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I found Jillian in the small clearing where the mist had led me earlier, pacing before the opening to the tunnel. I could smell the blood of the vampire who had fallen, just on the other side of the tunnel.
“It’s through there, isn’t it? Your fox? And my blood slave!” Jillian bent down on all fours, poking her head into the dark space and snarling at whatever she saw inside. “Fire. We need to smoke it out, and then we can dig our way through.Youfound the passage to the next section,” she growled suddenly, rearing up and pointing a finger in my face.
I crossed my arms over my chest, not denying it. But I’d be an idiot to give her any intel. Especially if that had actually been a blood slave.
My stomach hadn’t stopped churning since she’d said the words, because Iknew. I fucking knew... that’s exactly what Merden would do, and I’d rather give Luca’s team a chance to find the poor vampire and help them than let Jillian anywhere near them.
She was scrambling to find dry leaves for a fire, and Darnell had already started working with a pair of branches to create a spark. I just stood there, watching them and wondering if I should duck inside the tunnel and use my ice armor spell. I could leave them behind in three seconds.
It would be useless, though.
The mist would just deliver me back to them, and they’d know I had more secrets. Better to keep my new skill to myself.
But I could warn Luca’s team. Concentrating my ice magic, I sent a careful call into the void, searching for my handsome thief but trying not to tip off my team that I was using mindspeak.
Kana? What the fuck has been happening over there? We heard-
Gobbelins. Three of them. We’re all okay - unfortunately. But Kas... I think one of the nobles dropped a blood slave into the labyrinth. It’s on your side. Jillian is trying to figure a way over there right now, and she’s been halfway to bloodlust all fucking day.
I rushed the words out so fast in my mind that I lost my careful grip on the magic, and Darnell whirled on me.
“Who are you sending thoughts to? I feel your magic, princess,” he snarled, stalking toward me with a dangerous glint in his eye.
“Just sending Merden a wine list for the celebration ball,” I shot back, meeting his chest with the point of my blade.
“Probably just tipping off her tiny-dick commoner boyfriend about the blood slave,” Jillian cried in fury. “Get back here and help me with this fucking fire.”
Darnell glared at me for a few more seconds, and I grinned. He was hard to get a reaction out of, so I felt like I’d accomplished something. He growled some kind of threat under his breath, but when I didn’t back down, he returned to Jillian.
Hoping Kas had gotten my message, I tried to play it cool by running the knife under my fingernails while I watched them make a fire, cleaning away the drying gobbelin blood from my hands as best as I could.
When I was Queen, I would never take baths for granted again.
In fact, I was going to find a way to make one of those fancy jetted tubs Earth had - those were fucking heaven. Earth tech never lasted more than a few weeks in Haret, though. Something about our magic eroded anything digital or even too mechanical, like the two worlds couldn’t co-exist without creating something too powerful.
“Yes!” Jillian hooted, brandishing a flaming branch. Fuck.
I glared as she dove toward the tunnel, waving her torch in wide circles to burn away anything in her path. I let Darnell follow her, hoping they’d run straight into a nest of furry garrotes. Once they were both inside the tunnel, I whispered the words for the ice armor spell.
There was no reason to leave anything to chance, and I was pretty certain it would dissolve before either of them noticed.
Kas still hadn’t answered me, and I hoped he and Luca had located the unlucky vampire. If not, I doubted that I could stop Jillian from feeding on them without getting my own throat ripped out in the process.
By the time I crawled out of the tunnel, my teammates had vanished, using their vampire speed to chase down the scent of blood I could smell even stronger now.
Kas! Where are you?I called in my mind, losing hope.
I can’t find them, he shouted back, the frustration echoing painfully between my ears along with the icy magic. Then a snarl and a roar echoed from the east, and my heart sank as it was met by a pitiful scream and the scent of spilled blood exploding into the air.
I sped toward the noise anyway, dodging a few smaller animals and hoping like hell I didn’t meet anything larger.
But the only vicious animals I found when I rounded the next corner were my teammates, hunched over a limp body as they fed, looking like every horror movie Earth had ever produced. I was definitely too late.
I pressed down a mix of rage and disgust as they tore into the vampire’s flesh, sucking down every drop of blood from the unfortunate slave.
Turning away from the carnage, I saw a hint of movement at the edge of one of the rocky walls. Bracing myself, I grabbed my knives and slunk toward it. This was the Fauna section - it could be anything. And while I wouldn’t mind watching a lilac oso gobble up my team, I didn’t want to be caught off guard, either.
I edged around the wall, knives out, but nothing was there.
