I screamed and tried to lunge forward, but my uncle’s command froze me and made the vamfeers spring to life. Another shrill scream erupted from my lips, but it did nothing to stop them.
The vamfeers pounced just as magic surged around Kole.
Veins stretched in the warrior’s neck, and a split second before the vamfeers could tear him to shreds, Kole’s limbs burst through my uncle’s rope, with his dagger in his hand that he’d managed to work free from his waist, and I realized that was what he’d been carefully retrieving during the past few minutes.
Relief surged through me, and my uncle’s eyes widened. “I bet you didn’t think he could free himself,” I taunted.
Arnel snarled and shoved me toward the wall, making room for his vamfeers. Hisses filled the room, and blurred forms were everywhere.
I didn’t dare call out to Kole. Didn’t dare distract him. Intense power surged around my mate, and his face turned intoa mask of fury and might. Sword in hand, he swung and lunged, ducked and leaped.
Before I could blink, five vamfeer heads rolled, but it was him against dozens.
Panic began to overtake me. I wanted to help him, wanted to tear through every consciousness in this room, but my uncle’s command kept me entirely at his mercy.
My uncle’s nostrils flared, and he backed us up more, then called out to the remaining vamfeers standing in the ready near the doors. “All of you.Killhim.”
Terror barreled through me as fourteen more vamfeers circled Kole at once.
Three blurred behind him, and I opened my mouth to scream a warning, but my words caught in my throat.
You’re not allowed to untie your mate or help him tonight.
I howled in fury, and tears burned my eyes. More than anything, I wanted to tear into my uncle, but just as fast, that sickening sense to please him and revere him rose in me too.
Kole jumped back, and his air element shot out of him, shoving back three vamfeers and their tearing claws. He’d missed getting torn open by one of the vamfeers by only a hair’s breadth. But two vamfeers were behind him, and they each grabbed his arms, pinning him between them.
Another surge of magic exploded off Kole, and he swung his arms around, a vamfeer clinging to each limb. He slammed the two vamfeers together so violently that a sickening sound of crunching bones filled the room. Brains spilled from the vamfeers onto the carpet, the stench of death coming with them, but before they had a chance to fall, Kole’s sword was slicing through them, and their heads rolled too.
“He’s fast. I’ll give him that,” my uncle seethed, “but he’s no match for thirty vamfeers. Eventually, he’ll fall.”
Tears streamed down my face because even though Kole was still standing, I also knew my uncle was right. Too many vamfeers were here. Kole could only fight them off for so long.
“Let him go. Please, uncle.Please. I promise never to plot against you again if you just let him live. Please, I beg of you!”
Arnel gave me a sharp look as grunts from Kole and hisses from the vamfeers echoed in my ears. “I think not. It’s too enjoyable to watch his slow death.”
“But your vamfeers are dying. Don’t you want to save them?”
He shrugged. “There are more God of Night followers who are willing to be turned if I call them, and I can make more of the potion if needed. Tenevris will answer me again. This is only the beginning, Primelle.”
A sickening sense of doom filled me as the remaining swarm of vamfeers crowded around Kole. A sob racked my chest. This was impossible. Entirely impossible. My uncle was right. It was only a matter of time before one ripped Kole open, and even if he didn’t die from that, he would be infected, and a fate worse than death would await him.
A loud grunt came from Kole. He cut down another vamfeer, then another, but they’d cornered him. He had nowhere else to retreat to or to maneuver around.
I tried with everything I had to bring my magic to the surface. If I could command the vamfeers just slightly, to freeze or retreat them for even a moment, Kole stood a fighting chance.
But my uncle’s command not to assist Kole held.
Think, Primelle. Think. What doesn’t Arnel’s command bind you to?
My mind raced as Kole’s magic continued to surge. He was moving so fast that his limbs were a blur.
And then it hit me. What I could do.
Magic abruptly poured out of me, but I didn’t use my mental magic. Trying to stop the vamfeers or control them in any way would be helping Kole.
But his command said nothing aboutnothurting my mate.
