Page 129 of Vow of the Undead
“Because we’re both monsters,” I said, far more breathlessly than I’d intended.
His smirk stretched into a wicked grin and he dipped his face to mine, our breathing intertwining as closely as our fates. “Because we need each other.”
He was right. But I didn’t just need him and that only sickened me more. A piece of me still wanted Drak. I buried it, suppressing the heat that burned low in my belly. It was so wrong, but now that we were alone together, I couldn’t help but think of why I hadn’t just staked him in the empty space where his heart belonged.
“Remember who you belong to, my wife.”
I ripped my eyes away from him, letting them land at his feet. “You want me because we’re both corrupt.”
“Honestly? Fuck whatever you think is wrong with you, Lux. I want all of you.”
All of me. He accepted my darkness.
And when I killed Astrid, I did too. I wasn’t a protector like the seerborn I swore the Norns had weaved into my fate.
I was a huntress, a predator, shaped by the need for survival.
My gaze flickered to the bronze ring on his middle finger. I’d seen that same blood-red ruby somewhere before. “Is that… Sten’s ring?” I snapped my attention back to his face. He only smirked, so I said what he wasn’t giving voice to. “You killed him, didn’t you? That’s another reason for Astrid to have aligned with my sister, to try to unmake you so she could kill you.”
He raised his brow. “Ever the curious little killer you are. Yes, I killed him. I didn’t like that he suggested he’d had his way with you when he and Astrid captured you, so I cut off his head, burned his body, and took his ring as a reminder to everyone else about my promise to protect you, even if it’s just from rumors.”
“But I’m not married to you. You have no obligation to any promise.”
“I can feel the difference in you, Lux. You’re the huntressnow, which means you killed someone, just as I killed Sten. I’m guessing Astrid was your victim? She was always relentless.”
I drew in a breath, expecting to argue about my role as the Gods’ weapon against the plague on this realm, but he said nothing. What had made me think he’d help me? He hated the Gods, but perhaps he hated the Blood Council more. It was my only shred of hope. “You were right about the war.” He stayed silent. “So whose side are you on? Human or vampire?”
“It’s not that simple and you know it. There are humans who want the power vampires can give to them and there are vampires like the Exile who only want to exist with human vessels that choose to offer their blood. Besides, there are more than two sides. I still have many subjects that are faithful only to me.”
“Whose side?” I demanded, because he could just as easily cut down the tree and sever our access to the Gods, but he hadn’t, and I didn’t want to give him the idea by having him lead me there.
“The side that frees you from the Gods.” His mouth cut into a hellish grin. “And enacts revenge. Remember? It was always for revenge and freedom after Odin took my mother’s sanity. Now they’ve taken you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to reclaim you.”
“What about your obsession with summoning Odin?”
“I’m working toward it.” He leaned against the door frame with his arm bent. The fingers of his other hand brushed over my lips. Why did I want him to grab my chin and drag me to him? For him to consume me? Because we never finished what we started. Something inexplicable drew me to him, but I resisted the traitorous urge, praying he couldn’t sense my thoughts. “Do you still want my help?”
“Will you help me find Yggdrasil?”
“If you say it.”
He wanted me to beg? “Fuck you!”
A dark laugh came from deep within his chest. “Not that, my wife.”
“Stop calling me that. I’m already the huntress, you can’t stop that by binding me to you now.”
“If you tell me the truth, I’ll help. Say you need me.”
I sucked air through my clenched teeth and glared at him from beneath my brows. It did nothing to deter him.
“Say. It.”
I grabbed his arm and yanked his hand away from my mouth, but he was just as fast. Gripping my wrist, he pulled me flush against his body where I felt every inch of him, firm and feverish.
I swallowed the saliva I nearly spit in his face. I was the one who came here. I’d climbed the castle steps and knocked onhisdoor. Even more, he’d told me the truth every single time I’d ever asked. He never failed to respond to me, and I wasn’t going to be the first to lie or conceal what should be said. Especially not when he was asking for it—no, demanding it.
I tilted my face up to him. “I need you.”
