Page 109 of Their Blood Queen

Like being trapped in Purgatory.

Growling, I start to swim. The current has pushed me down, but Scarlett keeps praying to me, calling for me, and giving me a lifeline that draws me skyward.

I’m coming, my star, I say in my mind. I know the inevitable choice I must make.

Leaving her is not an option.

I can only hope my beast has been subdued enough to keep me in control while I seek her out. Scarlett needs me, and I’m powerless to ignore her plea.

When I break the blood barrier of the rivers, I rise into the real world and take my first breath of air in days. My lungs seize as I cough up the Dream Realm’s lifeblood. I crash through broken glass, and I realize I’ve come through a glass window—one belonging to Helia’s personal room.

It’s not where I would intentionally choose a meeting, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Her oversized bed is made, spanning behind her while she sits in a wide chair with raised armrests, one that is facing the now broken window.

It’s almost as if she knew I was coming.

She’s in her human form, wearing a tight-fitting dress as she crosses her legs. A smirk plays on the edge of her wicked mouth as she patiently watches me cough up blood onto her clean floor.

“Well, hello, Cain. Isn’t this a nice surprise?” she says.

I have a feeling it’s not a surprise at all.

A growl rumbles in my throat, but it’s only an echo of my beast that lies within. He doesn’t have the energy to come out, so for that, I’m grateful that my hypothesis was correct.

It means that Scarlett and my people are safe, for now. And if I had come into Helia’s tower out of control, she would have dealt with the problem herself. In that situation, I would have become a threat.

And therefore, her enemy.

Now, though, I am her friend. One she has neglected.

“Where have you been?” I ask, my voice a low, dangerous threat of a whisper. It feels as if knives have scored my insides and every word creates a fresh dagger to slice through salted wounds. But I don’t flinch; I don’t show her what kind of discomfort I’m in.

This is what I deserve, after all. Once I’m done here, I’ll be going back to the undercurrent of the Dream Realm.

For Scarlett’s sake.

I can’t pick up her prayer on the wind now that I’ve left the ethereal plane, but that makes sense if my beast is weak. There must be a reason I’ve surfaced here, though, in Helia’s tower rather than closer to home.

Helia flicks her tongue and shifts the weight of her hips. She’s sitting in a single sofa chair that could easily double as a throne. She has a talent of making everything around her a piece of her royalty, of her power, and to accent her complete and utter control.

Sometimes that’s a façade. Sometimes it’s real.

Today, I can’t tell. I only know there’s a new glow about her that certainly wasn’t there before.

“I’ve been… busy,” she says as she drags a long, manicured nail over her lower lip. I don’t take her flirtatious behavior too seriously. Helia would flirt with a house plant, given the chance. It’s her nature.

Being so evasive, though, is unusual. At least when it comes to our relationship.

“I don’t have time for your games,” I growl as I turn toward the shattered window.

We’re high up, higher than my own tower, given the way that Helia’s city has developed. The skyscrapers here are characteristic of what this territory used to be. Once upon a time, it was called New York. Just as my Elite City was once named Chicago.

Those names are as ancient as dust. Only their memory lingers over the newly developed cities that have taken over the ruins. The buildings and towers were made in our image and carry little pieces of ourselves within them.

We’ve built our cities differently, but we’ve always ruled alongside one another.

It feels like everything is falling apart.

“I don’t either, Cain,” she says with a sigh. “So if you’ve come here for the dreamwalkers, then I suggest you go talk to them and stop wasting your time with me. They are your new mates, after all. It’s rude how long you’ve kept them waiting.”

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