Page 13 of King of Knights

“There has to be a way,” I cut her off. I lick my lips. “Everything I’ve read points to the bloodlines. Their mates have never been human. I don’t think our blood is strong enough. If there was just a way to find what in their blood triggers the bond. Maybe I can—”

“Oh, gods. Have you lost it?” Yanique’s voice rises.

The soft winds in the cave pick up. My eyes widen. I knew my sisters would be upset with me if I told them what I’d been up to. The rising of Yanique’s power proves me right.

I look up at her pleadingly. She’s looking back at me like I’ve lost my mind. Her annoyance with me is clear in the tightening of her lips.

“Yan—”

She holds her hand up to halt me.

“You cannot be serious. You are talking about playing with fate. This is not some simple spell or fix. You want to trick fate into thinking you are his mate.” She covers her face with her hands and groans.

I have to make her understand. I’ve thought this through. I know I can figure it out.

“If the rumors are true that our ancestor once drank their blood and lived to be two hundred. Maybe I—”

“Stop this…this is crazy talk. I know for a fact that if you can do this, it’s going to lead you down a path of darkness. You have that baby to think about. Don’t do this,” she hisses.

“It’s this baby who I’m doing it for. Having his child inside me is what makes me think I can do this. His blood is already a part of me,” I snap back.

“Venu—”

The torches flicker around us, silencing us both. We look at each other with alarm. It happens again, causing us to whip our heads toward the staircase.

“Someone is in the sanctuary,” she whispers.

“Let’s go,” I rush out, heading for the stairs.

“They will see us coming out of the hidden place,” Yanique calls from behind me as I rush up to the top.

“I will use an illusion spell.”

“No, no, you mustn’t. It’s too much for you in this condition. I’ll do it,” she says, rushing around me.

We pause at the top of the stairs. My heart races with thoughts of who can be on the other side of the wall. The people know not to enter without one of my sisters telling them it’s their turn.

However, the soldiers do as they please. Our parents were slaughtered by the soldiers of the church, changing our lives forever. All because they were deemed as evil.

“Careful, sister. Concentrate. We need to look natural when we appear, nothing extravagant to show off,” I warn.

We know the risks of practicing magic, but these people of the village have not forgotten the gods. They still believe in the ways of old and we can help them. We stay because the gods have gone silent, but the people are still in need of hope.

Beings like Kendrick still roam the earth, but they grow wary of the humans and have stopped revealing themselves. It would be easy to do the same, but we can’t. We may have lost everything, but we refuse to hide, leaving these people behind.

“Easy,” I warn as she begins to open our exit.

We can’t allow the soldiers to find our caves or to see our power. These passageways are all we have left. The only way we’ve been able to continue our training. Many of our family’s secrets that were not safely hidden in these caverns were burned to the ground. What’s down here only holds just a third of what was lost.

“Easy,” I whisper again as I watch my sister’s hands shake.

“I have it,” she hisses back.

I purse my lips, praying to the gods that soldiers are not on the other side. The few times we’ve been summoned to the inner walls of the city, we’ve proven we are simple healers. I know that’s because Kendrick scrambled their thoughts.

My sister opens a wooden door in the corner of the room, leading us into the sanctuary. To those outside, it should look as if it has always been there. We step out of the door as if coming from a back room.

When we step through, I nearly sag in relief. Standing before us is my handmaid and her husband. I hear a moan and look to the cot where I examine the sick. Their small daughter is lying upon it, curled in a ball.

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