Page 100 of Blood So Brutal

But he was my brother, and he cared about Huntyr too.

Now would be the time to test his loyalties. The truth would come later.

“We have to keep moving.” Asmodeus closed the latch to the underground tunnel. “We don’t know who’s following us.”

“The castle is under attack,” Luseyar said from the back of the group. “Should we not return and fight whoever is responsible?”

Asmodeus shook his head. “If the castle is under attack, they are only after one thing. And we have that one thing right here in our possession.”

“What? Huntyr?”

Asmodeus looked at Huntyr.

Then to me.

“The blood queen and her king.”

Chapter 37

Huntyr

Icould handle my own pain. I could handle my own fear taking over my shaking body. I could handle being forced to marry one of Asmodeus’s sons. Hells, I could even handle being the damn blood queen if that’s what was required of me.

But to handle seeing Rummy—my longest friend—being dragged through the dirt by the one male who betrayed me most in this world?

It made me fucking sick.

I thought my weaknesses were already exploited, but I guess I was wrong. Because as soon as I laid eyes on Rummy, I knew I was going to do whatever it took to protect her.

Attack on the damn castle or not.

I kept my mouth shut as Luseyar guided us quickly through the surrounding land. We were no longer in the city, but the trees around us were so thick, I could not tell if we were inside or outside the walls. There must’ve been other tunnels that led under the wall, not just the ones in the stables.

By the looks of it, I imagined we were outside.

I tried to inch my way closer to Rummy, but Asmodeus ensured there was a safe distance between us. “Once I know we are safe and there is no longer a risk of attack, you two canspeak to each other.” Hells, I fucking hated him. I hated him for dragging her here, for using her like she was a damn tool.

Rummy was strong. She was fierce and bossy and had an attitude that scared nearly everyone in Midgrave, so to see her like this, it broke my fucking heart. But she still wore a brave face. That hadn’t broken her. Not yet.

Which was another reason why I couldn't crack. Rummy needed me to survive. She needed me to fight, so I was going to fight for my damn life.

“This looks familiar,” I said after a while, quiet enough so only Wolf could hear. He glanced around and surveyed the trees, the thin path we were on.

And then, his large, bright eyes met mine. “This is the path to Scarlata Empire.”

Something like fear laced his words, but I didn’t let that get to me. The fact that Asmodeus wanted to make the trip through the forest to the blood kingdom with no protection, no horses, and no food was downright insane.

He must have been truly worried about the attack on the castle, which meant there was actually a threat to him.

I wanted so badly to talk to Wolf alone, to ask him if he knew anything about the attack or who could have been behind it, but I knew better than to ask him those types of questions with so many ears around us.

And I was almost sure I could guess what his answers would be.

So, we kept walking. My feet grew tired quickly. I wasn’t in the clothes to be making a long trip through the forest. Hells, without horses, the journey would take more than a few days.

But there were no signs of slowing down. Even as the sun fell behind the horizon, even as darkness took over, shadowing the path and everything around us, we kept moving forward.

We kept going.

---