Wild Knight (Midnight Empire: The Tower #1)(61)

My response delighted him. “I take your breath away? Nice to know.”

Callan’s face was so smug right now. It took all my strength not to punch it.

“I’ll take your breath away if you don’t let go of me right now.”

He laughed and released me. “I wish this weren’t so serious. Otherwise I’d be having fun.”

“I think you’re managing to sneak a few chuckles in despite the looming terror.”

A low growl emanated from him. “The looming terror is us.”

A lump formed in my throat. I was glad to be fighting beside him and not opposite him, that was for damn sure.

He looked at me again and the hardness melted away. “We’re about to ride into battle. Any last words?”

There was a momentary pause. “Grab a weapon, Your Highness. You’re going to need it.”





18





Given its location at the northwestern corner of the city, Westerham Heights wasn’t easily accessible. I rode at the front of the top deck of a red double-decker bus that Callan had commandeered. It wasn’t often that the entire banner traveled anywhere together. Fuel was expensive and we didn’t have a suitable mode of transport. Enter one royal vampire with a fierce snarl and we were all set for the night.

The wind blew back my hair as I stared ahead at the black horizon.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” I yelled.

“It’s a bus not a race car,” Callan said. “Relax, we’re nearly there. We’ll get there in time.”

Maybe so, but it wasn’t a matter of being punctual. We actually had to stop him from completing the ritual.

I climbed down the spiral staircase. “Close enough,” I called. I didn’t want to tip off Dashiell that we knew the location. Let him be complacent.

Stevie parked the bus on the side of a dark stretch of road and we filed out with our weapons in hand.

“Sneak attack, my favorite,” Kami said, smiling like a lunatic. Everybody had at least one crazy friend and Kami was mine.

“I thought this would be a steep climb,” Neera said. “This hill is barely perceptible.”

“It’s the highest point in the city,” I said. “It serves the druid’s purpose.”

“I’m disappointed,” Ione said.

Kami groaned. “Fine. Next time we’ll dump you off at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. Have fun with that.”

“Mount Kilimanjaro doesn’t exist anymore,” Ione pointed out. Some mountains failed to survive the Great Eruption.

I shushed the group as we approached a flickering light where no light should be. “He’s there.”

We crept low until we arrived at a clearing. Dashiell was crouched on the ground creating a stone circle. I gripped Callan’s arm when I spotted the stone in the center of the circle. The vampire nodded in acknowledgment.

“Looks like he found a replacement for Davina,” the prince said in a low voice.

I was so intent on locating the stone that I missed the pyre Dashiell had built in the background. I also missed the familiar woman tied to it.

I sucked in a breath at the sight of Mona.

The bastard had taken my landlord?

How? When?

There was no time like the present. Every minute that ticked by was one minute closer to the New Moon.

I charged ahead. “What did you do?” I yelled. “Go to my flat and kidnap the first person you found?”

Dashiell rose to his feet and smiled as though he’d been expecting guests and wanted to welcome them to his party.

“I went looking for you, yes. I thought it would be fitting if you took the place of the princess. An expression of gratitude for your interference.”

“Such manners,” Mona said from the pyre, plainly besotted.

“What did you do to her?”

“Nothing yet. Miss Mona was kind enough to let me in the building. You weren’t there, of course. We started chatting and discovered common ground.”

“And you decided she’d be peachy keen with being your victim?”

“She volunteered,” Dashiell said. “You’d be surprised how many are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.”

“I don’t see you with your hand up,” I said.

Mona looked directly at me. “If it means the return of the sun and the end of vampire rule, then it’s worth my life. It’s worth a million lives.”

Wow. I had no idea Mona felt so strongly.

“I can’t let you do this,” I told her. “There’s more at stake than you realize.”

Dashiell stepped forward and blocked my path. “I think you’ll find there’s more at stake than you realize.”

He didn’t fire a warning shot. The druid simply raised his hands and the earth trembled beneath our feet. Trees tore themselves from the ground by their roots and marched toward us.

“Imagine what I can do once the ritual is complete.”

The other knights and Callan fanned out behind me and took on the trees while I tried to persuade the druid to stop the madness.

“This isn’t the way,” I insisted. As much as I understood the desire to overthrow the vampires, this wasn’t the right path. This druid craved power the way vampires craved blood.