Page 28 of A Dream Shrouded in Fury
“Try to tear my throat out, fucking fangers,” Corban spat from the floor.“I’ll take at least a few of you down with me before you do.”
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath, wishing one of these vampires would kill him so I didn’t need to listen to him anymore.At the very least, I hoped he was the first to go so I could enjoy my last few moments in peace.
Kalla didn’t so much as acknowledge him, and when I opened my eyes again, I found her attention firmly on me.“We’re here to get you out.”
The world swam around me, and I squeezed my hands at my sides.“You’re what?”
She didn’t repeat herself, but the determined glint in her eyes made me confident I hadn’t misheard her.
“Why?”
The changes in her face were minor, so much so I doubted I would have noticed if I hadn’t become familiar with her various expressions over the past few days.The tightening around her mouth, the shift of her jaw, the tautness of her throat—they spoke of pain she was striving to hold back.But when she spoke, her voice was strong.“I saved your life.To let you die now would be an insult to my efforts.”That wasn’t all of it, but she took a moment to compose herself before continuing.“Thorn gave permission for you to stay if you wanted to.”
My stomach dropped.I could have stayed.If I were a stronger man, I could havestayed.
“Since you don’t…” she continued.“Well, even if we hadn’t been ordered to kill you, I wouldn’t want you to stay because you have no other options.I’d rather… I’d rather you stayed because, out of all the options, that’s the one you chose.”Her last words came out strangled, and she trailed off to clear her throat.“As that’s not the case, then the least I can do is help you as much as I can.”
Corban snorted, and at the sound, Cliff rolled his eyes skywards.I empathized.Corban was set on making everything unpleasant for everyone.But now I had to hope they didn’t kill him.If we actually had a chance to take Brynna down, we needed him.Curse the skies that we did.
I reached for Kalla’s hand, but she drew back and gestured to the others.“This is Cliff, Ria, and Birch.They’ll be putting themselves on the line to help you, so if any of you value your lives, you will cooperate and not make this difficult for us, do you understand?”
I turned to the others.Hethyr and Pimmin nodded without hesitation, both appearing stunned by the turn of our fates.Corban glowered at the vampires until Pimmin kicked him in the leg, then he scowled.“Yeah, sure, fine.But know that if you turn on us, I’ll fight back.This could just be some fanger trick to fuck with us.”
“If they wanted to fuck with us, Corban, they’d turn us into dinner right now,” Hethyr shot at him.He gritted his teeth but didn’t argue.With a shake of her head, she turned back to the vampires.“We promise.Whatever you say.”
Kalla dropped her chin.“Then be ready to move.”
Cliff returned our weapons, and we strapped them on without another word.Corban seemed to debate drawing his broadsword, but one glance my way and he thought better of it.
I had no idea what Kalla’s plan might be.By the sounds of it, the party continued right outside our room.It wasn’t like she could sneak us out.And as soon as anyone noticed we were missing, they would know who was involved.
“Kalla.”I hated our audience, knowing both fae and vampire ears would hear anything I said no matter how softly I said it.“You don’t have to do this.Your family…”
Her stare hardened.“My family will have to forgive me.And they will.”She turned towards the door.“In time.”
They would as long as the fury remained safe and we kept our mouths shut about what we’d seen here.
I’d make sure we did.If by some miracle we survived the run-in with the royal guards and the princess, I would ensure none of us uttered a word about the secret under the mountains, and I’d send a prayer to the skies that anyone else who came close had an encounter with the dragons lurking above.But what was the point of telling her that?Either she already believed it, which was why she was taking this chance, or she never would.
All I could do was pay attention so we didn’t miss our cue.
“What are we waiting for?”Corban demanded as the pause stretched out.
Cliff squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers twitching at his sides.
Kalla’s nostrils pinched with a sharp inhale.“Our way to open.”
Ria and Birch exchanged an uncertain glance, and my stomach twisted.What had they done?I couldn’t see them planning anything that would harm their fury, but obviously they’d readied some kind of distraction.Curiosity nagged at me, but I kept my mouth shut and waited.
Gradually, the sounds of revelry faded, until all that was left were a few soft mutters and—was that a snore?
Cliff nodded to Birch, who left the room first.Ria followed and stuck her arm back in a moment later to beckon us forward.
“Here we go,” Kalla murmured, and stood aside to let us go first.
“What—” I started.
“Sleeping draught in the blood supply,” she said, her voice cold.“It won’t last long, so we need to move quickly.”
