Page 56 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

“Death. Awaken,” Roth murmured as they tried to get closer to the hounds, only to be tugged back by their elder brother.

“I think whatever magic was used to bring them back from the dead didn’t bring back the essence of what they are,” I thought out loud. “Like their instincts, what made them predators, are missing. It feels like my earth magic is repulsed by their very presence. They’re just empty vessels that can take commands, and it didn’t occur to Demetri to order them to attack us.”

“Your husband was an idiot,” Taivan rumbled. “What’d you ever see in him anyway?”

“Ex-husband,” Kieran and Alaric said at the same time.

“Dead ex-husband.” Roth smiled.

I rolled my eyes. “Let’s chalk up my failed marriage to the foolish and idealistic views of my younger self.” I frowned at the hounds. “We should destroy the collars. If it’s a spell that’s reanimating them, that should allow their bodies to return to the earth.”

We all looked at the creatures.

“So . . . uhh . . . who’s going to do it?” Kieran scratched his head.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Roth growled, then the ropes that had returned to their forearms shot out and slipped underneath the collar of the nearest hound before ripping it free and tossing it to me. Within seconds, the howler fell apart into a pile of rotting flesh and bones.

I stepped back with a gag, and the others followed suit. Apparently, we didn’t even have to destroy the collar, just remove it. With a grimace, Roth’s brothers stepped forward and snapped the collars off the remaining howlers. The beasts didn’t even move, just crumbled as soon as the leather broke contact with their bodies.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I stared at the carnage around us before my gaze lingered on Demetri. His death had been too quick, but I was still glad it’d come at my hands.

I looked up to find Kieran also staring at Demetri’s corpse, a troubled look on his face that I didn’t like one bit. Demetri might have been dead, but the pain of his words was clearly still lingering in Kieran’s mind.

Before I could say anything, the storm kicked up a notch, and the rain became more like buckets of water being dumped on us.

“This way,” Severen called from where he and Celestina waited in the forest. I shoved some loose strands of hair away from my face and reached out to grab Kieran’s hand, pulling him with me.

Alaric glanced at his friend in concern and fell into step next to me. Roth was already bundled up between their brothers—and grumbling loudly about how they never wanted to be outdoors again.

I’d build them the library of their fucking dreams once this was all said and done.

We’d been walking for no more than five minutes when Severen and Celestina suddenly stopped. Everyone halted with them and looked around. Because of the damn rain, I could barely see twenty feet in front of me and definitely couldn’t hear that far. All I could smell was the damn forest and the faint scent of ozone as lightning cracked across the sky.

“Run,” Severen breathed out.

We all took off without second-guessing the order. Celestina yelled something harshly and Taivan immediately snapped Roth up and flung them over his shoulder, then peeled from the group, going left with Desmond hot on his heels.

Severen darted to my side. “Samara, take your group and go west. We’ll keep going north. All three groups will meet—” He shoved me away, and I crashed into Kieran just as a bolt sank into Severen’s shoulder.

Our group ground to a halt in the middle of a clearing, Kieran and Alaric on either side of me and the three rangers just to our right. Lightning flashed, and I inhaled sharply as I saw the dark forms taking shape in front of us, becoming easier to distinguish as they closed the distance.

Carmilla sat atop an enormous black steed, and behind her, in two neat lines, were a dozen rangers also on horseback. Just like with Demetri, I had no doubt there were others in the trees surrounding us.

This wouldn’t be like fighting Demetri and his rangers. For one, House Laurent wasn’t known for creating strong warriors. Their rangers did the bare minimum to protect their lands.

A wordless whisper brushed against my mind.

Demetri also hadn’t had a crown capable of warping minds. That was the true danger. Panic threatened to overwhelm me, but I shoved it down. Severen was letting out pained breaths behind me, and I could hear Celestina ripping fabric to tend to his wound. We already had one injured in our party, and two of our strongest fighters were hopefully getting Roth as far away as possible.

There would be no fighting our way out of this one. Unless . . .

I did my best to ignore Carmilla drawing her mount to a stop ten feet away in front of me, her rangers obediently stopping behind her. I followed the strange connection between me, Draven, and Vail. There. Less than three miles from us.

Still not great odds, but I was fairly confident that the crown’s magic wouldn’t work on me. In the past, it hadn’t worked on anyone who had drunk a lot of my blood, which meant Kieran and Alaric should be protected. Maybe Nyx too, although it’d been well over a week since they’d had some, and they hadn’t drank all that much to begin with.

Everyone else was vulnerable. I just needed to buy us time until Vail and Draven arrived. Carmilla had purposely driven us into this clearing because their horses wouldn’t help them much in the thick of the forest. If we could cause a big enough distraction and get to the trees, we might be able to make a run for it.

During our standoff with Carmilla, the rain had decreased to a steady but less overwhelming amount.

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