Adriel shook his head, his jaw flexing as he bent down to retrieve a single yellowed fang from his boot. He held itout to me, and I took it. It was nearly five inches long, sharp as a needle, and coated with that shimmering blue blood.
Shuddering, I peered down the tunnel to make sure there were no more of those eerie blue eyes glaring from the dark.
I turned to Sorsha, relieved to see the princess mopping her brow with the back of her torn sleeve. She winced with the movement, clearly exhausted but otherwise unharmed.
We continued on in wary silence, Adriel leading us up another flight of stairs to the first level of the prison. My skin tingled as we approached two cells overlooking the desolate sea.
I strained my ears to discern whether there was anything inside, but all I could hear was the sound of waves beating against the rock.
The tide was already rising.
I opened my mouth to warn the others, but then Sorsha screamed.
I whirled, blade drawn, and my heart stopped.
A bone-white hand was clamped around Sorsha’s neck, holding her tight. The ball of faelight flickered as she struggled, and my guts twisted as her captor jerked forward and I heard a sickening squelch.
Sorsha cried out again as Adriel lunged for her attacker, but then he stopped in his tracks.
In the time I’d known him, I’d never seen the royal guard hesitate. But as my eyes took in the sight of the male gripping Sorsha, I understood why.
His hair was dark and matted with filth, and he had a sharp, angular nose. His eyes were like two coals and his body . . . His body looked like a skeleton’s, emaciated as he was. His fangs were sunk deep into Sorsha’s neck, andaround his ankles, a set of heavy iron manacles were crusted with dried black blood.
Vampire.
And not just any vampire — one who’d been imprisoned for so long he was utterly unrecognizable. Bone thin. Flesh drooping from his face. Eyes devoid of a vampire’s normal reddish hue. And he was ravenous.
One wrong move, and the vampire could snap Sorsha’s neck.
I must have made a noise, because his eyes flashed to me. Something like recognition flickered in his deadened gaze, and he pulled off of Sorsha in a spray of blood.
As his grip slackened, she jerked away, careening into Adriel’s chest. The royal guard’s eyes widened in surprise, but he wrapped an arm around her back, clutching her protectively.
“It’s you,” the vampire rasped, his voice sounding as though it had been dragged over broken glass.
I swallowed.
“Stay the fuck back,” Adriel growled, holding his sword aloft.
We both knew the blade was useless against the vampire, but we’d lost the last of our stakes fighting Mirabella’s clan. If he attacked, I only hoped that the chains around his ankles would keep him from reaching us.
The male shook his head, looking more human than any vampire I’d ever encountered. He stared at me as though he’d seen a ghost, but then his hungry gaze returned to Sorsha.
Adriel, it seemed, wasn’t taking any chances. Dragging the princess with him, he backed away, his eyes never leaving the emaciated creature before us.
I started to follow, but then the vampire spoke again, and my spine stiffened.
“You must go back,” he rasped. “You are the only one who can kill him.”
Feeling uneasy, I turned toward the vamp, who stared after me from the mouth of his cell.
Relieved as I was that Sorsha was unharmed, I couldn’t fathom what had made him stop. I’d seen hundreds of hungry vampires feed in the Quarter, and none of them had ever exercised restraint. It would take something extraordinary to stop a vamp who’d been locked in this wretched tower.
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice loud enough to carry down the tunnel.
“Lyra —” Adriel warned.
Below, I could hear the rush of water flowing in from the pool below. The tide was rising, which meant we had only minutes. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the vampire.
