, but I still carried Elaine’s blood, and she carried mine. I could feel exactly where she was, and without looking at a map, I would be able to fly and then walk straight to her.
I didn’t need GPS to know that she was near Glastonbury Tor. She knew its importance all too well. Eventually, I would be forced to walk into her back yard.
Because the gate to Avalon—and my dear Merlin’s prison—was through the Chalice Well.
“What I take, I keep, remember?” Shara laughed lightly, but her bond weighed heavily inside me, winding through me like the white dragon of my supposed gift. “I’ve taken you as my sibling. If she doesn’t like that, she can deal with me. And if she thinks about interfering with my sib’s Blood...”
I held my breath, and it felt like the world stilled, waiting for her answer.
“Then she will learn what it’s like to anger a queen who deals in death and darkness.”
