Page 147 of Blood So Brutal

Her eyes were glossy when she pulled away. “It was my honor. I would die for the blood queen, even if I don’t have a drop of vampyre blood in my body.”

I laughed, though it sounded more like an uncontrollable squeak. “Come back soon, okay? I’ll miss you too much while you’re busy sharing your wisdom with everyone.”

“I will,” she replied. “I promise.”

“Take care of them,” I said to Headmistress and Commander. “And try to be a touch nicer to the students. I don’t know if either of you are aware, but you come across a bit intimidating.”

Neither of them laughed, but Headmistress cracked the faintest bit of a smile. “Will do, Huntyr. You take care of yourself.”

The group of them turned, heading down the cobblestone street that led to the forest. We managed to pave a small path, enough to make traveling through the kingdoms much easier.

Which was why now was the perfect time for them to go.

Even if it sucked to watch them leave.

“Hells, if I knew you were this much of a crybaby, I would’ve told them to leave without saying goodbye.” Rummy sauntered back into view. She was wearing a jacket she hadn’t been wearing earlier, and my stomach dropped at the sight of it.

“You’re not leaving too, are you?”

“No! Hells no, relax!”

I took a long, shaking breath. “Good, because I don’t think I could let you go. You’re stuck with me forever.”

“You know, I quite like being one of the only fae living among vampyres. It makes life exciting.”

“Right,” Wolf added from behind me. “Because life wasn’t exciting atallbefore.”

Chapter 57

Wolf

Iknew the hungry ones were cured long before Rummy said the words to Huntyr. She knew too, deep down. I saw it in the way she slept better at night, in the way she actually grew excited when others finally got their first vampyre cravings. The fear of the curse slowly dissipated, but when Rummy said those words today and Huntyr actually felt it…

I would have gone through the entire damn war again if it meant giving her relief like that.

Huntyr ran off with Rummy, likely to drink cheap liquor off one of the old roofs again. I didn’t question their late-night hang sessions, but at least Huntyr had wings to catch herself if she ever fell off one of those damn roofs.

Rummy was just crazy.

I think that’s why Jessiah liked her so much.

The sun already set, but I made my way to the large fire that lit up the center of Scarlata. These nightly fires were something that started before the war, but they never really ended. There was something comforting about these people having a home to crawl back to at night, a home of people who cared about them, who had their backs.

Getting together like this was a nice reminder that we weren’t alone anymore.Theyweren’t alone anymore.

Some of the vampyres were survivors of the original war. They were the ones who spoke the most on nights like this, when the moon was high in the sky and young ears were eager for more.

But those vampyres did not speak of violence, nor did they speak of hate for what the fae and angels did to them all those years ago.

They only spoke of love. Of forgiveness. Of living with your heart and spreading joy across all the kingdoms.

These were survivors of much, much worse than anything we endured, yet they did not hold grudges. They had no desire to seek revenge for what was taken from them.

“You weren’t angry at the fae for attacking you?” one of the younger vampyres asked.

The older male held his finger up, quieting the small crowd around him. “At first, yes, I was very angry. But listen to me when I say this, child: the fae did not attack us because they were evil beings. They did not slaughter this place because they held hate in their hearts.” I stepped closer to the fire, careful not to make any noise as he continued. “They attacked us because they were afraid. They did what they did because they too had families to protect. If we believed they were evil, if we retaliated and did the same to them, would that make us any better?”

The children were silent.

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