“Favor done. Fuck, yeah,” he said as he slipped away, the hole closing behind him.
While Delaine was distracted, wailing as the marscapoles gouged her flesh with their claws and fangs, I staggered toward her, tightening my grip on my blade.
I didn’t hesitate, because giving this bitch even one instantwould allow her to freeze me again. Iasar could only hold off the Lieges for so long.
Blood streamed from my limbs, and my wretched left leg could barely support my weight, but I could hobble. Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself to reach her.
The marscapoles flung themselves off her, leaving a clear path for me to seek my revenge. With fury making me shake, I slammed my blade into her chest. I groaned as I leaned into it, driving it all the way to the hilt.
She gasped, and her gaze met mine. Pink froth bubbled up from her throat, and she wavered, peeling away from my grasp.
She staggered. I struggled to remain on my feet. While living at the fortress, I’d killed more dregs than I could count. Three Lieges. But I hadn’t killed someone I used to consider an uneasy friend.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I knew one thing.
She was reaching for the blade, yanking on it with unadulterated rage blazing in her eyes. If she pulled out my knife, she would heal. She’d finish me off the next chance she got.
Back in the foyer, when I pinned her to the wall, she’d made it clear she didn’t fear me. Only Vexxion.
Now?
One could say that Vexxion had trained me well, but in my heart, I knew thatthisTempest had always been waiting.
With a bellow, I shoved her.
She croaked, terror blazing in her eyes.
I reeled backward, my arms spiraling to help keep my footing on the uneven ground.
Delaine twisted, her arms jerking up into the air. Guttural groans erupted from her throat.
She gave me the oddest look as she toppled over the cliff.
44
VEXXION
I’d just awakened yet another collared Nullen for the king to drain and stood by his side with a bland expression on my face as he guzzled down the man’s power—my power, that is. I’d gotten so used to siphoning varying amounts of it to Ivenrail that I could almost do it in my sleep.
“Not too much,” High Advisor Adwarin chittered from my right, his voice lifted in excitement and his fingers twitching at his sides. I’d only caught him draining a collared Nullen once, and he still bore the mark of my slash across the top of his chest. It peeked above the collar of his robe, and he must see it whenever he peered into the mirror. I’d made an enemy that day, adding another to the large group I’d found at Bledmire Court. If only I could kill him right now for taking from Fury. “Save some for—”
“You?” I lifted one eyebrow and moved over to the Nullen, tugging the man away from the king. “You’ve taken enough.”
“I decide when I’ve had enough.” Ivenrail’s dazed gaze met mine, and his speech slurred. “You have no say in this.”
“Perhaps you’d rather I stopped awakening them.”
“Someone else could do it for me.”
His new enforcer? The name hadn’t yet been announced, though I had my suspicions.
“It takes a delicate touch,” I said. “Or their magic will be tainted.” That wasn’t true but the king believed it.
“You have no say in this,” Ivenrail snarled.
“Don’t I?” I growled.
Three collared Nullens standing to the right of the advisor jerked. One slid sideways, melting behind Brodine who continued to stare blankly at the floor where he’d clustered with the others. Even the advisor’s gaze dropped from mine.
