“No rot, as Kieran said,” Ronan began quietly. “Clean. No obvious stab wounds.”
“Did you see his wings?” Nerissa asked.
I jerked. Wings were everything to a draken. They were freedom, power, and identity.
Nerissa frowned. “Both wings had clean breaks at the joints.”
My stomach tightened and Wren flinched from her cocoon.That kind of break didn’t happen in a fall. That kind of break happened when something grabbed hold and snapped hard.
Purposefully.
“His wings were broken so he couldn’t fly,” Wren said softly.
“So he couldn’t escape,” I finished, my jaw tightening.
Kieran shot me a look.
Calm down.
I forced myself to breathe slowly. Wren was only a few steps away. She could feel everything through our bond, and I didn’t want to bring any more stress to her or the baby than we needed.
“There was one more problem. Did you notice?” Ronan asked Nerissa directly.
“He’d been drained of blood,” she answered quietly.
I whipped around as a cold silence settled between us.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
Nerissa tossed her thick hair over her shoulders. “I know blood as well as a draken.”
“Vampyres,” I said, even though the word tasted foul in my mouth.
Kieran’s face turned murderous, but he didn’t disagree.
“Possibly,” Ronan agreed. “Were there bite marks on his wings? I didn’t notice any in the obvious spots.”
“Could just mean that whoever did this knew exactly how to break a draken’s wings and bleed him,” Kieran added.
I clenched my fists. “So they caught him, broke his wings so he couldn’t escape … and drained him.”
Nerissa’s features twisted. Wren struggled to get up, but Ronan held out a hand.
“The pergainsa juice, please. Offer Nerissa some,” she said, resigned to being stuck and accepting help.
Ronan darted around the small treehouse, offering up cups.
“Something stronger, if you have it,” Nerissa told him. She rubbed her face hard with her hands. “I am a bloodwitch,” she muttered. “And this is how my son dies?”
Her grief was sharp as it cut through the humidity. Chimes and dried herbs whispered as they rustled, and a bird cawed from somewhere in the jungle.
Ronan handed Nerissa a cup of wine. Once his hands were empty, I turned to him. “How are the lykoses and vampyre lines since the Overlord fell?”
Clearly something had changed with our temporary allies since the war had ended.
Ronan sighed.
“The lykoses have kept the pact,” he said. “King Varun’s pack has honored his word. They’ve settled into the forests. Vela says they’re even helping the human kingdoms hunt rogue predators.”
