Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 8 of 29

They walked out of the tunnel into a cold gray morning. The reeds bent under a wind that smelled of wet earth. The imp trotted ahead, then stopped and looked back at Reign with bright eyes. It said it knew the way to Shadowfell Manor. It said it could take him home. Reign put his hand on the amulet under his shirt and felt the stone warm against his skin. Home was a word he had never owned. He nodded once and told the imp to lead. Vixen caught his sleeve before he took a step. Her white hair had picked up dust from the tunnel. Her yellow eyes held his. She told him the amulet made him king on paper, but the vampires of the realm had never seen his face. She said some would kneel. Some would test him. Some would try to gut him in his sleep and take the stone off his body. She said the manor would be full of both. Reign started to answer. Then the wind shifted. The smell hit him like a hand at his throat. Warm, clean, alive. His fangs pushed through his gums before he thought to hide them. He turned his head. A young woman knelt in the reeds at the edge of a clearing, cutting green stems into a basket. No guards. No blade at her belt. She hummed to herself. Reign heard her pulse. He heard the wet slide of it under her jaw. Vixen said his name. He did not hear it the second time. He crossed the ground between them in three strides. The woman looked up. Her mouth opened. He caught her shoulder, bent her back over his arm, and sank his teeth into her neck. She made one small sound. The blood filled his mouth and it was better than anything the chamber had woken in him. He drank. He could not stop. He felt her go loose against him. Vixen's hand closed on his wrist. She pulled. He snarled at her without meaning to. She did not let go. She pressed her palm flat over the amulet at his chest and said his name once more, low and hard. The stone burned against his ribs. His teeth came free of the girl's skin. He looked down at what he had done. The woman's basket lay tipped in the reeds. Her breath came shallow but it came. The imp crouched at her side and pressed a small hand to the wound and watched Reign with no expression at all. Reign wiped his mouth. His hand shook. He had wanted the manor. He had wanted answers about his mother. He had not walked ten steps out of the cave before his blood chose for him. Vixen kept her hand on the amulet. She told him they could not go to the manor now. They had to hide the girl, and they had to hide him from himself, before either could be trusted through a gate.