Page 44 of The Stygian Crown

“Get it out of me,” she whispered.

“We can’t do it here. The process will be…noisy. And painful. It will burn you from the inside out, Kara.”

“How did you remove yours?”

“I got really drunk and fished it out with a knife. Wouldn’t recommend. I was taking them for months, trying to outrun the keening, and my mark was half the size of yours. I won’t lie to you. It’s going to be excruciating.”

Kara bit her lip. “There’s a blood mage at court. Salizar. He gave it to me.”

Logan’s jaw ticked, his expression promising violence.. “We’re going to pay him a visit.”

“You can’t kill him. He might be a lead on the Sanguines. He had a sample of my blood prior to the shadow mirror spell.”

Logan cursed. “Take me to him.”

Logan kickeddown Salizar’s door instead of knocking, and Kara jumped.

“What is the meaning—” Salizar’s raised voice lowered as he saw who stood in his doorway.

“Oh good, you’re in,” Logan said. Ice ran through his words.

Salizar skittered behind his cauldron. “Lord Melbourne. Commander. What can I do for you?” His eyes slid from Logan to Kara, and he blanched a little.

Logan strode into the room like he owned it and motioned for Kara to follow.

“Show him,” he growled.

Kara lifted her shirt, exposing the dark mark that crawled across her stomach. It was twice the size of when Salizar had seen it last.

Salizar’s mouth gaped. He slowly circled the cauldron and approached her. “Beautiful.” He raised a hand to touch the mark, and Logan snatched his wrist out of the air and squeezed until Salizar whimpered.

“Don’t touch her. You got her into this mess, you get her out of it.”

“I had a chance to finish analyzing my notes on your blood, from before it was stolen. Yours had several unusual markers. Who cast the sanguinata on you?”

Kara stilled. Salizar knew too much. “That’s irrelevant.”

“On the contrary, it could be why the demon’s drip reacted so…vigorously. If my analysis was correct, you had the blood of a cursed male in your system. But that couldn’t be right, could it?” Malice glinted in his eyes. “If you give me another sample, I can run more tests.”

Logan slammed Salizar against the wall and lifted him by the neck. Several glass jars fell to the ground and broke open.

Kara winced at the thud his body made. Logan’s eyes were dancing red at the edges, his usual control being tested by the keening. The urge to squeeze the life out of Salizar would be hard to resist.

“You’re never getting your hands on her blood or that magic eater, mage. You’re going to remove it in the most painless way possible, and your reward will be your life. For now.”

Salizar’s face was turning red, and his eyes had grown three times their usual size. He was staring at Logan like he’d seen a god. “It’s you—the sanguinata,” he sputtered. “A male Namirahn alive until adulthoood. Do you know how rare you are?” His voice came out in rasps as Logan’s fingers tightened.

“Logan,” Kara said as his shoulders spread, muscles bulging beneath his clothes. She laid a hand on his arm and squeezed. “We need him.”

Logan dropped Salizar and tore across the room, putting distance between them. Salizar slid to the floor and massaged his bruised throat.

“I’ll do it in exchange for your blood,” he said to Logan.

“You will do it,” Logan roared, and all the glass containers in the room shook, “Or I will eviscerate you and decorate the palace with your entrails.”

Salizar struggled to his feet, eyes darting around the room. “Even with the sanguinata, that’s unprecedented growth in such a brief span of time. Do you have any mages in your family?”

“No. More. Questions,” Logan growled.

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