Page 120 of Vow of the Undead
I stepped forward, but not because Ylva forced me to. Instead of locking eyes with my betrothed, I refused to look at the king. With every step past the hundreds of people standing on either side of the room, I searched for her.
I twisted to look behind me, trying to see each face in the crowd. The dress dragged in a massive sweep like silvery liquid behind me. A familiar face sent my heart skipping.
Instead of my sister, I caught sight of blond hair jagged with the line of a scar, a clean-shaven jaw fixed with determination. My gaze flickered to the king whose eyes only seemed to see me. Kayn must have slipped in undetected. I remembered his explanation for how he snuck around so successfully.The king does not stoop to pay attention to me when there is a witch as powerful as you within his sights.
When our eyes met, he gave me a slight nod and I averted my gaze to avoid bringing attention to him.
Like the first time I spotted Kayn in the throne room, he slipped through the crowd, matching my path to the throne but under a different kind of veil. The hundreds of bodies pressed into the room so tightly meant nobody cared to notice a single exile shifting through the crowd. Vampires were likely too arrogant to believe anyone would dare interrupt this ceremony, and the humans’ faces were agape with a mixture of fear, respect, and awe for their king. They knew just enough to be afraid but not enough to change the way of this world.
That was dependent on me.
The chain of the pendant dug into my skin and the rough cut of the ash tree rubbed my thigh raw with each step. I dragged my gaze to the king who still watched me with an all-consuming stare.
He was getting what he’d wanted all along. What had led my father to believe King Drakkar would even listen to him? How long had the king been planning this?
My hand flexed and I itched to grab at the stake as I stopped before the throne. It seemed the entire crowd didn’tbreathe until I dipped into the expected curtsy. My stomach churned, acid and anger mixing. I curtsied to the man who’d tormented my sister, who’d threatened to kill me. Even my body knew this was wrong. The twisted sickness of it sunk into my bones, seeping through my raw skin and aching muscles.
If I dared think of stabbing him too early, I’d lose everything I’d bargained for. I had to wait until he was close enough, until I could angle the stake right between his ribs and drive it up and up into her heart.
Think of Silver.Where was she?
Still kneeling, I craned my neck to search the faces at my sides, young and old, vampire and human, so many strangers. I spotted another familiar face. This one, stoking the fire that had ignited within me.
Astrid and Sten stood near the front. If I had truly killed them all those months ago, perhaps King Drakkar would have left me alone.
Perhaps I’d already be the huntress Odin wanted me to be.
I frowned. Sten toyed with his hideous bronze ring, the ruby at the center looking like a drop of blood on his thin fingers. Astrid looked as cruel as ever with the hard line of her mouth peaked into a sneer. She must have believed we would end up killing each other once I saw my sister, me as the huntress and him the most powerful vampire, and since that hadn’t happened yet, she was fuming that her plan did not work to eliminate us both.
After the appropriate amount of time, I rose up to my full height again. Lifting my head, I saw King Drakkar had stood and stretched his hand out to beckon me to him, but I didn’t move.
Bind yourself to a monster.
I frowned and marched to the throne. Laying my hand in King Drakkar’s, it seemed I’d taken a dose of poison because my tongue tasted bitter and the sickness at the pit of my gut roiled.
I locked eyes with him and searched for answers, but they were flat, unreadable. They’d never been as expressive as his mouth, but his lips revealed nothing either.
“She better be safe,” I breathed.
He stayed silent but his mouth still gave me a response. A grim smile, hollow and cold curved at the corners of his lips.
A figure stepped out from behind the tall throne.
“Silver,” I whispered.
She was alive and safe. The needle piercings around her mouth were dozens of empty holes now. The thread binding her mouth shut was gone and her arms were free of ropes. Hope lifted my heavy bones.
She wasn’t even near any other vampires, other than King Drakkar. He may have stood between us, but he didn’t know I had the stake with me, and Kayn close by.
Could she control him? Together, we might have a chance to get out alive even with me exposing the Blood Council. Before I could conjure another thought, he tugged me closer to him and, just like the first time we stood before his throne together, he whispered into my ear.
This time, he didn’t tell me to kiss him.
“Lux, you have to run.” His voice was low, rough, as if he could barely speak. My pulse rushed through my ears and I barely heard him repeat the warning. “Run. I cannot stop her.”
Movement caught my eye and I snapped my gaze to my sister. The room was flooded with candles and torches along the walls and in the candle holders hanging above our heads. The flames caught the shine of something in Silver’s hand as she raised it.
“Lux, please.” Desperation laced his words. This had to be a trick. All he’d wanted was to marry me, and now he told me to leave?
