Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(73)

Hauling my body half over his, his lips brushed my head. “I can feel it call to you.” I knew his anger had been out of fear. I was scared too. Not of the nectar so much, but it was one of the most powerful objects in the world. If it fell into the wrong hands...

Drifting off to sleep, I thought I heard the fae book’s voice brush by my consciousness.

“You defy nature, girl. How do you know your hands are not the wrong ones?”

Then the voice was lost in the abyss as I slipped into darkness.





“Noooo!”

A cry lurched me upright out of a dead sleep, my startled vision landing on Scorpion’s shade at the end of the bed, his face twisted in horror. Then in a blink, I was in the prison, standing next to him. Cries and commotion took my attention to the middle of the mess hall. Guards surrounded Killian and Sloane on the floor, their movements similar to prowling animals, clubbing them both, their screeches not sounding human at all.

Several guards held Rosie back as she screamed and thrashed against them.

“Killian!” I heard myself scream out, though no one could hear me except Scorpion.

Something was really wrong with the sentinels. They howled like hyenas and chimpanzees, hitting and wailing their arms, dropping the spiked clubs on the two men over and over, with no restraint or skill.

“No! Stop!” Aggravation and fear boomed through me, knowing there was nothing I could do.

A soldier struck Killian on the back with the spiked club, curving Killian’s spine. A cry he couldn’t stop barked from his lips. Blood colored his yellow uniform brown.

The guard lifted the baton over his head. A gasp spiked in my throat as I recognized Samu. His features were contorted, almost inhuman.

“No! Stop!” Sloane roared, leaping for Killian.

“Sloane, no!” Killian bellowed as Sloane landed over him right as the club came down.

The crunch echoed through the mess hall. The sound of crushing bone and torn flesh.

I heard my scream shredding through my body as I watched blood and gore spray from Sloane’s head, his skull caving in.

Denial of what I was seeing kicked me in the stomach, burning acid up my esophagus. Staring numbly in disbelief, my eyes locked on Sloane’s unmoving body. The stoic soldier who had taken me to Halálház, whose faithfulness and respect for Killian turned him into my ally. I couldn’t call us friends, but I could no longer say we were enemies. Not by a long shot.

Whimpers and cries of horror sprinkled the room.

All I could do was stare, my mind not wanting to register what I just saw.

“Enough!” Boyd’s voice cut through the mess hall. “What is our rule about the next fighters who are battling in the upcoming Games?” Boyd spoke to them as though they were imbeciles. “Your master won’t be pleased!”

“Kovacs.” Both Scorpion and I twisted to see Warwick behind us in the prison, his attention jumping from the spectacle in the middle to me. I knew I could pull them both in together at once, especially when my emotions were high.

“Go.” Scorpion whispered to me, nodding his head to him.

Tears clotted my throat, my head shaking. “No.”

Scorpion stood at the end of the bed, looking between Warwick and me. “Get us the fuck out of here.”

Then the connection was cut.

My body moved before I even could think, like I could crawl back into the scene and be back in the prison. I frantically tried to connect back to Scorpion, but he had blocked the bond, not letting me in.

“Stop.” Warwick grabbed me. “You can’t help them that way.” He yanked me back into him. Holding my jaw, he forced me to look at him. “You can’t help them being there right now. We help them by getting them out.”

Tears of fury and sorrow filled my eyes. “Warwick.” My voice cracked, the images raw and brutal in my mind.

“I know.” His eyes darted between mine, already knowing what I was going to say, but the words still came out in desperation.

“We have to get them. I can’t lose anyone else.”

“And we will.” His hands moved into my hair, cupping the back of my head, his determination set on his face. “We. Will.”

His strength dried up my tears and swallowed my grief. Tilting my chin up high, I stared into his powerful aqua eyes, determination set. Failure was not an option.

There was no limit for us.

We would walk into the valley of the shadow and death.

And they would fear us.





Chapter 20





“Our plan is to leave when the sun sets and reach Kutná Hora well before midnight.” Warwick sat at the table, Simon munching on a túróstáska next to him, sweet cottage cheese smearing over his face. “Hopefully be back here with an army by the next nightfall.”

“You think your uncle will help?” Eliza leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping her coffee. The early morning light cast the room in a foggy glow. Zander and Tad sat at the other end of the table, drinking tea and eating their own filled pastries.

I nodded, my feet moving back and forth across the kitchen. Mykel had to know the stakes; even his own prime minister was part of this. And to be honest, we couldn’t fight or get our friends out of Věrhăza without him. I still feared he would turn me down, saying it was too much of a risk for his people. He already lost four top soldiers and a powerful demon because of me. One of them permanently.