Page 44 of King of the Damned
I cannot let the pain in my heart outweigh my good sense.
So I gently rest Kaius’ head on the marble floor, and take control of my fate once again.
Nineteen
Adelasia
With limited time to escape, I work quickly. I gather a spare change of clothes and most importantly, stop in the kitchen for food and a water satchel. The vampire servants have all fallen into a still sleep as Kaius has, leaving the palace empty of all life.
After I gather about a week’s worth of provisions, I run as quickly as I can to the prisons. Saddiq is hunched over in his cell, some blood dripping from a shallow claw mark in his stomach.
He looks shocked to see me, but I don’t have time to explain right now. With Dravon gone, the magic holding Saddiq in his cell has collapsed, allowing me to freely pass through the doorway. I kneel in front of my friend and hold out some bread and cheese for his angry stomach. He whimpers as the small amount of food slivers down his parched throat. I hold the water satchel to his mouth for him to sip.
“You’re alive!”
“Shhh,” I coo with urgency. “Can you stand? We need to leave. Now.”
“Adelasia–”
“I’ll explain later. Please,pleasestand up.”
I use my strength to lift him to his feet. Once he steadies himself, I hand him another small piece of bread and a cleaver I stole from the kitchen.
We wordlessly escape the prison and without looking back, we run from the valley as quickly as Saddiq’s weak legs will carry him.
When his energy depletes just as we lose sight of the edge of the forest, it begins to rain. Saddiq and I take shelter under the roots of a large tree, sharing a single cloak and our body heat for warmth. Neither of us are brave enough to start a fire. The Blackwood is already a dangerous place for two humans. The unnecessary attention a fire would bring would only lessen our already abysmal odds of making it out of this forest alive.
Since I’ve become accustomed to the night, I allow him to rest on my shoulder while I keep watch.
Our survival is only attributed to the rain masking our scents. When the dawn comes, I wake up Saddiq and share a slice of bread with him. We have no way of knowing how deep into the forest we are, and neither of us are in a condition to hunt. Plants in the Blackwood are not edible, and water sources are scarce and guarded by beasts and demons.
Saddiq is clearly feeling stronger, and as we make our way through the forest, he leads us. Every branch snapping or insect buzzing heightens our anxiety, until it gets so bad that the sounds of our own breathing make us jump.
“Will you tell me what happened?” Saddiq asks.
I’ve been avoiding this topic since we escaped; not because I have anything to hide, but because there is a large part of my heart that still aches when I think about Kaius. I thought I could trust him, and I thought that perhaps he saw something special between us. Something more than just…fate.
Every stolen glance, every caress of his lips, and every tender graze of his fingers were only a means to an end. I was a pawn in a game I didn’t even know we were playing.
What a fool I was.
I swallow, the action burning my sore, parched throat. “I didn’t listen to you,” I admit. “About trusting the vampires. About…trusting Kaius.”
Tears gather in my eyes on their own accord but I blink them away, my voice quivering. “He was going to kill me all along.”
Saddiq comes to a stop and pulls me in for a gentle hug. He’s still so skinny. Hugging him back feels like I might break him in half. We are dirty and stale, but I let him hold me as I hug him back.
“Why did you come for me in the prisons? The ward was broken. I could have found my own way out.”
“Because you deserve a chance at freedom too, and I thought we’d have better odds together.”
Saddiq pulls away and smiles gently. “You’re right about that. Look.” He gestures to a group of rocks behind me. They’re painted with fading runes I don’t recognize.
“When I was a demon hunter before I was captured, my men and I would leave these runes around the forest to remember which beasts lived in the area.” He brings us closer to the rocks. “I recognize these stones.” He looks up and around, then points to a darker part of the forest just ahead. “The edge of the forest is a two-day trip that way. There’s a spring of freshwater about ten miles from here. We should reach it before the next night falls. We have a small burrow covered by thick leaves and debris in the area–we would be safe there until morning, maybe even catch some game.”
I nod and then gesture in the direction of some bushes. Saddiq understands, and quietly turns his back to give me some privacy. I take a moment to relieve myself behind the foliage and then emerge.
When I come back out into the open, Saddiq and I both hear a branch snap in the distance. He and I take shelter behind trees at opposite ends of the clearing.
