Page 98 of Vow of the Undead
Lux.
Lux.
King Drakkar knew who I really was, which meant he likely knew what I’d done. When he said he knew me better than to buy my lie, curiosity simmered in my chest, along with something else. Something sinister—like appreciation for a cruel king, for a monster whosawme. Really saw me.
Now I was scanning him, holding him with this power.
A glaze layered over his blue gaze, the compulsion taking control.
King Drakkar shook his head, wisps of the hair knotted at the back of his head escaped. “Embla?” His voice was emotionless from the forced answers. “She is missing.”
“You killed her, you fucking monster! What purpose did it serve?”
“I didn’t kill her. When someone goes missing, I have to look the other way. I can only suspect the purpose was the pleasure of gluttony.”
“You’re sick.”
“It wasn’t me.” He flinched.
This was pure truth. The compulsion didn’t allow him to lie. But if he hadn’t killed her, why did one of his servants end up on the temple’s step? The vampire I woke wouldn’t havetraveled to the castle just to pluck a random girl and drag her all the way back to the feet of the witch who compelled her.
“Who then?”
“There are many vampires. I cannot say who may have drank from her..”
Except she wasn’t drained, she was bleeding out on the stone. This was murder, plain and simple. Black spots dotted my vision and I knew that if I didn’t stop, I’d go limp in his arms.
I opened my mouth to compel him to release my wrists but I couldn’t find the words. If I were free to grab the stake, I’d act on instinct. After so many hours of training, I knew exactly how to grip the stake and where to angle it. I could lean into muscle memory and let this Call of the Gods commence.
But if he let go, I’d also have to kill him. I’d turn him to dust and he hadn’t even been the one to hurt Embla.
“You didn’t kill her,” I said.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Stop the Age of Exploration.”
He huffed. “I can’t do that. I don’t agree with the council on many things, but humans and vampires will both starve if we don’t go forward.”
“Then release the exiles!”
“They need seers to guide the way, to make it through the storms.”
“Let Ragna go then.”
He cursed and squeezed me harder. “They took all the witches.”
Frustration rippled through me.
Why couldn’t I kill him?
My tongue turned sour, and all at once, I dropped the compulsion. My chest heaved with the effort of the magic. I should have demanded he release me, but I’d been too consumed with a twisted sense of justice, as if getting him toconfess that he’d killed Embla would help her now. And now I didn’t have the energy to compel him again.
“Why can’t they simply work with the witches instead of holding them prisoner?”
He frowned. “Witches have been proven dangerous and the vampires don’t trust them, this is part of why they are exiled and then forced to do the vampire’s bidding.”
Something familiar flickered in his eyes, almost mirroring me. Frustration? He had my arms in his hand, my life in his palm, yet his breathing was as shallow as mine. His jaw bulged as he gritted his teeth.
