“I do,” she simply states. “I feel it to be true. But he couldn’t give me the answers I sought. Only the Goddess of Death, apparently, can.”
When we came here for an alliance, I wasn’t expecting to get also more riddles.
“We’ll get to the bottom of things, Umbra. I promise you,” I say as I thread my fingers with hers, tugging at her hand to follow me toward the exit. I relish the warmth that seeps from her skin directly into my iced veins.
“There’s one last thing I need to do before we shadow walk,” she says, uncertainty swimming in her voice. “I wish to apologize to Mael.”
I tense at the name. Unwanted jealousy rears its ugly head, and I grip her hand harder.
“Why?”
Does she harbor any attraction to that human asshole? Did he win her affections in such a brief span of time?“Affections you haven’t been able to earn in months,”my mind whispers cruelly.
“What question is that?” she asks with disdain, squirming in my hold to free herself, but I refuse to let go of her hand.
“Because our dinner ended in disaster thanks to your brutish, cave male behavior. Because he commands the human army. We need him on our side.”
“We have the human leaders and the dragon on our side,” I answer gruffly.
Her laugh is sudden and razor-sharp. “Can you please think with your head? The onebetween your fucking shoulders?”
I don’t like this one bit, but she has a point. Having bad blood between us would be detrimental in the battles ahead.
“Fine,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I will go with you. But he’d better not try anything funny.”
“I’m sure you scared him into submission, Killian. Who would dare to cross the big, bad Vampire King?”
“Only you,” I say under my breath as we emerge in one of Sol’Kantarra’s inner gardens.
We find the cursed human on the warrior training grounds outside the palace, surrounded by glittering dunes and scorching heat. The grounds are a vast expanse of hardened sand, forever stained a reddish hue by all the blood and sweat spilled here. It’s not a place for comfort, but a mosaic of cracked sandstone forged to test grit and strength and to weed out the weaklings.
War is not for the faint of heart, and the humans know it firsthand.
The air around us feels like a veil of uncomfortable incalescence, making everything sticky and damp. It adds another layer of hardship to the brutality of warrior training.
I’m impressed.
We approach the open sparring circles, our feet kicking up fine, opalescent sand that clings to skin and leather alike. I can only imagine their insides must be coated in this damned dust. Their blood must have a tangy, earthy taste after so many centuries spent here.
“Mael,” Aimee calls to the human as soon as we are within his earshot. He spins on the spot where he was watching his soldiers spar with curved desert blades and sharpened spears. He throws her a dazzling smile, all pearly white teeth and crinkling azure eyes, before he notices me two steps behind her, and his smile dissolves into a stoic, reserved composure.
That’s it, motherfucker. Know your place.
“Foretold One,” he says with a slight bow. “Vampire King.”
“High General,” I answer back curtly.
“Mael, we’re leaving back to Wrahta. But, uhm, we wanted to apologize for the other night. You showed us nothing but kindness and camaraderie, and I’m truly sorry for how the dinner unfolded,” Aimee says as I remainsilent beside her. She elbows me in the ribs, pinning me with a pointed glare to speak up.
“What she said.”
That gains me another elbow in the ribs, a bit more forcefully this time.
“Fine. Fine. I apologize,” I grumble roughly. “I should have handled things with more decorum.”
“I understand, Vampire King. I would probably react similarly if someone tried to woo my betrothed in front of me. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
“That’s not what I…” Aimee objects, but I grab her by the waist and whisper in her ear, “Behave, little umbra.”
