Page 52 of King of the Damned
Cassius tightens his coil around my arm, and another golden line appears down his back, intertwining with Adelasia’s vow.
My own forearm now has an intricate pattern of red, black, and golden vows.
A promise of blood, a broken fate, and an oath of protection.
How many more can I make before one vow breaks another?
After the glimmering of the line dissipates and the golden threads settle into my skin, Cassius lets out a long hiss that sounds suspiciously like a laugh, and then he fades into dust.
What’s left in my palm is a single white feather.
My hand trembles as anger surges through my veins like molten-hot liquid. I clutch my fingers around the feather, and when I reopen my palm, it's been reduced to dust by the strength of my grip. The ashes flutter away with an eerie breeze filtering through the hall.
From the open balcony behind me, I hear a pair of boots land on the stone railing, and then a soft thump as they land on the floor of the terrace and enter the marble halls.
“Leave,” I warn without turning around. “Whatever you’ve heard or seen through Cassius, forget it all and I’ll let you leave with your life. Otherwise, there will be no feathers left on your wings for you to taunt me with.”
Hetsksbehind me, and his smooth voice fills my ears for the first time in centuries. “This is the warm welcome I get for saving your pet?”
“I cannot offer warmth when you are not welcome to begin with.”
“She would have died long before you got there if it weren’t for me.”
“Your actions lack a distinct taste of altruism,” I snap back. I then turn to face him, and my eyes land on a figure I recognize all too well, despite my best efforts to forget. “I do not have the patience right now for your games. This is about her life.”
“Ah, which you’ve so graciously given me the humble task of protecting,” he pinches my cheek as a brother would do to a sibling. I jerk away from his touch. “I intend to perform my duty to the letter.” He pauses, looks at the mix of desperation and anger on my face, and then begins to laugh. “What’s the matter, Kaius? Afraid I can do it better than you? I can promise I’ll certainly beon top of things.”
His innuendo is not lost on me, and I roughly grab his arm. “Break this vow. Now,” I demand. “Now,Rowan.”
His expression glosses over with something solemn. “We both know you’re the only one here with a history of breaking vows when it’sconvenientfor you.” He raises the side of his mouth in a sneer that shows his teeth, before coyly transforming it into a smile and removing himself from my grip. “I’d hate to take that talent from you.”
I use the power of the enhanced Bloodstone around my neck to shove him backward, leaving him on his back in the doorway of the balcony. Then, as he tries to bring himself to his feet, I use the dark magic to hold him on his knees.
He gives me a sultry smirk. “Usually you’re the one on your knees in front of me. How does that power feel?”
“Sublime,” I tell him with a tilt of my head and a wicked smile, before using my magic to force his wings closed, and toss him over the balcony.
Twenty-Three
Kaius
It takes a full week for Adelasia to regain her full strength. By the time she heals, word has spread through the valley of her involvement with me, and what it could mean for the vampire race. The Priestesses are not exactly discreet when it comes to someone defying their power and authority. I’m certain it’s their doing that the seeds of distaste for me are sprouting in the valley.
While there are many like me who find no pleasure in this immortal life, there are plenty of others who find freedom in it. Those who would kill to keep it. I cannot let that happen.
Protecting Adelasia was a choice before. It’s a need now.
I have no way of knowing if Yekaterina intended for the entire vampire race to weigh on one mortal’s shoulders. I have my suspicions that she didn’t think this far ahead. The creatures and demons the priestesses create are imperfect things, often requiring several…generationsbefore they are ghastly enough for the Coven.
I am the demon Yekaterina never got to perfect, and I know that what’s left of her soul squirms at the thought of it—for her to know after all these years that her hold on me is not as absolute as she assumed.
Adelasia has permanently moved into my suite for her own safety, with multiple wards defending the rooms she visits most. The human servants are no longer allowed near her as their minds do not possess the fortitude to block out supernatural influence. I would not put it past the Priestesses to use them as assassins or kidnappers.
Adelasia still mourns the loss of her friend. She built him a shrine in the courtyard and spends much of the time she’s awake in the sunlight at it. She must be praying–trying to reach him.
I wonder what she says.
Does she bear her guilt? Does she beg for forgiveness?
