Page 71 of Vow of the Undead
Stasia gasped. “Oh damn, it’s a temple! I’ve never seen one with my own eyes, all the temples near Mara’s Keep were leveled long before I was born. Children climb and play on what’s left but they’re ruins, nothing so grand.”
My body went cold. “My mother is in there, isn’t she?” I stole a look at Kayn who nodded silently. “Did she escape the wasteland?”
“In a sense.” He turned away from me to face the temple. “Mara’s people call this The Forsaken Hall.”
I didn’t ask more about her escape, but I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering. Perhaps someone gave her a pass, akin to when King Drakkar stopped my execution. Or perhaps she dared find a way to break free of the borders of the wasteland and hide in Mara.
My ear prickled with the sensation of his eyes on me. “Though she is alive, I should warn you, she isn’t well. I had a nearby villager come to attend to her while I was gone, but I can’t promise they followed through.”
Though I already knew this, a pang struck across my chest with a skipped heartbeat. Heat crawled up my throat and my hand found its way to my collarbone where I clawed at my itchy skin. Worry manifested in a thousand prickles over my exposed flesh.
“She’s sick.” I said absentmindedly, preparing myself to see her weak.
If Valhalla came for her soon, I would only try harder to find a way there. Battles were a scar of the past, but divination could connect us to Odin. Surely, her life as a seerborn had already connected her to the glory of Valhalla. She would be a welcome addition with her knowledge of our history and the Nine Realms. Or rather, how she’d used thatknowledge to protect witches before, the Gods’ vessels, like the enchantment she created to conceal my eyes and hide my nature.
I had to catch up to this glory if I wanted to be with her in the afterlife.
“She is,” he said, confirming the story my eyes already told. They were nearly all black now, and once the white was gone, she would be too. “This is only more reason for you to work faster toward killing vampires.”
I shot him a look. His impatience set me on edge. I hadn’t even had the chance to see or speak with my mother in ten years and he expected me to focus on killing right now? I didn’t want to be that person now, or ever.
“Yes, I’m aware you have your own goal in this,” I snapped. Though I didn’t know what that goal was. After traveling with him for over two days, he still didn’t share enough for me to get to know him beyond his name and what he was. “But my mother is my first priority.”
“And then I trust you’ll focus on the Gods’ Calling.”
“And become a killer?” I shivered at the word.
“Of vampires.”
I frowned. “I need to see my mother before I agree to anything.”
Stasia, two steps ahead of us now, twisted toward us. Her freckles mashed together in a stricken expression. “What we should be asking is if she’s actually in there.” Her green eyes sharpened and slid to Kayn. “Even vampires without fangs have to eat. You could cut open her wrist just as easily.”
Kayn said nothing, only continued walking right past her. I didn’t need them to get along, but Stasia and I were entwined now and if Kayn was leading me to my mother, I’d follow him.
I had to believe she was here, because the alternative was that Kayn was the monster I knew him to be and he’d learned what he knew about my mother before he killed her, just like King Drakkar killed innocent humans so he could feed on them.
I forced a breath and stepped up beside Stasia. We walked together, climbing the loping hill where the Hall of the Gods perched at the peak. “What did they do at the temples? The sagas didn’t speak of them, and in Skaldir we communed with the Gods in the secret of the forest or in our own homes.”
My mother rarely spoke of official worship, because coming from her, it had sounded like she longed for it, perhaps even planned to gather other believers where they could all call upon the Gods. Though it was outlawed in the official capacity, the hunt for glory, to impress the Gods and die in battle to earn a place in Valhalla was what created the wasteland. We scarred our world to reach the next world. It was an act of stupidity.
“Sacrifice,” Stasia said. “That’s what Mara’s history says.”
“Silver.” Kayn said, his voice dying away as he froze in front of the temple.
I stopped short to keep from colliding with him. His arms flew out behind him to feel for me. He pulled me closer, as if using his body to block me.
Before he moved me, I caught his line of sight straight to the temple’s entrance. “Get behind me.” But it was Stasia who moved. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her slip away from us, sprinting for the cover of nearby trees.
And then I saw why.
Between two stone pillars sat King Drakkar.
His elbows rested on his peaked knees, his back leaning against one of the pillars with his hands hanging limp out in front of him. Though he sat on the ground, his casual demeanor and wicked grin told me he knew he still held all the power here.
But Kayn was one of them. Draugr. Vampire. Would he stop King Drakkar if he laid his claim to me?
“No need to hide my wife from me,Exile. I'm the one who let her leave, and I have to say, I'm disappointed with her choice.” King Drakkar’s grin spread wider as he met my gaze. I wanted to spit out that I wasn’t his wife, but it was a waste of breath. He only said it to vex me and flex his authority over the woman he trapped into this arranged marriage. “I’ll have her one way or another.”
