In a burst of magic, Kole cleansed himself and then me. He smirked. “I was just getting started.”
Chuffing, I shook my head but straightened. Around us, the vamfeers I’d caught with my magic were all frozen in action. The ones Kole had taken care of were already decapitated.
Kole came up behind me and surveyed the vamfeers I’d rendered immobile. He swept my hair to the side, then pressed a kiss to the back of my neck. Core tightening, my vampire desire flared.
“Impressive, my love,” he whispered into my ear, then placed another kiss on my neck. “Shall I kill each one?”
“Please.”
With a swell of his magic, heads began to roll.
Once all ofthe vamfeers were burned, and we were certain we’d documented everything, we mistphased back to the palace. Between us, we held the chest that contained all of Arnel’s books, documentation, and potions, and it landed with a heavy thump at our feet when we released it.
Nervous anticipation oozed through me. Even though we’d been up and fighting through the night, I wasn’t tired, but Kole had a day’s worth of beard upon his cheeks. And even though his eyes were still bright and his aura was brimming with gleeful vengeance, I knew eventually fatigue would hit him.
I withdrew the looking glass tucked safely in my pocket and handed it to him. “Good luck.”
He took it, and his fingers caressed mine. Leaning down, he pulled me in for a kiss. Vampire desire immediately rose in me, but my own did too.
I wrapped my arms around him and held him close as our tongues danced together. Pine, cedar, and the sea enveloped me, and I curled my fingers around the hair at the base of his neck. Everything about Kole beckoned safety and whispered promises, and even as a vampire, I clung to his solid nature.
My fingers tightened their hold on him just as the faint scent of blood filled my nostrils. So did the scent of decay, and when my hand slid across his nape, something wet brushed against my fingertip.
I whipped away, Kole reaching for me automatically, his eyes hooded.
But I frantically ran around him and scanned his body. Blackened armor from the fire covered him from head to toe.Almost all of him was protected by it, but a tiny sliver of skin was exposed near his neck.
My nostrils flared, and I inhaled deeply. The scent of blood grew stronger, and my sight focused on that very thin line of exposed skin.
My eyes zoomed into focus on that nearly undetectable area, and my stomach plummeted.
A few droplets of blood glistened along his neck, and at its center was a single drop ofblack blood.
“Oh Gods, no!” I tore at Kole’s armor, frantic to get it off him.
“Primelle, what’s wrong?”
“Your neck. There’s a cut. It must have happened in the crypt. Your cut has...” But I couldn’t continue. Couldn’t fathom that Kole had been infected by a vamfeer.
Kole frowned and turned around. “Princess, why are you panicking? I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” I spun back around him and finally got his top armor off. The small wound I’d detected hadn’t healed. Ithadn’t healed. “No, no, no.”
I frantically shook my head back and forth. The cut was still open. Kole’s affinity should have healed it ages ago, but it was still open.
And that single drop of onyx blood was mixed with his own along his open flesh. Vamfeer blood sat on his wound, which had obviously not allowed his magic to heal it.
“Wash it. Wash it now. Get it off,” I murmured to myself. My self-cleansing magic rose with a vengeance and encapsulated Kole’s tiny cut. Within a blink, the black blood was burned away, but the gravity of what we were facing hit me like a million bolts of lightning. “No, Kole. This can’t be happening. Youcan’tbe infected.”
He turned again to face me, his face a mask of disbelief and misunderstanding, and I knew he’d been completely unawareof the wound. Whatever the vamfeer’s black blood had done to suppress his healing affinity, it’d also made him unaware of the open cut, perhaps as a way to pass along its infection. Maybe Tenevris, that damned God of Night, had infused his vamfeers with the ability to stealthily infect others, to the point where they never knew they’d been contaminated.
“What did you see?”
Tears choked my words. “Your neck had a...had a cut. It...” I could barely get my words out. “Black blood was in it. A single drop...was on the open cut.”
He froze, his expression wiping clean. “You’re sure?”
I nodded, not able to speak further as tears flowed down my cheeks.
