Page 50 of King of the Damned
Dread fills my heart as I think about Saddiq. “My friend from the dungeons. I took him into the forest with me and I lost him when the wolves attacked–” I take a deep breath as tears begin to spill out of my eyes. I know in my heart that he’s gone, but I owe it to him to at least search for his remains. Perhaps give him a burial and mourn him properly. “Would you please go look for him? I know his chances were few, but if I lived, perhaps he did too. It’s my fault he was out there in the first place. I don’t want him to feel forgotten.”
Kaius nods and rests his forehead against mine. “I shall take a search party into the woods to look, but only on the condition that you promise me you will rest while I’m gone. If there is any toxin still lingering in your blood…”
He need not finish. The fear in his voice is enough.
Twenty-Two
Kaius
I did not have the heart to tell Adelasia that I found Saddiq.
Or at least–what the wolves had left of him: a severed arm and far too much blood.
Still, I cannot in good conscience lie to her about looking for him, so after I saw her to bed myself, I gathered some of my servants and forced them to attend a rescue mission that would reveal nothing I don’t already know.
Humans and even younger vampires would find these woods unnavigable, but I have lived in the valley nearly my entire immortal life. Memorized every tree and every rock. Every long-forgotten trap laid by the demon hunters and every bone of a small rabbit caught by a wolf; supernatural or otherwise.
It’s a simple task to retrace my steps and find the river where I found Adelasia near death. At the time, I was so concerned with her injuries and getting her somewhere safe that I ignored the obvious signs that someone had gotten there before I did.
She had Witchfoil in her wound, but even more obvious–the feathers.
I have not seen those feathers in nearly six centuries, and I hoped to never see them again. The realization thathehas been lingering near my home–enough to find helping Adelasia a worthwhile cause–makes my blood boil.
To know that he will use this as a debt I will need to repay makes me blind with rage. In that frenzied anger, I punch the oak to my left.
Combined with my strength and the power of my new Eternity-blessed Bloodstone, the oak is ripped from its roots, falling to the forest floor with a loud boom.
I feel a shock to my system. There is no such being on this earth that was meant to wield that kind of magic. It’s dark and twisted and dangerous.
I think it is warning me. I ought not to misuse the power I’ve now twice stolen from the keepers of magic. Doing so again may have deadly consequences.
One of my thralls approaches from a break in the trees, two other men following. They all meet my eyes and shake their heads.
As I suspected, there was nothing of Saddiq left to find.
As I return home, I close my eyes in relief. Her heartbeat is stronger than it was when I left. I can hear it through the walls. I listen for it, always, because I cannot bear to live in silence without it. Her life brings me peace and comfort where I have none.
I left her to rest in my bed and warded the door. As I enter, even through the darkness I can see that she looks less sickly than she did before. I carefully slide into the bed next to her with my back against the headboard.
Somehow, within her dream, she reaches for me, settling down again by resting her cheek on my thigh. I let my finger trace up and down the scar on her back that hasn’t been covered by her nightgown.
In all my years of immortality, it never once crossed my mind that there was a possibility that I could care for the person who would free me from this curse.
But my feelings have gone far beyond care. Far beyond fondness. Maybe even far beyond love. The bond we share is more than a millennium in the making, and I believe it was always meant to happen this way.
A love destined for the grave.
It’s a devastating realization that all paths of our love result in me losing her, and that is a reality I have yet to make peace with and refuse to accept.
Eternity already told me that there is no future where my mate does not die, but what if I made another bargain? Is there anything I could offer the Dark Goddess that would save Adelasia from a fate inked in blood? A fate she had no part in curating?
The sun crests and falls again before she stirs and wakes. Her dark lashes flutter open to reveal a confused and slightly concerned look. I use a hand to run my knuckle across her jaw.
“The color has returned to your cheeks,” I whisper. “How do you feel?”
“Tired.” She runs her hand over her stomach where her wound is and does not flinch or wince. At the same time, it grumbles. “I could use something to eat.”
I nod, and as quickly as she finishes her sentence, a tray of breakfast appears on my lap for her. She reaches for the fresh berries first, and then the hot tea, and manages to finish the entire plate except for the bread. I assume that’s what she survived on for most of her time in the Blackwood, so I don’t protest when she leaves it untouched.
