His arm and blood-stained clothes were stark reminders of what we were up against—and that he was strong not just physically, but mentally as well.
I still didn’t trust him, but I respected his unwavering loyalty, even if it was directed at the wrong person. Val was a fucking bloodsucker who’d betrayed us all, yet Amari refused to condemn him without hearing his side.
“Any bright ideas on how to break out?” I kept my voice low, mindful of the guards I could hear occasionally patrolling in the stables above us.
Amari opened one eye. “Unless you can pick a lock with your claws, we’re stuck waiting for Kage… or Val.”
At least he’d hesitated to mention the vampire. Maybe there was hope for him.
I glanced at Winston in the neighboring cell. The council member had barely spoken since our earlier conversation. The other prisoner hadn’t moved in a while, and I wasn’t convinced he was still breathing.
A scuffling sound echoed from the stairwell, too light to be the usual heavy-booted guards. My body tensed, ready for whatever new hell was coming our way.
But no one appeared.
“Kage?” The relief I felt was so sudden that my knees practically buckled as my muscles released some of their tension.
I heard keys clanking together, and then he appeared at the cell door. He was covered in blood, and it was smeared across his face and hands. His eyes darted around the room, wide and haunted, before landing on me.
Fuck.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
He shook his head frantically, holding up the keys with trembling fingers. “N-not my b-blood.”
“Whose blood is it?”
“V-Valentino’s and the g-g-guards’.” Kage’s hands shook so badly that he couldn’t fit the key into the lock. He tried again and again, each attempt more frantic than the last.
I wanted to reach through the bars and steady his hands myself, but the iron prevented me from getting close enough.
“You’re safe now.” I remained as calm as I could manage while every instinct screamed at me to run. “Take a breath. You’ve got this.”
But Kage wasn’t listening. His eyes had the glazed-over quality of someone who had witnessed something that terrified him to his core. The blood covering him told me enough. Whatever had happened had been violent and messy, and Kage had been right in the middle of it.
The keys slipped from his fingers entirely, clattering to the stone floor with a sound that made us all freeze.
“Kage, where is Val?” Amari stood and moved next to me, his hand clenched at his side.
Kage slowly picked up the keys, not allowing them to clink together. “V-V-Val killed his father. R-r-ripped out his h-h-heart.” He finally unlocked the door, and it swung open.
I stepped out, immediately taking the keys from him. I quickly moved to Winston’s cell, unlocking it as the council member struggled to his feet. There was determination burning in his eyes.
“What do we want to do about him?” Winston nodded toward the motionless prisoner in the cell next to his.
I unlocked the door, but as I approached the still figure, it became clear he was beyond our help. The prisoner’s skin had taken on that waxy, grayish pallor that only came with death.
I stood there for a moment, looking down at this strangerwhose name I’d never know. This could have been me if Kage hadn’t come through for us.
Amari’s hand settled on my shoulder, his fingers pressing just firmly enough to pull me back from whatever dark spiral I’d been teetering on the edge of.
“I h-have your n-n-nuts.”
I turned as Kage lifted his shirt and untied my pouch of nuts, handing them to me.
A wave of relief washed through me. I quickly opened the pouch, selecting a nut and cracking it between my teeth. The tension in my body eased as energy flowed into my system.
“Really? You’re going to eat nuts right now?” Amari’s eyebrows shot up. “Let’s go.”
