77

I stopped screaming because it was pointless. My cries fell on deaf ears, and Sia, the one I thought I shared a blood bond with, ignored my pain. He simply continued to dine with the rest of the royal family, as if I weren’t there, as if I weren’t gasping for breath, as if my lifeblood wasn’t slowly being drained from my body.
Hanos, the Vampire King, finally released me, but Sia’s indifference cut deeper than any wound. I staggered away from Hanos; my hand pressed against the gaping wound in my neck. His bite had been excruciatingly deep, and the dizziness that washed over me threatened to pull me into unconsciousness. But I couldn’t afford to faint. Not now. Not in front of these ice beings who saw me as nothing more than a pawn in their games.
With shaky steps, I moved toward the wall and leaned against it for support. I needed to stay conscious, to prove my strength, and to ensure that they didn’t see me as weak.
Sia, finally breaking his silence, licked his lips and then smacked them together with a disturbing lack of remorse. “Not bad, but it’s still a no.”
His words sent a shiver down my spine. All this pain and humiliation, and it was merely for his curiosity? Anger welled up within me, but I couldn’t find the strength to express it, not when I was on the verge of collapse.
“It’s too late, isn’t it? Don’t you want to know why I said no?” Hanos interjected.
Sia hesitated, caught off guard by the question. “No… I…”
I couldn’t remain silent any longer. Weakly, I spoke up, my voice barely more than a hoarse whisper. “Yes,” I coughed, struggling to find my words amid the pain. “I want to know.”
Hanos’ laughter reverberated through the room, a cruel sound that added to my torment. “That’s a sensible woman you’ve got there, Nasia! She wants to know why I rejected her!”
I didn’t see the humor in it. My vision blurred as I blinked to stay awake, my head pounding from the blood loss.
“Well, I’ll tell you!” Hanos declared, his tone filled with amusement. “I rejected your redhead because she… she tastes human.”
Fear coursed through me as the realization hit. My secret was out. All my efforts to conceal the fact that my wolf was gone, had been in vain. I was exposed.
Avetha gasped in disbelief. “Surely the human blood you had before has affected your taste buds? She’s a wolf. Or do you intend to say that we have been misinformed?”
“I speak the truth, Avetha,” Hanos confirmed, a trace of frustration in his voice. “She tastes human, but she certainly doesn’t smell like it.”
“She has shifted before, uncle,” Dolan chimed in between bites of his meal. “So what exactly are you saying?”
“The lass could have lost her wolf,” the Vampire King mused.
“From omega to human. Interesting,” Dogara commented, her tone betraying a hint of intrigue as she sipped her wine. I couldn’t help but wonder if she thought the assassins she had sent after me were responsible for stripping me of my wolf.
“Does that mean we can kill her?” Eleanor asked coldly. “She can no longer defend herself. Plus, her kind of people shouldn’t know we exist.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized the dire situation I was in. I was at their mercy, vulnerable and exposed.
“I doubt Sia would just let us kill her,” Elvis suggested. “We can sell her or make her suffer for deceiving us all.”
Yet Sia remained silent, his impassive face revealing nothing. He didn’t defend me, didn’t acknowledge our blood bond, and it cut deeper than any wound.
“We could just kill her. A quick stab in the heart. It always works for them humans,” Eoff replies, making me wonder just how many deaths he is responsible for.
“No,” Ruarc mutters.
“Did you say something son?”, Avetha asks, her pointed ears perking. I roll my eyes, swearing when my head starts to pound.
Just a little more. I need a little more.
“Yes I did, Nobody’s killing her.”
“Unbelievable!”, Dogara shouts. My head pounds harder. If she doesn’t watch it, I’ll throw my knife at her face. “Has she charmed you too? First it was Massa, then Sia, now you?”
“She lives, mother, for if she dies, a part of me dies,” Ruarc said loudly.
Avetha and Hanos turned their attention to Ruarc, surprised by his sudden outburst. “You’re mated to the human? Why are we just learning this now?” they asked in unison.
Ruarc’s anger flared, and he responded fiercely. “Maybe if you had asked questions before sinking your fangs into her, you would have known!” His gaze met mine briefly before he repeated, “She lives, mother, for if she dies, a part of me dies.”
Avetha and Hanos exchanged puzzled glances, their pointed ears perking up. The eerie synchronicity of their actions sent a chill down my spine.
And then, I surrendered. My body crashed to the ground with a resounding thud, and the world around me blurred into darkness.
The last image that flickered in my fading consciousness was the glint of a knife.
It was smeared with blood.
……
“You need to send her back, Sia, before things truly spiral out of control,” Ruarc muttered, his gaze drifting toward Crinka, who lay sleeping soundly, just as she had the previous day. He had almost feared her dead when she hadn’t stirred, but a sigh of relief escaped him as he noticed her rhythmic breathing.
“Ruarc’s right, brother. She can’t stay here any longer. It’s too dangerous,” Massa chimed in.
“It’s not,” Sia countered resolutely. “If we can keep her safe, she’ll be fine.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sia. Can’t you see that every attempt to protect her has backfired?” Massa retorted sharply.
“And who is to blame for that?” Sia defended vehemently. “If Ruarc hadn’t raped her when he did, our cover wouldn’t have been blown!”
Ruarc shot his brother a fiery glare. “Hey! Don’t pin this on me! Our cover was destined to be exposed one way or another.”
“Send her back, Sia, before she dies,” Massa implored. If he hadn’t interceded when he did, Crinka might have become his dinner.
“She can’t die,” Sia asserted resolutely. “Not when she carries my blood within her veins.”
“Sia, while a blood bond may help her survive, can she endure the perils that lurk within the palace? My wives despise her, as do the concubines and nearly everyone else except us. You must send her away, and swiftly.”
“What about the blood bond? It won’t permit us to be apart.”
“It might,” Ruarc responded, his voice lowered. “Just temporarily, until we can find a way to sever it.”
“A temporary separation? It could take years, Ruarc, because blood bonds are nearly impossible to break. You know this, as does everyone else.”
“She doesn’t,” Ruarc whispered. “But she has to leave.”
“Ruarc is right,” Massa chimed in. “She can’t remain here. She’s too fragile, too vulnerable, too human.”
“We could train her,” Sia proposed. “Strengthen her.”
“If we do that, she’d only become stronger than an average human,” Massa countered. “Let her go, my friend. If you care for her, let her go.”
“I don’t love Crinka,” Sia protested, “so she’s staying.”
“Like hell she is!” Ruarc erupted. “Listen here, Sia. I don’t want her to leave any more than you do, but it’s the only way to ensure her safety. She needs to return to her people, it’s time.”
“They’d kill her on sight. Don’t forget she’s a rogue,” Sia argued.
“Then don’t send her back,” Massa suggested. “Give her enough resources to sustain herself for a lifetime. Just get her out of the palace.”
“What about the bomzees? What if they come after her?”
“The bomzees have no interest in humans, Sia. Let her go.”
Sia sighed, sitting down beside Crinka. Her wounds were healing well, thanks to the herbs Pharix had provided. “Fine,” he relented, his heart heavy. “I’ll… I’ll convey our decision to her. But don’t hold it against me if she refuses to leave.”
“You may need to persuade her,” Massa said wearily.
“I’ll try, but I can’t make any guarantees. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an encounter with a certain Icelander to attend to.”
Rising from his seat, he left Massa’s room in search of Pharix.