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I HAD NEVER BEEN SO confused—and it made me angry as thoughts buzzed in my mind like bees whose nest had been disturbed.
There was a mad light in Leysa’s reddish eyes. “Galen, you genius. Let’s try this.”
The vampire banged his fist against an invisible barrier. It had to have been conjured by the blue-burning circle in the stone around him. How had Leysa drawn it? Was it her power—no, that was inference. How in Death’s name did she know Galen?
Leysa gripped her axe with both hands and muttered, “Imb.”
The edges of the axe’s blades glowed icy blue—and then died. Leysa hissed in frustration before whirling on Koen, who looked less like himself than ever. He looked hollowed out with despairing rage and helplessness.
My heart suddenly panged for the cocky jokester.
What have I done?
The thought pierced me like a knife to the chest. I caused this.
I could hear the chaos in the main cavern. Aeros’s coven had infiltrated the half-bloods’ sanctuary after fifty years of secrecy. It had to be nighttime by now, and they’d probably tracked our scents. I’d led them straight here. There were vampires dying on both sides just down the tunnel pathway.
It was my fault. I’d ruined Koen and Sloan’s peaceful existence. I’d betrayed the Ophirs’ presence.
All because I’d selfishly wanted to escape Sanlow.
Tears of rage burned my throat.
I had to do something good for once.
“You try,” Leysa told Koen.
“W-what?!”
“You’re an Enchanted!” Leysa demanded as the Rhidian kept body-slamming himself against the invisible wall. “It’s part of your Bloodlust! Take my axe and say ‘imb.’”
Koen looked wildly at me and Sloan. We both shook our heads, and I knew we were thinking the same thing: Leysa’s insane, don’t trust her!
The Kairos leader hissed furiously, “Your scythe should do the same thing. Say it, Koen, or we all die!”
“W-why?!”
“Because it will help you kill vampires! Now do it!”
Koen hesitated again, but this time, Aspen gripped his shoulder. The calm assurance in his face and voice made my breath catch when he told Koen, “Trust her.”
Resolve hardened Koen’s gaze. He shrugged guiltily at Sloan and me, gritted his teeth, gripping his scythe with both hands, and shouted, “Imb!”
Nothing happened, but that didn’t faze Leysa as she ordered, “Now say ‘cinis.’”
The blade blazed with blue fire. All of us except Leysa—who looked unhinged with awe—yelped and stumbled back. Koen almost dropped it but clung on.
“Swing!” she ordered.
Koen seemed to know what she meant. He turned to the Rhidian vampire, who had gone still as ice, staring at the blade. Koen took a stance and arced the scythe horizontally through the air.
It went through the vampire’s chest like a knife through butter. Both halves went up in a blue inferno. Just as quickly as they’d flared up, the flames died, leaving only a pile of ash. The etched circles smoldered and faded to light scratches.
Koen dropped the scythe. The flames on that died, too, though there was no smoke to be seen.
We all stared at each other—and then whirled on Leysa, who now appeared innocent and pleased.
But before we could accuse her of anything, she thrust her axe into my hands. “Try it.”
On instinct, I accepted it, despite Sloan’s warning, and without Leysa’s instructions, I shouted, “Imb! Cinis!”
Raw energy pulsed from every fiber of my body. It surged into a ball in the center of my chest and then barreled down my arms, pooling on the surface of my palms, radiating to my fingertips—
And took the form of an arc of blue fire.
A breath punched out of me as I realized the flames gave off no heat except a pleasant warmth. And it made me feel alive. The energy... It made me feel invincible.
What did Leysa say? Bloodlust? Yes, that was exactly the feeling coursing through my veins.
“Maer,” Sloan breathed beside me.
Even though I didn’t want to lose the exhilaration, I shoved the axe at her. The moment it left my hands, the blue flames vanished. Sloan took it but eyed like it was going to come alive and eat her.
“You’re not a future hunter,” Leysa said, “but you are an Enchanted. Take this instead.” She exchanged her axe for a fist-sized rock. “Say ‘imb.’”
“You’re insane,” Sloan breathed but repeated the word. The rock pulsed a brief orange.
“Good. Now say ‘sano.’”
When Sloan quietly said, “Sano,” the rock transformed into a clear vial of bright orange liquid. I thought she would drop it, but she clutched it to her chest and stared at Leysa. “What does it do?”
“Heals.” Leysa beamed. “Have an injured drink it, and it’ll seal superficial wounds. It’s not as powerful as vampire blood or the River Jehona’s waters, but it’ll do in a pinch.”
My head was reeling as the inner energy dimmed. “What just happened?”
“You three are—”
“Moros!”
I had the option of rooting to the spot in terror or grabbing Koen’s scythe and battling my way to Cirillo to slice him in half and turn him to dust—
A hand landed on my shoulder. “Another day, Maer,” Koen said softly from beside me as if he had read my mind. “He might not even be here—Aeros, either.”
“He’s right,” Leysa said. “It would be stupid of them to come. Besides, we need to get out of here.”
“You’re abandoning your coven members?” Sloan gasped.
Leysa shook her head. “Not abandoning. Regrouping. We planned for this ‘someday.’” Locking her intense gaze on me, she murmured, “This isn’t your fault.”
Hating that I was suddenly so easy to read, I chose to both acknowledge her words and ignore them. This is my fault. But I need to fix it. If fleeing was the way to do it, then—
“Fine,” I muttered. “Lead the way.”
I felt Aspen and the Blackwoods’ shock at my quick acceptance. I glanced at them with a sudden spark of wryness. “What, you’d rather me dig my heels in stubbornness?”
Sloan clasped my hand and smiled. “Not today.”
“We’ll go out the back.” Leysa moved to the far side of the alcove as the battling sounds grew louder; she didn’t seem fazed by the screams of her friends. “Hope you’re all okay with getting a little wet.” Bracing her hands on a rock that jutted out from the others, she pushed it aside, making the whole place rumble with a feat of strength. Another dark tunnel awaited. “Half-blood first.”
Aspen happily took the lead with his superior eyesight, then the humans, then Leysa bringing up the rear after she shoved the secret door back in place.
It cut off all sounds of battle.
No one spoke as the path turned into an uphill hike very quickly. Before long, I was panting with effort, on the brink of asking Aspen to carry me on his back.
“Another rock for you.” Leysa’s soft voice echoed when she addressed Sloan, who marched to my right. “Trade you for your vial. Say ‘igni.’”
“Igni—oh, my Death—” The rock transformed into a miniature wooden torch, its head burning heatless blue. It threw firelight onto the damp walls of the tunnel and illuminated my companions, who had stopped to stare.
A drop of water splashed onto my nose, making me yelp in surprise as if it were another attack. Koen caught my back against his chest with an arm around my waist and laughed softly. Suddenly, the fire didn’t need to be hot because my cheeks were. “Just water, Maer.”
If I wasn’t pregnant and stretched to my wit’s end, I would have spun and punched him in the nose. But I was, and all I could manage was a swat, feeling bad even for that. He meant well. He was just as drawn.
That didn’t stop Koen’s hand from catching mine. My senses narrowed to the touch. It felt like it was only him and me. “Maer. Are you okay?”
“No,” I whispered, afraid to turn around.
Koen breathed a laugh. “Stupid question. Sorry.”
I opened my mouth to make a smart remark, but Leysa hissed, “As sweet as this is, we need to keep moving. Just a little longer before we reach the surface.”
Sloan’s words echoed in my mind. “Are you as in love with my brother as he is you?”
Koen looped his arm around my waist again as he walked to my left, and I let him offer his strength where I couldn’t manage. As we trekked upward wordlessly, only the scuff of bare feet on stone and the trickle of water filled the silence. My tongue burned to demand answers from Leysa, but based on our short history, she was likely going to say, “Later,” so I focused my energy—considerably less than when I’d spoken those odd words earlier.
Was it...magic? No, it couldn’t be.
The ground turned to gritty sand, but my thoughts were running wild with all the pieces of information that Leysa did give, but they weren’t fitting together.
“Stop here,” Leysa ordered. By the blue firelight, we watched her brace her shoulders against the ceiling that was just a few inches above our heads. With a grunt of effort, she dislodged a rock, slipping her fingers between its edge and the aboveground, sliding it aside. Like a broken dam, sand poured down like a wave, drenching us in it. I managed to close my eyes just before it got into them.
When the stream sprinkled to a stop, Sloan huffed, “A warning would have been nice.”
“Sorry,” Leysa said, only half apologetic as she hauled herself out. “Come quickly. The horses are restless.”
I had no idea how she’d gotten the horses and carriage over here—wherever here was; we’d walked for a good amount of time. But I didn’t have the mind to solve logistics, so I let my companions hoist me up onto the sand that I thought would be baking hot, but in the blue-black of a starry night, it was cool and smooth.
Leysa helped me into the covered carriage, which was also cool. A moment later, the Blackwoods and Aspen crowded in. Leysa jumped into the driver’s seat and didn’t wait to lash the reins. We jerked into a fast, bumpy movement that immediately made me want to vomit.
Aspen leaned out of the open window to check if we had any pursuers. “All clear,” he confirmed before resting a hand gently on my upper back. “You going to be all right?”
I felt my companions’ worried gazes on me as I stared at the carriage floor, trying to keep my stomach contents down. “What do you think?” I groaned.
“How far do we have to go?” Koen asked Leysa. “Do you think anyone will follow us? If Rhidian and Moros... And it’s night, so...”
He trailed off, unable to finish the terrifying possibilities.
Again, Leysa wasn’t fazed. “A day at most, so you should all get some sleep. Horse and carriage is slower than vampire speed. But don’t expect to be followed. The half-bloods of Kairos have contingency plans.”
I would have loved nothing more than to sleep, but how could I when my mind was so wired after Leysa said that? I needed answers more than rest—at least, that was what my pride needed.
“Here, take this,” Leysa said suddenly. I glanced up to see her hand Sloan a vial. “I snagged it off a shelf. Even half-bloods need a little Jehona sometimes. Drink it, Maer.”
Sloan uncorked it for me to take. I knocked it back without room for doubt. The river water tasted sweet and cool and spread through me to offer immediate relief. My nausea vanished, and I felt more clear-headed. I sighed.
“Rest your head,” Sloan ordered me softly, and I was happy to obey, laying my temple against her shoulder and closing my eyes. “Rest, Maer. You deserve it.”
And then, after almost three days of being awake, and nonstop motion, I plunged into the blissful oblivion of sleep.
