Page 76 of Blood Bought

Wishful thinking told me it was overkill, but the power those two had let off while they disappeared told me otherwise.

Aerin told me otherwise too, when she barged in just as I was lacing up my boots. She was armed to the teeth with black war paint smeared across her cheeks, making her look even more frightening than she did on a normal basis.

“What the hell is happening out there?” I asked quickly. “Ren came in here saying something about djinn and they both just disappeared.”

“Oh, good, then you’ve got the gist of it,” she said, taking my arm and dragging me out into the hall. “You’re to go to the bloodwhores’ chamber and wait with everyone else. You’ll be safest there, and they’ll need your help to stay calm.”

I wasn’t sure how to keepanyonecalm with my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest, but one look at the way her eyes were getting brighter and her fangs were distorting her lips told me I needed to chill out unless I wanted to get eaten.

She didn’t say another word to me as we raced through the castle to the bloodwhores’ hostel and ducked in, finding pure chaos there. It hit me quickly that they needed my help to stay calm because most of their vampires were about to leave — fewer vampires meant fewer need for bloodwhores and less of them to go around to feed the addictions some of them had developed.

I could hardly hear anything over the sound of sobbing and wailing, making me turn pleading eyes to Aerin. “Come on, don’t leave me here like this. I can be of actual use out there with the others. I don’t know how to make them feel better.”

“You’re a human who barely has any formal training whatsoever,” she snapped. “You’ll stay here with the mates. Goodbye, Adalind Silk. I’d say it has been a pleasure, but lying is beneath me.”

She vanished, leaving me groaning in frustration and yelling for Alaris in my head. He predictably didn’t answer me, and before I could try the others, Nesrin touched my shoulder.

“Miss Adalind, I’m having food brought up. Will you help me make sure they all eat?”

“Of course.” I tried to smile reassuringly at her, knowing the last thing she needed was to get the hint I thought I was above this — it was a stupid thought anyway, especially with how accurate Aerin had been in her assessment of me. This was what I was good at. This was where I could help, at least for the moment, and I’d just have to find an opening to sneak out and go find my mate.

The scene that unfolded afterward turned my stomach. The once happy bloodwhores were amess— blotchy-eyed, screaming, refusing food. It was the strangest thing I’d ever seen, and none of them were making my task easy on me.

Finally, after getting flat out slapped in the face by one of them for attempting to give them water, I put my foot down. “Alright!” I yelled. “They’re coming back! This is not the end of the world. Do you think I’d be standing here so brave if I honestly believed my Alaris wasn’t going to make sure everything is okay? I —”

“They’re leaving for war,” Nesrin interrupted quietly. “That’s why they’re so upset. War begets casualties. It’s not unbelievable for them to be afraid of what will happen, particularly because their vampires are the only ones securing their place in this castle.”

Breathing became harder. “No,” I argued. “It’s just a-a scouting mission or something to get more information. It’s not war, not yet. They’re not leaving.”

She stepped closer to me with her spine straight. “Don’t lie to them, Miss Adalind. Or to yourself. While you and Heir Alaris were... otherwise occupied, word went out to the other clans. The scouting missions are already complete.”

How the fuck long were we in that room?“Alaris would’ve told me. He would’ve said goodbye,” I pushed. “You’ll never convince me he left without saying goodbye or at least feeding from me for strength.”

“They’re still on the grounds, but you’re missing the bigger picture. Perhaps you weren’t the right one to send to us, after all.”

It was then that I noticed the fear in her eyes despite her stoic and otherwise-together demeanor. She was just as afraid as the others, becauseherfate was on the line every bit as much as theirs, and yet she wasn’t showing it. “Perhaps I wasn’t,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry, Nesrin. I just refuse to believe what you’re saying. I just settled in here, wejustfell in love. I won’t believe he’s leaving for a war until he looks me in the eyes and tells me himself.”

“Should be soon, then.”

Those words felt like a knife in my chest. I tried again to reach out to my boys in vain, thinking for only a moment that I’d succeeded when Vannik opened the door — but that was good enough for me.

I drew one of my blades and stalked over, pressing the tip just under his chin, knowing while doing it that it wasn’t much of a threat to him unless I could sever his entire head. “Why are you here?” I asked firmly. “What’s happening?”

“I’m here to feed. It’s been two days already and we’re leaving soon,” he growled, leaning forward until the blade knicked his skin and sent black blood dripping down it. “Are you offering yourself, Silk?”

“No.” I dug the knife a little deeper and pulled it back out, wiping it on Vannik’s shirt before tucking it away. “And you’re not getting near any of them until you tell me what’s really going on.”

“If Heir Alaris wanted you to know, he would’ve told you. Seems maybe you aren’t as precious to him as you think,” he spat. “Now move, before I take you anyway.”

“Please,” I whispered quickly, hating the way it sounded and the lump that formed in my throat. “You can have whoever you want, just tell me. Is this really war? With the djinn?”

Vannik’s eyes raked my frame. “So hedidtell you something, then.”

“I was there when Master Renzo told him, so yes. But I know almost nothing about djinn beyond the fact that they’re invisible and aren’t supposed to be evil, so I don’t understand why this is happening.”

He sighed, looking past me to the bloodwhores waiting impatiently for him. “They’re not. That’s why it took so long to figure out that’s what’s going on,” he explained. “Djinn mostly keep to themselves and stay across the Great Sea. The fact that they’re here should’ve been something to rejoice, but they’re picking us off. First the Lykos wolves and now us. The Shield bloodline has been dormant for decades, but they’ve woken up now, which means it’s not an accident that all of this is happening. It was foretold. Thanks to Azel’s witchcraft, we have a better understanding of what’s happening than anyone else. The other clans don’t realize it’s even a war yet, though our messengers have been sent out.”

My mind whirled, racing through his words and leaping from one realization to another until it finally made sense why Alaris didn’t stick around after he found out. If this really was tied to the prophecy Azel had heard, it was also the one where I was foretold to upend the world. Despite all of his pretty words and actions, maybe there was a part of Alaris that still believed it to be true. “How soon?” I asked, not wanting to let him know my suspicions. “Hours, days, weeks?”

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