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He glanced at the others, grinning. “If you think we are that pathetic, fanatical sect Fallon Greyclaw tried to resurrect, I’m afraid your deductions have been wrong. But not entirely.”
What the hell did that mean?
Lucius and Kol were right. The murders were an act of war, a way to break the peace between Morgons and humans. So what about the blood-drinking?
“Get her, Gor,” commanded Barron.
He lunged, grabbing my wrist without the make-shift weapon. I stabbed in and out with a quick thrust, hitting just below the shoulder. He cried out, backhanding me against the wall, the wooden spike flying from my grasp. The other one came for me. I slipped the fork from my back pocket and swung high, scoring his cheek.
“Bitch!”
Gor wrapped me from behind, grabbing my arm with the fork and banging my wrist against the wall until I dropped it. The one I’d gotten across the face gripped my throat and leered down at me, his eyes pale yellow like his wings, the gash on his cheek bleeding.
“You’ll pay for that, bitch,” he grated out.
“It’s an improvement.” I smiled, masking the fear racing through my veins. “Trust me.”
He hauled his hand back.
“Stop!”
He did.
“We’ll not have her looking any more battered before the master receives her. Bring her.”
Gor leaned down, pulling a key from somewhere and unlocking the cuff. I gave him a swift kick to the jaw before he could duck away.
He definitely wanted to kill me. Malice gleamed in his eyes.
“No, Gor,” said Barron coolly.
Gor rubbed his jaw and squeezed my arm much tighter than necessary. They dragged me through an earthen tunnel, dark and narrower than I expected. Sconces lit the corridor every three or four yards.
I knew where they were taking me. To the evil one. That thing I sensed hiding in the shadows the night I offered myself up as bait. The thing that claimed me in my nightmare. Nausea boiled in my gut, overwhelming terror threatening to make me vomit.
We passed another cell like mine. Empty. We passed a second where I caught a glimpse of an unconscious human woman in jeans and a T-shirt strapped to a table, her arms straight out, open veins draining into bowls beneath her elbows.
“Wha—?” I dug my heels into the dirt, only managing to slow myself, not stop. “What are they doing to her? Barron!”
“No worries, lovely Moira. That will not be your fate.”
More women. They were abducting them from other provinces. Gladium wasn’t the only target. My God. My mind reeled at how many other young women had been taken for this sadistic, twisted band of murderers.
“Where are we?” I asked after our third fork in the tunnels.
“You can call it home, dear girl. But we call it Palace Prime.”
After several turns, Barron leading the way, they pulled me out into a large open cavern. Stalagmites rose up from the floor, stabbing upward, mirroring the stalactites hanging down, like stone swords armed against each other. A cleared ring in the center bore a painted symbol I didn’t recognize—a giant Morgon, wings outspread, crown on his head, holding a scepter in one hand, a sword in the other. Torches encircled the symbol, casting everything else in deep shadow.
The Sunsting guards dragged me to the center and stopped, forcing me to my knees. Barron stepped a few feet forward, blocking my view. The familiar sensation of malevolence filled the air, the one I’d felt that night in the tunnel of the Vaengar Stadium’s basement. There were others hovering in the shadows of the cavern around us, keeping still and quiet. But it was the presence of someone, something more menacing than all of them put together, that had me trembling. The one who remained out of sight.
“We have brought her, my lord.” Barron bowed, sweeping backward and to the side. Barron, subservient?
Whoever he spoke to was shrouded in shadow, sitting on a massive throne of stone. Fire-gold eyes pierced me through the gloom. The same eyes from my dream, my nightmare. He stood and stepped forward.
From sheer dread, I averted my gaze to the floor, my chest heaving quick breaths, my pulse pounding in my head. A cold sweat broke out on my skin.
“Look at me, human.” His voice, a deep-barreled frightening sound, made me want to obey. Instinct prompted me not to. I shook my head.
