Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67437 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Those words hung heavy against my chest.
Camille was relentless, and her desperation was clear.
But I had too many heartbreaking nightmares that had torn my courage away.
I swallowed. “We had our conversation.”
Camille frowned.
“Give me the supplies you promised in the forest and let me go.”
Camille’s heartbeats picked up.
“Now.”
“Seraphine. . .” Camille shook her head. “I can’t let you go, just yet. At least teach me—”
“There’s no time for that.”
“But anything you could teach would be helpful in—”
“I have to get away from here before the Quiet King’s army arrives and it is too late.”
“He is already here.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
“If I could show you that he is here, would you then stay for a little longer and help—”
“Give me my supplies.”
“How about. . .one more day to—”
“Now.” Slowly, I rose from the floor with my palms facing her.
Camille shivered as she began to stand to. “Seraphine, please. . .”
“You talked. I listened.”
“You must listen some more.” Leeta pulled out a small wooden knife and called the other guards into the room. “We need you to train the blood mages. If you do, we could create a unit.”
I laughed. “You think the Ground Mover will let you have a whole unit of blood mages? They will be dead before they step onto the battlefield, and it will be our own kind doing it.”
Camille edged back. “Guards. . .Leeta. . .get out. I am still talking to—”
“We are no longer talking.” I shook my head and looked at the two vampires that had entered. One of them had a small black crown tattooed on the side of his neck. Disgust filled me. “You have royal guards with you, blood queen?”
Camille nodded. “When Xander freed you and the other dominas, he gave the guards a choice to—”
“I was not a domina like you, Camille. I was a prisoner within windowless walls. And under the Quiet King’s orders I was drained once a week by guards like this and sometimes. . .” I shivered. “Sometimes. . .these guards did more than drain my young body. . .”
Camille’s eyes watered.
I looked at the ground, not wanting her pity or even. . .empathy. I just needed to get out of there. “If all of you step aside, then I will just get whatever items I can and go.”
“Seraphine, outside of this hut is a horse that has just been fed and given water. There are several leather bags of supplies near it, but the wagon will be later—”
“So you really are going to give me the supplies?” I looked up at her.
“I am, but I don’t want to. I’m still hoping that you will stay.”
Leeta inched closer to Camille. “Xander and Ian will not be happy if you let her go, Camille. We must consider other possibilities.”
Hope covered Camille’s face. “She still. . .may not want to leave.”
I smiled. “With all the death that is coming our way, why are you so positive, blood queen?”
Camille blinked. “Why do you call me blood queen?”
“It is something that my friend Reye used to talk about.”
Camille widened her eyes. “The heart mage?”
“Yes. Then, I began to hear those words again around the village when they talked about you. All said, blood queen.”
Camille tilted her head to the side. “But what is a blood queen?”
“Reye used to say that. . .” My heart ached as I thought of the old woman who had become my dungeon mother. “She would say that the Quiet King needed a new blood queen to heal him. Reye believed that the loss of this mystical bond with his first queen was why he was so cruel and getting more and more evil every year.”
“Is it just the bond that would heal him?”
“It was more than that. The blood queen possesses a unique ability that allows her to channel her own life force into the vampire king, providing him with a source of blood that is more potent and nourishing than anything he could obtain from anyone else.”
“How potent?”
“This blood is not only rich in nutrients but it is also imbued with powerful mystical energies that provide the vampire king with heightened healing, strength, speed, and agility.”
“Tell me more about Reye.”
“I don’t have the time.” I frowned. “Move.”
“Please, just a little more information on her at least.”
I sighed. “Reye was a heart mage. Before she was taken, she had been practicing blood magic for as long as she could remember. She had spent years studying ancient texts and mastering the intricate rituals required to harness the power of her blood and others.”
“Who captured her?”
“Ground Mover.”
Camille gave me a sad smile. “You were lucky to learn from her.”
“I was.”
Camille stepped to the side. Sorrow filled her eyes. “Goodbye, Seraphine.”
Leeta held out her knife. “We can’t let her leave, Camille.”
“This is not a question of let.” I focused on the guard with the crown tattoo on his neck.