Page 30 of Blood Lord

"How dare you take away one of my best acts!"

I know I shouldn't but I break. He's going to continue to punish me either way. "What are you talking about?"

My lip splits on that one. The blood spills down my chin, and Nielmor snorts. "You can play an innocent act on stage, but not with me. We found Aaron's body."

And then it hits me. They think I killed Aaron and then ran away. Not even close to what happened.

"No, Nielmor–" I think my nose is bleeding, too, though it's hard to tell. All I know is that his last blow was a little too high and slightly blinded me.

"No, you listen to me!" He brings in close, his disgustingly hot breath washing over my face. "You made a mistake coming back here."

And then the worst possible thing happens. His eyes crinkle as his lips curl up into a more natural-looking smile. I recognize this look. The only time his eyes crinkle is when-

"But now I'll have my star forever," he hisses, his anger leaking out, and I gulp.

Nielmor has always been dangerous but never to me. Not until now. He drops my arm and I fall to the ground, my skin blotchy with bruises and blood blisters.

"I just have to make sure that you turn as docile as you are useful." His head snaps to the rest of the gathered circus crew. "String her up in the middle of the camp," he barks and my stomach sinks.

This won't be good.

Hands grab at me, and I try to squirm up so that I can see someone as I'm half dragged, half carried out of the tent. "You don't understand!" I plead. Someone lands a cheap blow against my stomach. "I didn't hurt Aaron!"

There are chuckles as I'm dropped to the ground, and someone's foot is on my back, pinning me in place as poles are erected and rope is gathered. "I didn't do it!"

The heel digs into me further and someone starts tying rope around my ankles. "Then, who did?" a voice barks back.

I open my mouth, and then realize I have no answer for that. As angry as Raziel made me, I'm not going to sell him and his kind out. I can't. And they take my silence as a guilt admission.

"Exactly," the voice hisses.

I'm jerked up as I continue to scream and beg, my limbs shackled to the poles I recognize from one of our trapeze acts. My joints strain as they are pulled in different directions, and soon, I'm held up for the whole circus to see, and Nielmor comes strolling out with a massive smirk on his face.

His lips are moving, his eyes crinkling as he smiles, and I realize he's muttering to himself. I can't hear much more than "my forever star" and just as I am about to beg Nielmor, his hand lifts.

I hear the snap before I feel it, but when I do, my scream shatters the forest. The circus laughs as my vision goes blurry, and the blood poundings in my ears that I can barely hear anything after.

All I know is pain. I can't figure out what Nielmor is doing as black sweeps across my vision and my throat feels shredded from my screams. Still, he doesn't stop and neither do I.

And I knew this was coming. I knew that telltale sign in his expression. Still, I said nothing of the vrakken, so it is truly my own fault.

As the pain sweeps across me, I descend into agony, unable to even think clearly.

17

Raziel

I'm panting and sweating from the effort to fly faster and keep both glamours in place. I don't dare slow as I tear through the forest, my ears perked and my eyes scanning everything.

I hadn't been able to find Selene in the wildspont. I'd searched it until I became frantic, and then I realized that she could have gone back to the normal woods of Protheka. While I have no proof that she wasn't dragged away or maimed, I believe she is still alive. I can feel it in my gut, and I'm trusting that if anything was wrong, my senses would have picked up on it.

Thinking of only Selene, I dove through the portal, and I was spit out into a different forest than when I originally found the portal. So is the way of the wildspont. It's moving magic, and that doesn't guarantee stability.

I have to hope that it sent Selene to the same place, though, as I fly as low as I can, my wings taking strikes from branches that I don't manage to avoid.

As the sun sets, though, I'm growing more and more worried. I've combed as much of this forest as she could have covered, and I still haven't seen any sight of her. I force myself to slow down, to think, and I land in the top branches of a tall tree, looking out across the woods toward the city.

It's so reminiscent of the night that we first met, especially as the sun starts to disappear, and that's when it hits me. When I found Selene, it had been not far from here at the circus. She had told me she has no family, that that's her home.

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