Page 162 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

Slowly I opened my eyes.

The Dhampirs were gone.

All evidence of them and the havoc my magic had caused was gone. Not a trace of the Dhampirs remained. Everyone stared at me, seemingly frozen in place.

“Holy fuck.” I turned at the sound of Luce’s voice from behind me.

“Luce.” Some of the pressure in my chest released at the sight of her. “You’re okay.”

She smiled tightly. “I can’t say the same for Vivienne though,” she added softly as she glanced over her shoulder.

Four. Four deaths.

“It could have been more,” Declan argued.

But it was still four too many.

63

LUKA

I had no idea how much time had passed since we left the palace. It was still dark so it couldn’t have been too long, even if the exhaustion pulling at my limbs tried to tell me otherwise.

I slung my arm around Lennox as we exited the stables and headed towards the palace, after the death we had experienced tonight I needed to feel her, feel her breaths, to know she was still here, that she was still alive when so many others were not. After our run-in with the Dhampirs in the forest, we headed into the city, splitting off into pairs and scouring the city for any other signs of the abominations, coming up empty. Hopefully, the ones we killed in the woods had been the last of them.

For now.

Caterina had sent word the palace had been ridden of Dhampirs and the interrogations were complete, but they had found some guests trying to sneak out before their turn; they were now being held, waiting for us to question them.

“We should get a couple hours of sleep before we question the intruders.”

“We can’t sleep,” Lennox argued.

“Lennox, you can’t help if you’re exhausted.”

“I know but?—”

“There’s no but.” I pulled her tighter to my side. “We can go check in with everyone, but then we go get a couple of hours of sleep. The people in the dungeons will still be there in the morning.”

“Fine.” She yawned. “But only a couple of hours. If only someone hadn’t kept me up all last night.” She poked my side.

“Hey—that’s on both of us.” I smiled. “And if I remember correctly you were the one who invited me back to your room.”

“Our room,” she corrected.

Warmth spread through my chest. “Right, our room.”

“If I knew you two were going to be so sickening when you were happy together I never would have helped you get together,” Nico said from behind.

Lennox ignored him, resting her head on my shoulder instead. I kissed her forehead, finding a spot that wasn’t splattered with blood as we continued towards the palace.

“A bath might be nice too,” Lennox added.

“Are you saying I smell or something?”

“Of course not. But I do prefer you without being covered in rotting blood.”

“Are you sure? Because I think I quite like this version of you. The bloody bride suits you.”

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