Vanquished Gods (Hallowed Games #2)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

“ S o, we’re fucked.” My mind whirled with calculations. “Unless…”

I turned to look at Dunstan, whose hand was clapped over his mouth in abject horror. The bell shook in his hand.

I touched his arm. “Dunstan, we’re going to try to draw the soldiers into the town square. Once we do, I want you to get as many of the townspeople as you can close to the gates. We’ll keep the Luminari’s attention on us.”

“ What ?” Sion stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “I’m not sacrificing myself for a bunch of whelk-picking, fishmonger yokels.”

I turned to Sion. “I’m the Underworld Queen, remember? I’m supposed to be in charge. Can you use some shadow magic?”

“What do you have planned?” Sion asked dejectedly.

“I just need a little shadow magic. Not too much. Just make a dramatic show of it. Make it look like nighttime. Trust me.”

From behind, I heard the soldiers shouting as they marched closer, coming through the gate. Then, the sound of the gate groaning, creaking as it shut, trapping us in the city.

I grabbed the bell from Dunstan and started marching back toward the town square.

Without another word, Sion’s shadows began darkening the air, clouding the sky like an unnatural storm rolling in.

A shiver whispered over my skin as his darkness whirled around us. “The Great Witch of Briarwood is here,” I bellowed. “The Underworld Queen who kills with her touch. And the treasonous vampiric former Magister Solaris!”

As they marched closer, I heard a soldier shout the orders to speed up.

I moved faster, luring them into the town square. As they spilled into the square behind us, I headed for the well in its center.

The town square, filled with an unnatural darkness, now looked like a moonless night. Screams echoed as night swallowed the day. I climbed up the side of the well and stood on the edge. Sion stood by my side at the base of the well, facing the oncoming Luminari soldiers. The new Magister Solaris stood at the front, his sun pendant hanging over his dark robes. He drew his sword.

Sion growled at them, and the sound rumbled through my bones.

I raised my hands. “Here I am, the powerful witch you’ve been hunting for. The one who tried to kill the Pater not once, but twice.”

The Magister raised his hand, and the soldiers drew their swords.

When my gaze landed on four archers among them, my heart began to race. A bit harder to evade arrows from a distance.

The Magister stepped closer. “You see, men? The Archon has delivered to us just what the Pater has ordered. The Archon rewards those with faith.”

The archers nocked their arrows.

My breath caught in my throat. “All right, Sion. Let’s go.”

“Where the fuck are we going?” he hissed.

“In the well.”

The Magister raised his sword. “Draw!”

The archers pulled their bows taut, aiming their arrows at us.

Sion turned to look at me, his eyes black as night. “The well ?” It was more of a snarl than a question.

“The stream comes out on the other side of the wall.”

Sion had gone completely still, and darkness slid through the air around him. With the utter blackness in his eyes, he looked otherworldly, beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

“I don’t like the water.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re scared of swimming?”

“I didn’t say scared ,” he gritted out.

The Magister still held his sword aloft. “Aim!”

“We’re out of time!” I shouted.

“Loose!” boomed the Magister.

Sion’s head snapped to me, and he leapt off the ground, grabbing me in a bear hug as the twang of the bows rang out. His strong arms wrapped around me, and the next thing I knew, we were plummeting into the well. We hurtled down for what seemed like an impossibly long distance. Admittedly, I started to have some second thoughts. But there was little we could do about it now, was there?

We hit the river’s surface with a bone-juddering smack, and Sion lost his grip on me. I plunged under the ice-cold water, tumbling deeper, my legs aching from the impact. I managed to swim to the surface again and gasped for breath. Sion wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him again.

“Are you okay?” His deep voice echoed off the stone walls of the well.

I glanced up at the circle of sunlight above us, where soldiers were shouting at each other, arguing over whether they should follow after us. I looked down to meet his eyes and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “We need to go. Can you swim quickly with me in your arms? Because I won’t be able to hold my breath that long underwater. We need your vampire speed to get out of here.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “I’m really not a fan of the water.”

“I’m sorry. We’re committed now.”

“How do you know where this comes out?” he asked.

“I saw the opening when I was drinking water from the stream. It’s not far from the gates, just on the other side of the wall. Where we hitched up the horse.”

He pulled me more tightly against his muscled chest, and we plunged beneath the surface. I held my breath as we swam. We were going in the same direction as the current, so it helped us along, but I could also feel the shocking speed we were gaining from Sion as he kicked his legs, sending us hurtling through the stream. The darkness seemed endless, and my lungs started to burn.

Was this one of the dumbest fucking ideas I’d ever had? Was I about to die down there in the dark, trapped, choking on stream water? Panic started to sink its roots into my mind, and I clutched at Sion, willing him to go faster.

At last, up ahead, I saw the glorious rays of light piercing the water. Oh, thank fucking gods. Gripping me in his powerful arms, Sion somehow gained a burst of speed and rushed through the water toward the light.

Finally, we breached the surface, the stone of the tunnel still arching over us. I gasped for breath, filling my lungs. Oh, thank the gods , I could breathe…

Sunlight filtered in from the opening, speckling the water with gold.

I sucked in fresh air, still clinging to Sion’s neck. I stood on the cold stone as the water rushed over my soaked white dress. As I heaved in ragged breaths, I melted into the steel of his chest.

After a moment, Sion pulled away from me. His midnight gaze was locked on me, and a fierce intensity burned behind his eyes. Then, without warning, he slumped forward on his arms, leaning on the damp stone.

Only then did I notice the two arrows jutting from his back and the blood staining the fabric of his shirt a deep crimson.

My heart skipped a beat. “Archon above. Let me get these out. Are you okay?”

“Get to the gates,” he rasped. “Get them open. I’ll be fine. It’s not my heart.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key.

I hesitated for a breath, but I could hear them, even from there. Screaming, pounding on the city gates from the inside. I grabbed the key, hesitating for a moment as I looked at Sion, and then I rushed out of the tunnel and sprinted for the city walls. I pumped my arms, flying over the cobblestones. The sound of hammering fists against wood boomed through the air.

A line of three soldiers stood before the gates, swords drawn, muscles tensed. But they weren’t facing me. They were so focused on the door, on the pitiable sound of the screams piercing the wood, that they didn’t pay a lick of notice to the assassin behind them.

Death-hunger rose in my stomach, and my fingers twitched in anticipation. I stopped sharply behind them, and time seemed to slow. The Serpent’s power pulsed under my skin. I brushed my fingertips over the backs of their necks, poisoning them with my magic.

Your open graves wait for you…

One by one, they crumpled to the hungry earth like withering foxgloves. Purple veins raced over their skin as their bodies twitched, growing gray. I closed my eyes, breathing in the scent of death, craving more. I licked my lips.

Revere me. I’ll deliver you into the soil’s waiting embrace…

All those bodies on the other side, sparking with life.

I wanted to claim their lives for myself, to steal their breath and watch the gray creep over their skin like twilight shadows sliding over the grass. I wanted my hand around their throats, to watch the light leave their eyes.

BOOM.

The frantic pounding on the door snapped me out of my dark fantasies, and I tightened my fingers into fists, forcing myself to focus. My gaze slid to the doors, to where the wood shuddered with every slam from those begging to get out.

I slid the skeleton key into the keyhole just beneath the lever. I turned the key, listening to the satisfying click. Then, with a grunt, I pulled down the wooden lever.

As the wooden door started to open, the townspeople streamed into the street. Shaking, I turned, watching as the people of Lyramor ran free. I breathed in and out, trying to reel my magic in, releasing the death-hunger as I did.

As the townspeople continued to flee, I hurried back toward Sion, my wet dress clinging to me like a second skin. I waded into the water, crossing upstream, back into the tunnel, where the shadows swallowed me whole.

I found Sion there, slumped against the wall, hardly moving. His forearm pressed against the hard stone, and blood streaked his shirt.

I stared at the arrows embedded in his back. “I’m gonna get these out, okay?”

“Do it,” he grunted.

I pressed one hand against the flat of his back, then gripped the shaft of the arrow. With a deep breath, I yanked it out, watching his muscles tense as I did. Clenching my jaw, I ripped the next one free. His shoulders relaxed the moment I had it out.

In the tunnel’s shadows, his eyes flicked up to meet mine. A ray of sunlight sparked off his darkened eyes.

“You can keep going,” he rasped, his voice low and rough.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hawthorn arrows.”

The cold river water rushed over my calves, and I felt the world grow unsteady beneath my feet. “How long does that tincture take to wear off? The one with the hawthorn in it?”

He stared at me. “What?”

“You need to drink blood. Isn’t that what Maelor said? When you’re injured, you need to drink.”

“About ten hours, I think.”

“It’s been almost a day since I drank it.” I swallowed hard, moving toward him. “Will you be able to stop yourself from taking too much?”

His eyes flicked to me as I drew closer, a little gold now gleaming in those shadows. “For you, yes. I have no doubt.”

My heart slammed hard in my chest, and my blood roared. There was something familiar about him—a sense of safety with him that I couldn’t quite explain. An uncanny instinct.

I came up beside him and leaned back against the wall, my pulse racing. “Okay. Go on.”

Sion’s tongue flicked over one of his fangs as he moved to where I waited, pressing his hands against the stone behind me. His gaze brushed down my body, taking in the wet dress that had molded around my skin. His magnetic pull radiated over me.

Maybe it was the amoris already slipping around me, but I found myself wrapping my hand around his nape, pulling him in closer. I tilted back my head, exposing my throat, an invitation. Under his smoldering gaze, I felt acutely aware of how the thin white dress had turned transparent in the water and how my nipples hardened against the cool material. I was practically naked before him, and by the way he was staring at me, he had absolutely noticed…and he appeared to like what he saw.

Tension coiled his body, and he lowered his mouth to my exposed throat. Slowly, gently, his lips brushed over my skin. And that was all it took to send hot shivers racing over my body. I was completely vulnerable to him. The question was, why had I suddenly started trusting this man enough to let him bite my neck?

I breathed in deeply, my breasts straining against the wet dress. His tongue flicked over the pulse in my throat, and my breath raced.

Sion kissed my throat, and already, my body was becoming pliable as wax in the sun. His tongue stroked so lightly over my skin.

He must have been desperate for my blood, I knew, but he didn’t seem to be rushing this. Perhaps he didn’t want to. He slid his fingers into my hair, tilting my head back further. “I will be careful with you, Elowen,” he murmured. “With you, I will take care.”

I felt the sharp sting of his fangs as they pierced my skin, and I melted like warm honey against him, my muscles going limp. My eyelids closed as I gave in to him, and my world narrowed to the feel of his mouth. My hand stroked down his back, pressing his hard, powerful body closer to mine. Every inch of my skin ached with the need to be touched by him, kissed, licked, tasted…

My thoughts blurred as I went to that place beyond language, dredged from the primal days of the gods. My fingers tangled in his long hair, and I arched my neck even further. I was only vaguely aware that I was wrapping my thighs around him, that he was lifting me now to press me against the wall with a low, desperate growl from deep in his chest. Faintly aware that his hands gripped beneath my thighs, his fingers flexing on my ass.

I could feel the long, hard length of him as he drank from me. Dimly, under the haze of lust, I was aware of moving my hips against him shamelessly, like one of his thralls. He let out a low groan, and his muscles coiled with tension.

I couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like to rip off the wet fabric between us, to have my bare skin pressed against his, to stand naked before him until he took me against the stone wall.

His firm body pressed into me, hard as steel. His fingers continued to flex under me. Amoris wrapped around me, making me ache with need. Pure euphoria rushed through my body.

My fingernails raked down his back, and my hips shifted into him again. I wanted him to drink and drink from me until there was nothing left.

But just as those thoughts flitted through my skull, he pulled his fangs from my neck, his breath hot against my skin. He licked at the little holes, then kissed them gently. I caught my breath, unwilling to release my thighs from his waist as he stroked my throat with his tongue, healing me.

With one final, deep kiss, he raised his face, then rested his forehead against mine, his voice barely a whisper. “I need to stop, darling.” The words sounded torn from him, agonized.

The way he cupped my face, his thumb brushing against my cheek, sent warmth pulsing through my chest.

He dragged his gaze up to mine, his eyes burning with a dark, primal intensity. I felt myself unraveling under his stare. Then, without a word, he pressed his lips against my own. My mouth instantly opened to his, and as he kissed me, his tongue teased mine. Molten heat plunged through my belly. The kiss grew hungrier, deeper, and visions flitted through my mind— a sun-drenched forest, an earthy cave surrounded by bluebells and wood anemones…

He still pressed me against the wall as his magic skimmed my wet body. When he finally pulled away, I saw the golden flare smoldering in his eyes.

“Sorry,” he whispered, breath heaving.

I worked to catch my breath. “Amoris.”

His brow furrowed in confusion, but he only said, “I need to stop. We need to go. You taste fucking amazing. Addictive.”

“Thanks?”

Gently, he released me, and he scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I can’t believe you made me fucking swim .”

He turned, walking away from me, and I tried to force the memory of that kiss from my thoughts.

I didn’t want to admit to myself how addictive he felt to me, too.