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TERROR FLOODED THROUGH me and threatened to sweep me off my painfully swollen feet. Cirillo had sent boots fashionable for the high-ranking vampires I was forced to wear. The moment I stood up in them, I declared them the worst thing ever to be invented.
I had planned to kick them off when I made my escape. I would rather run on hot coals than take another step in these torture devices.
But now my escape plan was ruined. Not that it was foolproof. Koen just had to point out its flaws.
Aeros Adelio, the Gold God, the coven leader of Rhidian—he owned us now.
Even though my sleeve covered it, I looked down at the brand on my wrist—the sigil of the Moros coven, marking me as part of Cirillo’s cattle.
Would Aeros burn his sigil over it? Burn it above the Moros one after burning it off completely?
Cirillo, save me!
I cursed the thought, ashamed and angry at myself for thinking it.
But objectively, he really was the only one who could get me out of this situation. Whether he was obsessed with me or not, he wouldn’t want any coven stealing his property.
I glanced at Koen. His expression was expertly blank. Was he wishing for Agana to come to the rescue? He was tensed as if he was ready to fight. But even Koen hadn’t faced off against a vampire. I knew he wanted to beat the fangs right out of the evil creature as much as I did, but I hated to admit that now was not the right time.
Maybe Koen was right. We needed to wait for an opportune moment.
I glanced over when I heard the clopping of hooves on stone. A few tense moments later, two horses pulling an enclosed carriage with the Rhidian sigil painted gold on its side appeared and came to a stop a few feet ahead of us. The horses pawed at the ground and snorted, tossing their heads. Their sides were painted gold, too.
“Don’t be shy,” a smooth voice behind us said. As Aeros passed me, his hand brushed my lower back. I flinched and snarled a curse word at him before I could stop myself. But the coven leader wasn’t offended. He just raised his brows in surprise, glancing at Koen, who took a step toward me. “So she’s as untamed out of the arena as she is within?”
Koen’s expression didn’t change, but he yanked his chains. “This is illegal, Aeros.”
The vampire cocked his head and turned his gaze to the other one, who sneered with laughter. So he was a Rhidian. “The cattle sounds so sure. But what would he know?”
“Agana won’t let you get away with this,” Koen snapped.
I glared at Aeros as if my gaze could set him ablaze. “Neither will Cirillo. He’ll tear your head off if he finds out that—”
“That what?” Aeros jeered, closing the space between us until he had to bend down to level our gazes. Koen made a wordless growl in his throat, but before he could shield me, Aeros’s lackey—a low-rank who did the leader’s dirty work—yanked him back and held fast.
I bit my tongue. There was no way to know if the other leaders knew what was between me and Cirillo—what that was, even I couldn’t define—but I’d hardly call it any type of relationship. Blech.
But Koen had noticed. “What history do you two have together?” he had asked.
My stomach churned. I couldn’t tell if it was just nervous movements or if it was the baby. Either way, I needed to get off my feet before I threw up. One I wish never existed, I had wanted to say.
“We belong to Moros and Bloodfrost,” I told him, forcing my voice to be as steady as my glare. “Not Rhidian. Not you.”
Aeros’s gold eyes raked up and down my body. I felt naked despite my hands and neck being the only skin bared. “Not anymore. We’ll deal with the repercussions later. Right now, I want to bask in my victory of gaining the best Gladiators in the past hundred years. What gifts you two have. Almost...unbelievable at times...”
I exchanged a confused glance with Koen, who gave the slightest shrug of a shoulder.
I looked back at Aeros unflinchingly. “What are you talking about? We’re no different than anyone else. We just train a lot and—”
Aeros cracked his hand across my cheek and snarled, “Shut up! I’m thinking!”
Stars burst behind my eyelids as pain radiated through my already aching body. I stumbled, but my chained wrists didn’t let me get very far. I caught myself by clinging to the post and resting my temple on it. Nausea threatened to overcome me.
As satisfying as it would be to experience his disgust, the last thing I wanted to do was heave up my guts onto Aeros Adelio.
“What’s wrong with her?” Aeros snapped at Koen.
“I—I don’t know,” stammered Koen worriedly. His chains clinked, and I sensed him crouch beside me, ducking underneath me to look up. “Maer, are you okay?” he whispered softly as if the vampires couldn’t hear.
It was never wise to admit any kind of weakness, especially in front of the creatures who would take advantage of it in a heartbeat—I would know—but sometimes it could be used as a rare advantage.
“No,” I groaned as miserably as I could, which wasn’t hard to fake, watching Koen through a teary film in my eyes. I wished I could have winked to clue him in that it was a ruse, but my pain was too real to fake, and it was worth a shot to abuse the discomfort mortal pain would bring to the immortals. “I need Galen Shayla—”
Aeros scoffed with such revulsion that I whipped my head up to stare at him. “That woman! You’re going nowhere near her. You will see my Medic.” He jerked his chin at his lackey, then at Koen, and ordered, “Get that one in the carriage, Auryn.”
Auryn hissed in delight and went to unchain Koen from the post.
But Koen was still crouched—
And then shot up, shoulder-checking the vampire so forcefully that it sent Auryn stumbling back.
Auryn recovered instantly and went to attack without consideration of his leader just a few feet away.
Koen yanked the chains—and then slammed his boot into the center of the post, splintering it in two.
In one deft movement, he grabbed and tossed me over his shoulder—hauling the top half of the post with us, which swung and almost hit me in the face—before shoulder-checking Auryn again.
But Auryn was prepared and caught Koen’s upper arm with a clawed hand, piercing his flesh, and threw him—threw us—halfway across the street like a sack of flour with ease.
In any other situation, I would have tucked into a roll and saved myself with just a few scrapes. But Koen and I were attached, and he was huge. He would have crushed me under his weight if he hadn’t twisted himself so that he crashed on the rough stone onto his back.
I flopped on top of him, the breath punched out of my lungs. Our arms and hands were twisted, and my wrists and shoulder sockets screamed in protest.
I lifted my head, blinking to realize my face was just a few inches away from Koen’s. He was already staring up at me, wide-eyed with a mixture of pain, awe, worry, and—and thrill.
He wanted to fight.
But Aeros didn’t.
“Enough of this stupidity!” he snarled, suddenly looming over us. His hand—broad, freezing, and clawed—wrapped around my upper arm and hauled me up. I yowled in agony at the bite of iron into my wrists.
Koen scrambled to get up with me so that I didn’t have to bear his weight. “Take them off!” he barked at Aeros. “You’re hurting her!”
There was no nearby key to unlock the manacles, but who needed that? Aeros punched the rest of the post to smithereens, freeing the separate chains from its iron holder. Still manacled but no longer connected, Koen and I stumbled apart.
My back hit Aeros’s chest. His right arm looped around my neck while the other went around my waist. At the same time, Auryn kicked the back of Koen’s leg, making him cry out in pain and fall to his knees.
“No!” I screamed.
Koen’s head whipped up to stare at me and gasp, “Maer—”
I had never been scared for someone before. I had only ever looked out for myself.
Aeros’s hand grabbed my lower face, stifling me with his palm. I suddenly couldn’t breathe. “I said enough,” he hissed.
I stiffened in yet another bout of terror—but this time, it was because Koen’s rage warped his expression into something brutal, ugly, and inhuman. Where was the cocky, smiling boy?
He spun on his knees, catching Auryn off guard, knocking the vampire down with a sweep of his leg. Auryn hit the ground and barely made it to his feet before Koen had the chain digging into Auryn’s throat, yanking the vampire’s back to his chest. He pulled the chain tight. Auryn started to choke, scrabbling at Koen’s hands. Somehow, he couldn’t escape.
Cold dread coiled in my gut as I stared at the Koen who surely wasn’t the one I knew. He was fully ready to behead this low-rank vampire with an iron chain and his bare hands. This Koen looked like a monster. Where was the Koen who grinned so carefree that it made you wonder if there was still good in the world?
My body was starting to panic. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t breathe—
“Release her!” Koen snarled. “Now, Aeros! Or I kill him!”
Aeros was utterly still. I didn’t feel a heartbeat—well, of course, he was technically dead—but I did feel his breath brush my cheek. “Impossible.”
What was impossible? That Koen had the gall to attack a vampire or that he had the strength to?
Then cool amusement colored the leader’s voice. “Go ahead. He’s disposable.”
Auryn’s eyes widened in betrayal. And then rage. He started to thrash and claw, but Koen’s expression contorted further. Just like that, he’d lost his bargaining chip.
I can’t breathe—
Bile rose in my throat hard and fast, flooding into my mouth and burning. I started to choke as I tried to expel it.
My choking noise alerted Aeros that something was wrong. He released me and shoved me away—
Just as I vomited everywhere.
I collapsed to my knees and let it all out. I was so focused on pain and disgust that I couldn’t lift my head to see the scuffle happening just a few feet away.
Koen was grunting with effort. Auryn was hissing and swearing. Chains clinked, boots scuffed, the horses whinnying in alarm—I heard bone—
And then one loud crack!
“Oh, dear,” Aeros sighed. “I hope you can finish him off. I’m afraid I don’t have anything sharp.”
Snapping a vampire’s neck killed them—for a few minutes at best. The only way to kill them was to behead them and set them ablaze until they were nothing but ash.
That was why there were no human uprisings. The inability to saw off a head kept humans at the bottom of the food chain.
I swiped my mouth with the back of my arm and looked up blearily. Auryn was collapsed and unmoving at Koen’s feet.
Koen’s chest heaved for breath as he grappled with rage. “Take me,” he said. “Take me, but leave Maer.”
Aeros clicked his tongue. He was behind me, but I couldn’t manage the strength to turn my head. “What a hard bargain you drive, Blackwood,” he mused sarcastically. “But the answer will be no until the day you both die.
“However,” the leader continued when Koen didn’t move, “I will give Whisler expert care if you stand down and accept your new home.”
I met Koen’s gaze. The rage eddied out and gave way to desperation. What do we do? he begged with his eyes.
I could barely manage a shake of my head.
Aeros sighed dramatically. “How many times must I say enough? I can’t stand these mopey looks!”
He rammed his fist into Koen’s face.
