I couldn't let my mind wander to what could be. It only made the fear in my stomach that much worse. I felt like I was going to throw up.
I walked the lower halls, visiting the old quarters where the guards were. It was mostly empty. Whether that was because of our work taking out his people or because Adrian himself had decided to use them as practice, I couldn't tell.
Suspicion rose in me, and I couldn't shake it.
I listened carefully, making sure my footsteps were as silent as possible.
There were still some guards hidden in the rooms. I could hear them sleeping. But none so much as stirred as I walked past.
I inhaled deeply, trying to find the smallest scent of my witch, but there was nothing. Logic told me she had to have been here, but I couldn't find any sign of her.
I took to the rooms, peeking in, but after the fourth or fifth door, I started to get antsy. The longer I spent searching, the worse I felt.
All the anxious thoughts in my mind started to feel real, so I skipped the rest of the bedrooms and headed straight for the dungeons.
Just as I was about to go down the stairs leading to it, footsteps reached my ears.
I hurried back, ducking behind a corner just as two guards made their way up. I held still in case they sensed me, but they seemed too involved in their own conversation to even notice me, so I decided to get a good look at them.
They looked to be in Adrian’s inner circle. Maybe the only two still alive. They had been on our list to take out. And, more importantly, if they were here, I assumed Cedar would be too.
“The bodies are starting to smell,” one said, wrinkling his nose.
“They don't even have any blood anymore,” the other one huffed. “All of them have been drained dry, so I don't know why he's keeping them.”
The other one twisted his neck and rolled his shoulders as if he'd been doing some heavy lifting.
“Well, you know the princess. She'd start asking questions if a bunch of bodies started showing up.”
Bodies?
There was a small laugh.
“And, you know, she would never lower herself to come to a place as dirty as the dungeons. Honestly, he was pretty smart to think of it.”
The other vampire sighed and looked down the hallway. I quickly ducked back behind the corner, counting the seconds until he spoke again.
“You know… During the ceremony tomorrow, maybe we can sneak down and get some of thatspecial blood?—”
There was a muffled thud and then the sound of someone crumpling to the ground.
“Say that one more time and I'll feed you to him,” one threatened the other. “Then you'll just be one more body down there. Got it? You’re lucky you’ve made it this far.”
“What the fuck, man! I thought we were joking around.”
“I don't joke about things that would cost me in my life,” the other said before I heard their footsteps, thankfully leading toward the opposite end of the hallway.
I glanced over just in time to see the other vampire get up shakily. I expected him to follow the other, but instead, he stood there grumbling.
Oh come on.
The bond was stirring. I was close enough.
Cedar is down there.
I don't have time for this.
As fast and as silently as my legs would carry me, I closed the space between us. He didn’t even have enough time to realize what was happening before my hands were on his head and I snapped his neck.
