Chapter 13 Trial of Blood 2
When the throne room emptied, Kael turned to me. "I told you to stay in my chambers."
"I do not follow orders well."
"I noticed." He pulled me against him. "You could have been killed. If they had seen you before you revealed yourself. If they had—"
"But they did not. I am fine."
"You tore through a wall, Sera. With your mind." His hands framed my face. "That was Shadowborn magic. Ancient power. How did you do that?"
"I do not know. I saw you about to die and something just broke open inside me." I grabbed his shirt. "Are you alright? You are bleeding."
"I am fine. Already healing." But his wounds were not closing as fast as they should. The curse. Still there. Still threatening even with the bond.
"You need to feed."
"Not here. Too many eyes. Too much—" He stopped. Looked past me. "Lyra."
I turned. The spymaster stood in the doorway looking pale. Shaken. Wrong.
"We have a problem," she said.
"Another one?" Kael's voice was brittle.
"The traitor. I found who told Cassian about the prophecy. About Sera's heritage." She walked closer. "It was not Lucian. He was just a pawn."
"Then who?"
"Theron."
The name hit like a punch. No. Not Theron. Not Kael's oldest friend. His commander. The man who trained me.
"That is impossible," Kael said. But his voice was hollow.
"I have proof. Letters. Payments. Everything." Lyra held out papers. "He has been feeding information to Cassian for months. Planning your downfall. He—" She stopped. Her eyes went wide.
Then she collapsed.
A blade protruded from her back. Behind her stood Theron with blood on his hands and emptiness in his amber eyes.
"I am sorry," he said to Kael. "I truly am. But you were dying. The curse was killing you. And she—" He pointed at me with his bloody sword. "She is the doom the prophecy warned about. I cannot let her destroy everything we built."
Kael moved. But Theron was already running. Out the door. Into the shadows.
I dropped beside Lyra. She was still breathing. Barely. The blade had missed her heart by inches.
"Get a healer," I shouted.
"Sera." Lyra grabbed my hand. Blood bubbled on her lips. "He has allies. Others who believe the prophecy is destruction, not salvation. Watch your back. Trust no one. Not even—"
She passed out.
Kael knelt beside us. His face was carved from stone. "Theron betrayed me."
"I am sorry."
"Four hundred years. Four hundred years of friendship. Of loyalty. Of brotherhood." His voice cracked. "And he stabbed Lyra in the back like she was nothing."
"We will find him. Make him answer—"
"He is gone. He knows these passages better than anyone. He will disappear into the Shadowlands." Kael's hands clenched into fists. "But he is right about one thing. You are the key. The prophecy centers on you. And there are vampires who would rather kill you than risk what you represent."
"What do I represent?"
"Change. The end of the old ways. A future where half-bloods have power and humans have rights and everything they built crumbles." He looked at me. "They will never stop. Never. Not until you are dead or they are."
Guards rushed in. Took Lyra away to healers. Left us alone in a throne room that smelled like blood and betrayal.
Kael stood. Pulled me up with him. "We are leaving Nocterra."
"What?"
"Tonight. Now. This palace is full of enemies I cannot identify. Theron proved that anyone could be compromised." He started walking. Dragging me with him. "We go to the Shadowlands. Find Rowan and his rebels. Regroup."
"But your kingdom—"
"My kingdom just watched me nearly die. Watched me show mercy to someone who did not deserve it. Watched you tear through walls with ancient magic." He stopped. Turned to me. "They will talk. They will plot. And when we return, we will know who our real enemies are."
"This is insane."
"This is survival." He kissed me hard. "Pack light. We leave in an hour."
An hour to abandon everything. To run from a palace that wanted me dead. To flee into lands where rogues and rebels lived.
An hour to choose between safety and stupidity.
I chose stupidity.
Because if Kael was running toward danger, I was running with him.
The bond would not let me do anything else. They were going to get it.
We left through the crypts.
Fitting, really. Escaping through rooms full of dead kings and forgotten queens. The air down here was wrong. Thick. Like breathing dust and old secrets.
Kael moved fast through passages I had never seen. I followed, carrying nothing but the clothes on my back and my mother's ring. Everything else we left behind.
"How far to the Shadowlands?" I whispered.
"Two hours if we are not followed. Four if we are." He did not look back. Just kept moving through darkness that should have been impossible to navigate.
But vampire eyes saw what human ones could not. And mine were changing. Getting stronger. I could see shapes now. Outlines. The way stone curved and passages split.
We climbed stairs that went down instead of up. Walked through rooms that smelled like death and worse things. Finally emerged into a tunnel that led outside the palace walls.
Cold night air hit my face. Freedom. Or maybe just a different cage.
The Shadowlands stretched ahead. Dark forests where trees grew twisted and wrong. Where magic pooled in places it should not. Where vampires who refused to bow to any king made their homes.
"Stay close," Kael said. "Things live in these woods. Hungry things."
We walked for an hour in silence. Every sound made me jump. Every shadow looked like threat. The bond pulled tight between us, the only warmth in all this cold.
Then I heard it. Footsteps behind us.
Kael heard it too. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the trees. We pressed against rough bark and waited.
Three figures passed on the path. Vampires. Wearing palace guard uniforms.
"They came this way," one said. "I can smell the half-blood."
"Lord Theron wants them found before dawn. Preferably dead."
"The king too?"
"Especially the king."
They moved past. Hunting. Hunting us.
Kael's hand covered my mouth before I could speak. We waited until their footsteps faded. Then he pulled me deeper into the forest.
"Theron sent hunters," I breathed.
"Of course he did. He knows these woods. Knows where we would run." Kael's eyes scanned the darkness. "We need to move faster. Get to Rowan's camp before they find us."
"How do you know where his camp is?"
"I do not. But I know someone who does." He changed direction. Pulled me through trees that seemed to move when I was not looking.
We walked for another hour. Maybe two. Time felt strange here. Stretched and compressed at the same time.
Then Kael stopped. "We are being followed. Not palace guards. Something else."
I felt it too. Eyes watching. Presence circling. Multiple presences.
Shapes detached from shadows. Not vampires. Something leaner. Hungrier. Eyes that glowed yellow in the dark.
Rogues. Vampires who had lost themselves to bloodlust. Who hunted anything that moved.
"Run," Kael said. "Now."
We ran.