Page 48 of Blood So Brutal

“That really was me, wasn’t it? My magic did that?”

“You are the blood queen, Huntress. I have no doubt in my mind that your power could be capable of such things.”

“I don’t even know how that happened. I just—I just wanted to save her.” Abigail was shockingly quiet for the next few hours of the trip. She did not cry. She did not ask to turn around, to be reunited with her family again. I even forgot she was there until we took breaks and I saw her climbing off Jessiah’s horse.

But she remained quiet. Calm.

I was glad, because I was silently freaking the fuck out.

Even the next day, as we rode through the forest in silence, my thoughts trailed back to the way my magic made those hungry ones freeze. My magiccontrolledthem. This was what Asmodeus wanted, right? He wanted me to control them. He wanted me to build him an army of blood-hungry monsters who would stop at nothing to destroy, destroy, destroy.

Wolf’s breath fell on the back of my neck, making me shiver, finally distracting me from my dark spiral of thoughts. “You’re panicking,” he whispered. “I can feel it.” He pulled our horse back far enough that Jessiah and Abigail couldn’t hear us.

“I wouldn’t say panicking,” I replied. “Just realizing I actually might be capable of everything your father wants from me.”

“I always knew you were capable,” he replied. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to play into his plans. You’re safe with us, Huntress. Jessiah won’t say anything, you have my word.”

“How do you know? You two are brothers, but he doesn’t seem to hate your father as much as you do. He could be more loyal.”

Wolf laughed quietly, the shaking in his chest vibrating through my back. “I just know,” he answered. “Very few people truly want to see my father with even more power than he already has. If you trust anything, trust that.”

Fair enough. Jessiah was a good man, even though he was the child of the evil archangel. That wasn’t his fault, though, was it? We had no control over who our parents decided to become. I had a hard time believing Jessiah had a single evil bone in his body. To sit by while his father took over kingdom after kingdom?

It wasn’t right. Jessiah wouldn’t stand for it.

But I also knew that trusting others got me into trouble on more than one occasion. Now, they knew I ultimately had more power than I was showing.

I would have to be very, very careful moving forward.

Trust no one, and Imightmake it out of this alive.

Chapter 15

Wolf

Scarlata Empire was as creepy and dark as I remembered. It was as if the sun never actually shined on this place, constant cloud-cover kept the city dim and gray. Fitting for the blood kingdom, the kingdom of death.

My chest tightened with each step our horses took. Witnessing the destruction from a distance was nothing compared to the crumbling ruins up close. Huntyr stiffened in front of me, taking in our surroundings in silence.

There were no vampyres in sight, but they would be lurking, hiding. The kingdom fell, yes, but not everyone left that day after the war. Vampyres and hungry ones lurked in these shadows, living their lives in secret.

I didn’t blame them. The fae absolutely slaughtered them. Vampyres were forced into hiding, pretending to be dead all this time.

Hells, maybe they were all dead, the hungry ones especially.

My voice seemed much too loud as I whispered, “We’ll let them go here,” pulling my horse to a halt. Jessiah did the same, helping Abigail off first before unstrapping our bags.

“What?” Huntyr asked. “We let the horses go?”

“It’s not safe for them to remain tied up here. We must let them go if they want to survive. They’ll find their way back to Griffith, don’t worry. They always do.”

I could do nothing to soothe the worry on her sharp, pale features. She was right to be worried. One couldn’t even leave a horse tied up in this kingdom without waking to find them drained of blood.

Huntyr would have to be careful. We all would.

Jessiah and I busied ourselves with unpacking the horses, taking everything we needed from the animals before removing the harnesses and sending them on their way. This wasn’t their first journey to Scarlata, and it wouldn’t be their last. But watching them trot back into the darkness of the forest never got any easier.

I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to the crumbled kingdom. “It’s getting dark. Let’s get to the tower before the sun is gone.”

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