Not worth the oxygen. Damael and Valira swooped through the trees like hunting shadows. Kareth crushed a fox male’s windpipe with one hand and dropped him when he realized he was too old to bother with.
Lucien was laughing. Fuck, he looked beautiful in this light, his black eyes glowing, his teeth red. My heart pounded like a drum made of bone and rage. We rounded up the adults, binding them in enchanted chains soaked with Raelith’s blood. They screamed and fought. Some begged.
“Shhh.” I purred to one female struggling against me, “You’re not dying. You’re just… becoming. Isn’t that beautiful?”
She spat in my face. I backhanded her so hard her teeth shattered. The old and the young were herded into the empty granary. One of the elders whimpered, “Please… don’t hurt them…”
“Oh, we won’t,” I cooed, motioning for Valira to bolt the door. “We’ll just let nature take care of it.”
Lucien tossed a single loaf of bread onto the dirt floor. “For the gods,” he said with a mocking grin.
Then we locked them in. Their cries were delicious. We pulled forty three strong adults from the wreckage of that village. Forty three new subjects for the Crucible.
This was just the beginning. As we marched our captives into the forest, their chains clinking in rhythm with their sobs, I glanced back
only once.
The village burned slowly behind us, smoke curling into the stars. I smiled.
“Now that,” I whispered, “is fucking devotion.”
Soria POV
My boots crunched over frost laced pine needles as I walked beside Varek, my heart pounding like a war drum in my throat. The scent of ash and blood still clung to my skin, even after we’d left the fox village hours ago. I couldn’t scrub it out if I tried.
I could still hear the children screaming. My heart clenched and I felt like I might be sick. Elowen would save the children, I had to warn
them.
Vaela thought she’d won. I don’t even know who my sister is anymore. She’s twisted. Beyond recognition. She thought I was hers. That I was as twisted and hateful as she was. Loyal to her. She didn’t know shit.
Varek glanced at me, his sharp eyes flicking toward the trees, checking for scouts, drones, anything that might be slithering through the dark on Raelith’s orders. He gave the barest nod.
It was clear. I pulled the comm crystal from beneath my cloak, my hands trembling as I whispered the message.
“Fox shifter village… near the Crucible… Montana… HELP.
PS: Raelith has infiltrated fae lands. Blood sirens. Blood leeches. Underground. Beware.”
The crystal glowed faintly, pulsed once, then dulled. Message sent. I shoved it back into my bra just as Varek gently reached out and squeezed my fingers. “Breathe, baby,” he said softly, his voice warm and steady. “You did good.”
1/2
18:52 Fri, Oct 24
Chapter 202
:
My throat burned as my eyes filled with unshed tears. “She’s killing them,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “She’s starving elders. Locking up children. And now Raelith wants more vampires? What the actual fuck are we doing?”
His jaw ticked. “Surviving. So we can burn this place down from the inside.”
I nodded, even though I felt like crumbling. “Varek…” My voice cracked. “What if I die before we can warn them all? What if this is all for nothing?”
He stopped. Turned. Cupped my face in those calloused, familiar hands. “Then I’ll carry on for you. But you’re not dying. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not until every bloodsucking psycho in that fortress is ash under our boots.”
I let out a shaky laugh that turned into a sob. “You always know what to say, asshole.”
He grinned. “You love it.”
We kept walking, pretending to be good little blood cult scouts. But every step felt heavier, like guilt and fury were stacking bricks on my spine.
Hours passed. The woods grew thicker, deeper, and quieter. And then we found them.
A lion pride. Hiding.
They’d cloaked their camp well, it was buried in an overgrown glade with magical shielding that shimmered if you stared too long. Children peeked from canvas tents. Warriors kept low and silent. They weren’t attacking. They were surviving.
“Shit,” I muttered, crouching behind a boulder with Varek. “We’ll have to report this…”
“But not yet,” he said. I looked at him. His expression was unreadable. Dangerous.
“We say we didn’t find anything today,” he said, his voice low. “We bring them one step further from danger.”
“We can’t protect them all,” I whispered.
“No,” he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “But we can buy them time.”
I rested my head against him, exhaustion seeping into my bones. One lie at a time. One secret signal. One stolen warning.
That’s how we fight back.
