Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
“Well done, Arctos.” Yrsa scrutinized him. “But you still haven’t attained ohalla?”
“One kill short, my queen. Few valiant warriors challenged me.”
“One! You might’ve visited a barrack.”
Yes! I could have. But… “I followed your orders explicitly.”
“Hmm.” She gestured impatiently toward the vampire. “Come closer. Just her, Arctos.”
He reluctantly released the princess, and she limped forth, trailing blood from her bare feet. She must have cut them on the rocks leading here. Her cowardly shaking made the hem of her gown flutter around her bony knees.
Yrsa studied her, expression wavering between disgust and rampant disgust. “Princess Emilia, how disappointing your reflection must be, always reminding you of your inadequacy. You possess no strength. No fire. No cunning. I wonder if execution might not be a mercy.”
Let me do it!
“Speak, leech,” the queen commanded.
The vampire didn’t. Instead she pivoted and clumsily ran through the cavern, leaving little blood prints. Laughter chased her. Where was she going to go? Sunlight flooded the cave entrance, and she would know of no other way out.
Exhaling, he jogged after the princess. Yet then she bolted diagonally, heading away from the entrance toward the sunlit stone.
Suicide.
The queen yelled for her capture.
But the leech reached the stone before he could snare her. The sun didn’t burn her skin! She pressed her palm against that sacred stone—the vilest blasphemy. In a warbling voice, she called out in Old Norse, “I claim refuge in this queendom as an honorary Berserker with all the rights of this clan!”
He skidded to a stop a foot from her as three thoughts hit him:
With those words, she’s now a member of the clan.
I can no longer kill her.
This was all planned.
A seasoned spy like Ink had been played, just as Arctos had been. This puny leech had gotten captured on purpose. The castle contact who’d fed Ink information must have circumvented those spell defenses to enable just this scenario.
Had this princess been behind such a plot? Grudging admiration for her plan warred with suspicion. Perhaps the plot was only beginning. Perhaps her family had put her up to this for intelligence or sabotage.
Recovering from the moment’s shock, the queen resumed her seat and slowly clapped. “Well played. And it seems we’ve discovered your secret gift. The sun spares you?”
The leech nodded, black hair bouncing over her shoulders in the light.
Arctos’s impulse to yank her away from the stone was nearly uncontrollable. Others snarled with tensed muscles.
“How did you know what words to use and what they would mean to us?”
The vampire jutted her trembling chin. “Reading.”
“Indeed.” Queen Yrsa said, “So your father and king was going to use you to forge a sunlight army?” When the captive hesitated, Yrsa said softly, “You’ve demanded to be a member of this clan. You spoke of the rights, but with them come responsibilities. Sharing information about Bloodreach will only help us—your new people.”
The vampire swallowed again. “I was to be sealed in the crypt to birth one hundred babes in as many years.”
Wóden’s beard! The vampires were insane.
“How were you going to test if a babe could withstand the sun? There’s no light down there, or so we’ve heard.”
“The witches once had a potion they used in a hex pouch.” Emilia hesitated, then admitted, “It contained…powdered sunlight. We stored some in the royal armory in case of an insurrection.”
“Powdered sunlight? We must investigate such a measure.”
Arctos clenched his jaw. Witchly tricks won no valiant immortality.
Yrsa said, “Bearing so many offspring would be a huge toll on one like you. And you’re not even fully immortal yet, are you?”
Emilia shook her head.
“Show deference,” Arctos snapped. “You are Queen Yrsa’s subject now.”
Emilia glared at him, then told Yrsa, “No, my queen. I can’t regenerate yet. I’m just twenty-two.” She finally lowered her hand and stepped away from the stone, knowing the damage was already done.
“How did you learn the sun was not your enemy?” Yrsa asked.
The vampire glanced at Arctos and back to the queen before saying, “A storm damaged a shutter, and a beam of light struck me. Instead of agony, I felt as if I’d been…called home.”
“Fascinating. And your family kept this secret for years. Which makes me wonder if there are more like you.”
“Not that I know of. Nor have I read of any in the past.”
Yrsa canted her head to determine the truth of her words. Natural-born vampires couldn’t lie, but what if this one hid a second talent? “Why us? Why not another faction? Wolves, witches, and the demonarchies have less call than we do to hate vampires.”
“I read of no other faction that had a binding covenant that might protect me.”
“Risky,” Yrsa mused. “When you were skillfully manipulating my finest warrior and his most trusted spy, why did you assume we’d capture you? We might have simply assassinated you.”
“I analyzed the situation and found the risk worth it. I would rather die than meet the fate my father planned for me.”