House of Secrets and Vows (Crown of Deceit #1)

45. The Dagger

45

THE DAGGER

T wo guards stomp toward me with hunger in their eyes.

I can feel cool, wet blood dripping down my neck from where Mavet cut and then fed from me.

Even if I wanted the Blood King to drink from me, the lingering feeling of his mouth on me makes me queasy.

Now, he lays on the ground, in a deep sleep. But only temporarily.

"Hello, boys," I purr, desperate to sound more confident than I feel.

The taller of the two men, with golden blonde hair and hazel eyes, smiles at me. "Give up now, and we'll make your death quick. Promise."

"Well, that would be no fun, would it?" I back away as they approach.

Ever since I used my fae power to stop Nevan from feeding, I've felt magic buzzing beneath my surface. Surely, I'm capable of more than making my blood boil.

I pull from within, urging whatever other gifts rest there to surface. A tingling sensation pulses beneath my skin, but when I call to it, nothing happens. I try again, willing my power to rise. Again, I am met with nothing.

With a deep breath, I try one more time, begging my power to show itself. A spark of light flickers in my fingertips. I urge it to grow into something useful, but instead, it fizzles out.

When I call for it again, nothing happens.

" Lovely ," I mumble under my breath.

Finding any advantage from my fae blood isn't going to happen, so I need to adjust. I keep backing away slowly, giving myself time to think.

I survived on the Valazican streets as a child and spent a decade juggling my priestess duties and resistance missions without getting caught and losing my head.

I will not die in this den of monsters without a fucking fight.

The shorter guard steps in front of the other. "Come on, beautiful. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

I was only fourteen when I joined the resistance. My body had begun to develop the curves of womanhood, but with my small size, I’d straddled the line between child and adult. But I'd been so eager to do something meaningful I begged Felix for real assignments, ones that mattered.

He agreed, but only if I spent a month learning from Felix himself.

The first lesson he taught me was to always know your disadvantage. Here in the Blood Den, I’m outnumbered two to one, and each of the guards not only outweighs me, but they are vampires with lethal strength and speed.

The fourth lesson had been on turning a disadvantage into an advantage, which is what I need to do now.

I reach up to the wound Mavet gave me and rip away the clotted blood that had slowed the bleeding. Then I smear the blood across my neck and face. To add one final nail to the coffin, I meet the gaze of the shorter guard and seductively lick the fresh blood from my fingers.

The deep metallic taste is sharp on my tongue, but I resist a gag. "Yum."

The guards glance at each other.

I continue, "Is there some rule about who gets to drain someone of their blood if you kill me together?”

"Not exactly," the taller one says as he stares at my mouth.

I lick my lips. "Pity. Seems unfortunate to have to share."

The taller guard turns to the shorter one and puffs out his chest. Such a silly, animalistic move, but it seems to work.

The shorter one only shrugs. "Go ahead."

The taller guard turns back toward me, and before he takes a single step, the shorter one unsheathes his sword and, in a single swoop, chops off the other guard's head.

He steps over the decapitated guard, sword extended. "I don't feel like sharing today."

"I figured you were the smart one." I keep walking backward. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a coward, though?"

Ravenous hunger burns in his gaze, his body tense and ready to strike. "I'm not a fucking coward."

"Attacking an unarmed woman seems pretty cowardly to me." I keep my shoulders squared and unflinching, refusing to show the fear coursing within me.

He scoffs and flings the sword across the room in a fit of frustration. "Better?"

"Quite."

Before I can think of another way to stall him, he lunges toward me. I quickly jump away, but he is faster. With one swift move, he catches hold of my foot and violently throws me to the ground.

I frantically get back on my feet, spinning away to avoid his grasp. But I’m too slow, and the tips of his fingers grab my heel and trip me again, my body crashing against the unforgiving tile floor.

With a sardonic grin, he ambles toward me slowly, knowing full well I won’t be able to outrun him.

I refuse to stay frozen in fear, and so I push myself up once more. Blood drips from the deep gash on my arm, creating a crimson trail behind me as I run, my heart racing as I urge my legs to move faster.

But just as I reach the center of the room, he catches up to me once more. This time, he grabs me by the waist with one strong arm and pins my wrists against the cold stone wall with the other.

"It'll be over soon, gorgeous," he whispers menacingly into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

I tense as he grins at me with elongated incisors. Surely the elixir remains in my blood, which means if he drinks from me, he’ll pass out like Mavet. He’s a fool for not realizing it.

But Mavet has already taken some of my blood, and I don’t know how much this vampire will drink before the elixir kicks in.

Letting him drink at all is a risk I don’t want to take.

Just as he slowly leans in toward the unmarred side of my neck, I command my skin to burn like a flame.

"Fuck," the guard screams before pushing me straight into the cauldron.

My body collides hard with the heavy iron bowl, stealing the breath from my lungs as I slam into it so hard I knock the cauldron over.

The remaining red liquid from the ritual spills into a puddle on the floor that quickly dries into a substance as hard as metal.

As I push to roll over, the glint of steel inside the cauldron catches my attention. I crawl to grab the dagger Mavet threw inside. The once-silver blade is now stained a bright maroon color.

The guard's footsteps pound as he approaches me. "Do whatever you did to me again, bitch, and I will make you regret it."

As he picks me up by my waist again, I reach out and snatch the dagger's hilt. Then, as his teeth break through the skin of my neck, I stab him through his thigh.

He drops me straight to the ground.

I spin around, ready to do everything I can to block his next attack. With a curse, he yanks out the dagger and tosses it to the ground, then sets his sights back on me.

As he steps forward, he freezes. Confusion flashes across his face before his expression goes blank.

Movement in his fingers catches my attention. At first I think his pinky is twitching. But as I watch it closer, I see dark red flakes fall to the ground as his entire hand crumbles away into dust.

The crumbling continues through both of his arms and then, soon, nothing of the vampire remains but a pile of dust.

And even that doesn't linger. Within moments, the dust disappears into thin air and there is no sign the guard ever existed at all.

After I pick up the dagger from the ground, I tear a strip of my dress off and tie the blade to my thigh before turning my attention to Nevan.

The prince stands a few feet from Colesef, with a sword extended toward the advisor. They speak in hushed tones, so quiet I can't make out their words.

Colesef says something to the prince with a smirk.

As Nevan turns toward me, the advisor dives for him. He strikes the prince in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.

The sword flies across the stone floor, and I sprint toward it as the prince and Colesef roll on the ground in a struggle.

I grab the sword. “Nevan!”

From beneath Nevan, Colesef grabs at the prince's throat.

As Nevan blocks the attack and takes the advantage, the advisor relaxes.

"There's prophecy you don't know, Prince," Colesef says. "I can tell you secrets of the past that will guide the future."

Nevan hesitates, and I think he might let the advisor go. But then the prince says, "I'll have to find another way to learn it."

With that, he shoves his fist straight through Colesef's chest and yanks out his heart in a bloody mess.

Nevan tosses it on the ground and stands.

I glance at Mavet, who hasn't moved since he passed out. This might be our only chance to kill him. The elixir won’t last much longer, and we have no idea what power the Blood King will possess when he awakes.

A distant bell rings through the Blood Den as two male vampires burst through a door on the far end of the room.

"Come on." I grab Nevan by his bicep. "We need to get out of here."

As much as I want to kill Mavet, if we don’t leave now, we might not get another chance.

Neither Nevan nor I speak as we hurry through the double doors into the tunnels as more vampires pour into the room.

As I round the second corner of the tunnels, a blanket of absolute darkness cloaks me. The inky blackness seems to swallow me whole, and I stumble blindly, desperately trying to find my bearings.

My heart races as I frantically search for any hint of light or direction. Mavet won’t be asleep for long, which means Nevan and I need to get far away quickly.

But my efforts are in vain, and as I come to an abrupt halt, Nevan’s solid body crashes into my back, throwing me off balance and knocking me to the ground with a thud.

My hands instinctively reach out to brace myself against the cold floor, feeling its rough texture against my skin in the pitch-black surroundings.

He bends down and lifts me by the arm. "Are you all right?"

"I can't see." I pat what I am sure is a scuff along my forearm.

"At all?" he asks. As I shake my head, he says, “My vampire nature allows me to see without light.”

“That makes sense, cursed to the night and all.” I glance back toward where we came. Or where I think we’ve come from, at least. After falling to the ground, I'm not sure which way is which. Panic swells in my stomach. "You'll have to guide us."

With that, he wraps his hand around mine. "This way."

The smell of mildew causes me to sneeze as we hurry through the pitch-black tunnels.

"Well, shit," Nevan says as he halts.

My heart hammers in my chest. "What is it?"

"We were just here. At least, I think we were. Everything looks the fucking same."

Mavet's voice carries through the tunnels. "Where oh where did my guests go?"

I squeeze Nevan's hand. "We have to keep moving."

He tugs me down a path on my left.

"What kind of host would I be if I didn't escort you out?" Mavet's voice is louder this time.

As Nevan leads me to the right, a gentle, feather-like touch dances across my fingers and palm, causing a shiver to run down my spine. It's almost as if someone is lightly tracing their fingertips over my skin.

Although I usually doubt the Goddess’s presence, I can’t help but wonder if it’s she who is guiding me.

"I think we need to go the other way,” I say.

"You can see?" Nevan asks.

"No, but I just feel like this is wrong."

I wait for him to argue, but instead he spins us around, and the tickling stops.

When we get to another Y in the tunnels, my right hand tingles.

"Right," I whisper.

After three more turns, light shines ahead.

We sprint into the fresh night air.

The slightest hint of pink spreads across the sky. Dawn is coming soon.

I've never been so happy to see sunshine. Such a common thing I’ve taken for granted my entire life.

My relief is short-lived. Ahead, perched on a large boulder, sits Mavet. His eyes are just as black as they were after he drank from the cauldron. He’s always looked inhuman, but now he truly looks like a demon.

"I applaud your effort." Mavet slowly claps his hands. "How did you manage to make me fall asleep? Some fae gift you figured out? I'd assumed you were powerless. A mistake I won't make again."

"You got what you wanted," I say.

He stands and pushes his lower lip into a pout. "I was able to consume Nevan's blood in the ritual. However, I want my most trusted friends to share in the ability to daywalk. And when I woke up, it seems the rest of the elixir had spilled out and disappeared." He shakes his head. "So, dear , I need your lover’s blood again."

Nevan keeps close to me. "You can fuck off."

Mavet ignores the prince. “It also seems my best advisor has met his demise. I'm quite angry about it, actually. Finding people to trust isn't easy, and Colesef had been a loyal friend for three centuries."

I block out Mavet's voice and listen, desperate to figure out where we are. The only sound I can hear is running creek water, which I can also smell in the air. It isn't quite dawn, so most of Valazica will be asleep, but the lack of other noises still makes me doubt we are close to any houses.

There’s a small creek just outside the slums. It's where I found water my first year on the streets. It's secluded and so far on the outskirts of Valazica, guards don't bother patrolling it, making it the perfect spot for the entrance to the Blood Den.

"Give me the girl as payment for Colesef's death, and I will take your blood then release you. Perhaps you can go steal your crown back from your brother," Mavet says.

"Like I said,”—Nevan squeezes the inside of my hand—“you can fuck off."

Mavet springs toward us, teeth bared.

Nevan steps in front of me and lunges toward the Blood King, knocking him to the ground. Both vampires snarl as they fight with nothing but brute strength.

For a moment, Nevan has Mavet pinned. But the Blood King slips out an arm and, using momentum, flings the prince off of him. As Nevan rolls three times, Mavet lunges for me.

I step back as fast as I can, not daring to turn my back toward him.

"You should have run when you had the chance, lovely." As soon as the words are out of the Blood King's mouth, Nevan tackles him to the ground again.

The two move so fast it’s a blur. Their snarling grows louder until a scream bursts from Nevan's lungs.

Mavet sits on him with his nails dug into the prince's shoulder. "Feeding from your lover might have made you stronger than me, boy. But I've fought more enemies than you can even dream to imagine."

He digs his nails further into the prince’s flesh.

The same feeling that had tickled my hands in the tunnels now tickles my thigh. I reach down to scratch it and feel the blade from the cauldron I'd strapped to my leg.

I unhook the fabric and lift the blade by its hilt, then with slow and quiet steps, I sneak up on the Blood King.

"Now, now." Mavet raises his free hand. "Don't be a fool."

He glances back at me with a cruel smile until he notices the blade raised in my hand.

His subtle change in expression is enough for me to know he fears the small dagger. "Get off of him."

Mavet hesitates. "You think you can take me with that little thing?"

"I don't think I have to take you," I say. "I think all I need to do is cut you. And I’ll warn you, I’m quite the proficient blade thrower."

I remember the strange way the guard had dissolved into nothing after the weapon pierced his flesh. It shouldn’t have been a deadly wound, especially for a vampire, but it wiped him from this world as if he never existed, not a single trace remaining.

When the Blood King retracts his hand from Nevan, I know I’m right.

The sun breaks over the mountain. Its bright rays shine down on me, Nevan, and Mavet.

A warm glow shines onto the Blood King, and he closes his eyes as the sunrise washes over him.

I hold my breath, praying the ritual somehow failed and the sun will burn Mavet. But nothing happens, and he opens his chaol-colored eyes with a child-like grin.

A group of at least ten of Mavet's guards hover in the shadows of the tunnel entrance.

The Blood King stands and steps away from Nevan. "Good luck with your brother, Princeling."

I squeeze the hilt of the blade and bend my wrist back, ready to fling it at Mavet when a feeling of dread overtakes me, discouraging my throw. As I swallow the sudden unease, Mavet dips his chin to me and then, in a blink, sprints and disappears into the tunnels.

The guards drift out of sight, leaving Nevan and me alone as the sun creeps into the sky.