Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Few will survive this night.
I stormed their way.
Ty held Victoria close to her.
“Xander!” Leeta called to me.
I stopped and glanced over my shoulder. “Yes.”
“Camille’s wounds are healing around her chest.”
My mouth widened into a smile, forcing my newly long fangs to almost touch my chin.
My queen.
An overwhelming ecstasy burned brighter through me.
She was not taken away from me.
Never before had I felt such an intense surge of joy, like this raging inferno of hope blazing within me.
We will have our happy ending.
“Grab that blanket off of the Quiet King’s bed and cover her in it,” I ordered. “I don’t want her to get wet, because tonight, the castle will rain blood!”
Leeta blinked. “Yes. . .”
“Yes, what?” I glared.
She shivered. “Yes, King.”
You all wanted it. Then, so be it.
I turned back to the traitors of my queen.
“I forgave you for spying.” I stomped forward. My hooves boomed with each step. “But helping my mother to stab Camille. . .that is something I can never forgive.”
With a surge of renewed energy, I rushed to Ty and Victoria with extended claws and a taste for their flesh under my tongue.
They screamed.
When the Quiet King returned, his bedroom, as well as his castle, would be painted red with blood.
This would be my message.
A letter to my dear father.
Stand down. A new king is here.
Chapter 9
Change
Camille
I’m alive. . .and. . .hungry.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
My eyes remained closed.
I was too weak to open them.
My body swayed back and forth.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
A raging hunger devoured my body, tearing through my veins like a wildfire. My limbs felt like lead weights and every muscle in my body screamed for sustenance. I felt so desperate for something to satisfy this gnawing emptiness that threatened to consume me.
I lay slumped over a horse.
I think.
Many footsteps sounded behind me, but hushed ones, not the stomping of royal guards or the pounding of people fleeing danger.
Is Xander safe? What happened?
Fear seized my chest and my heart drummed heavily in my ears.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
Although my eyelids drooped over my eyes so that darkness remained my only view, I should have been soothed by those hushed footsteps behind me.
Yet blood’s deadly perfume filled the air, and not the kind of scent I’d experienced from walking past Capitol City restaurants that served all types of the red liquid for vampire consumption.
No.
This was the odor of death and decay. The space around me flooded with it.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
A shiver of terror surged up my limp body. I prayed to Ambi and Ressi for the strength to at least move my hand, lift my head, and see where I was and who was around.
It was not possible.
My muscles sagged in defeat. They were so heavy like anchors of a ship, keeping me in place.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
A man screamed.
A slash sounded, and then the screams ceased.
What was that?
Only the clop-clopping of hooves could be heard now as the horse carried me farther.
I assumed it was night since I didn’t feel the usual heat from the sun.
A cool gust of wind passed by, dried the liquid all over my skin into a hard shell, and lifted my hair in the air.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
After several minutes, I struggled to open my eyes and could only get the right one open for a few seconds.
I can see! A little. Wait. . .What’s. . .that?
What I saw frightened me.
No. How can this be?
I’d thought I was on a horse, but instead, I lay over a man’s bare shoulder, a huge man with muscles that ballooned out and creased with bulging veins. His leather pants were ripped at the ends. Big black hooves replaced what should have been his feet. Blood and pus caked his skin.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
And in the distance of my mind a faint voice echoed, Camille? Camille?
What is that?
I focused harder and groaned.
The creature who was holding me stopped. I trembled, unsure of who this was and why he had me.
Where is Xander? What happened to everyone? Why am I still alive? Hadn’t the knife drove through my back, pierced my heart, and sliced my chest open?
That odd hunger returned to me.
My stomach growled with an insatiable hunger that devoured my thoughts until my only desire was to feed.
“Camille?” A dark voice laced my name. It came out gruff and unyielding.
“She moved her fingers,” a woman said on my side.
The dark voice growled, “Are you sure my queen moved or are you only hoping to save your life, Leeta?”
He said my queen.
I deeply inhaled.
Somewhere under the scent of blood and pus, death and the night’s air was Xander’s tenna scent.
It’s him. He’s the creature. My king.
I groaned again.
The creature, who I now hoped was Xander, lifted me off his shoulder and adjusted me so that I lay in his arms.
I focused all my energy on my eyes. Slowly, inch by inch, I opened my eyelids.