Draven raised her chin another notch. “Challenges can be issued to anyone at any time about anything. You know this well. If a challenge is not accepted, the challenger automatically receives the prize.”
“The princess is mine to protect,” Riley growled, “which means your challenge is directed at me. And I accept. You and I shall—”
“Oh, no.” Laughing now, Draven shook his head. “That is not how our law works, and you know that, too. If Victoria accepts, she must fight me. And you, her guardian, are not allowed to interfere.”
A muscle ticked below his eye. They’d entered dangerous territory, though Draven didn’t seem to care. “Aden will change the law,” Riley stated.
“He may do so, yes. After my challenge has been met. Otherwise, everyone will know of my challenge, and of Victoria’s refusal to meet it. Everyone will know that Aden belongs to me, and Victoria will then be condemned by our people.”
Condemned. What did that mean in vampire terms? She wanted to ask but held her tongue. She didn’t exactly know the protocol for asking a vampire bitch to explain something. And if Mary Ann had thought Riley furious before, she’d had no idea how deeply he was capable of feeling the emotion. Rage rolled off him in great waves, palpable, stinging, even heating the air around them.
“I will tell her,” he said through gritted teeth. “She will accept. The match will be set for sometime next week.”
For the first time, Draven frowned. “I wish to get this done today.”
“No. You will wait until next week. If those terms are unacceptable, you will have to forfeit. The king can choose the time of the match, and will insist on watching. This I know, as well. He won’t be available until next week.”
“Very well. Accepted.” Draven inclined her head, her smug satisfaction as strong as Riley’s fury. She tossed a quick sneer at Mary Ann. “Until then.”
The vampire pair floated away, talking and laughing now, as if the bombshell they’d just dropped on Riley was insignificant, without consequence.
“Is Victoria a decent fighter?” Mary Ann asked quietly as Riley jerked her back into motion.
“Yes. I trained her myself.”
“Is Draven?”
“Yes. Regrettably, I trained her, too.”
“Who’s better?”
His jaw clenched.
Mary Ann would take that to mean Draven was the better fighter. Her stomach clenched. “What will happen if Draven wins? To Aden? To Victoria?”
“They won’t fight to the death, but until one of them admits defeat. The winner will own Aden.”
“Own. How? He’s king!”
“Yes, but he is also human, and there’s the loophole Draven is using. We’ve never had a human king before, and our laws regarding humans were designed with blood-slaves in mind. And blood-slaves may be passed around like baseball cards. Aden will have to change the law, but Draven was right. He cannot do so until this challenge has been met. Otherwise, Victoria would look weak.”
“And be condemned. But what does that mean, really?”
“It means that everyone will see her as easy pickings and challenge her for every single thing she owns. For the rest of her eternal life, until she has nothing left. No guardian, no clothes. No room, no furniture. No food. Until she’s forced to strike out on her own to survive.”
What a harsh reality these vampires and werewolves lived in. “And what happens if Draven loses? Seems unfair that if she wins, Victoria will lose everything she owns on top of losing Aden. Yet if Draven loses…”
“She will become Victoria’s property. Which is why this kind of challenge isn’t issued often. No one wants to chance such an outcome.”
Draven was utterly confident of her success, then. Great. Another worry. Would they never stop piling up?
“Come on, pick up the pace. We have a task to complete.” Down the winding stairs they finally pounded.
Several other vampires passed them along the way, grouped in twos and threes. Each group was discussing Aden and his taming of the beasts. They were clearly awed, shocked and a little frightened. Thankfully, though, no one else stopped Riley for a chat.
Outside, the air was colder than it had been that morning, and a dreary mist dampened her hair. She was immediately grateful for Riley’s coat. There were no vampires out here, no wolves either. Too cold and wet for them? Riley didn’t seem to mind the weather. He wasn’t wearing a coat, just a thin T-shirt, but he wasn’t shivering. Or were they too busy? If so, what were they doing? For that matter, what did they usually do during these daylight hours?
She might never know.
You weren’t going to think like that, remember? Nothing else seemed relevant, though.
Mary Ann sighed. If she only had a day to live, she didn’t want to spend it doing this, she realized. Visiting a crypt. Searching for a possibly dead, possibly alive vampire king. Hunting witches. She wanted to be back in bed with Riley. She wanted to go home to her dad and hug him tight. Victoria had convinced him they’d interacted recently, but they hadn’t, and she missed him.
If Aden had made no progress with the witch, that’s what she was going to do. In that order.
“You’re not going to die tomorrow,” Riley said.
“How did you—never mind.” He’d read her aura again.
He stopped in the center of a large winding circle, placing his feet in…concrete grooves? He pulled her flush against him, his body heat seeping into her, and wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting atop her head.
When the ground began moving, she yelped, floundering.
“I’ve got you,” he said, gentling her. “We’ll descend and start spinning in just a few seconds. Just hold on to me.”
“Spinning?” She gulped, imagining the carnival rides she’d enjoyed as a child. But then, she’d been strapped into a seat.
“Slowly. Promise.”
She relaxed. And sure enough, they began to slowly spin and inch downward, into a wide chasm that formed even as the concrete or metal or whatever it was rearranged itself at their feet. The lower they went, the more the scent of dust and—her nose wrinkled—old pennies saturated the air.
“That smell… I would have bet… I can’t believe…human death,” Riley finally finished, grave. “And very recent.” He very gently, but very quickly moved Mary Ann behind him, but not before she saw the claws sliding from his nail-beds. He was preparing for attack. “It’s too late to get you topside, so when we reach the bottom, I’m going to push you against a wall. Do not move from that spot. Okay? You won’t be able to see, so you won’t know where to step.”
“But you will?” she asked on a trembling breath.
“Yes.”
The foundation jolted as they hit bottom, jarring her, and all that darkness Riley had promised enveloped her instantly. His strong hands gripped her waist and shoved her backward, until something hard and cold met her back. Then the comfort of his hands vanished, and she was left alone. With the darkness.
She heard the drip of water, the shuffle of feet, a frustrated curse from Riley. Several curses, actually, and her tremors intensified. Would Vlad, if he truly was alive, really attack a favored wolf? Would Tucker really ambush him? Tucker would never hurt Mary Ann, she was certain of that, but he’d always been a fighter, and that courtesy might not extend to her current boyfriend.
A scrape of stone against stone, followed by another curse from Riley, tugged her from her thoughts.
“He’s gone,” he croaked. “Vlad’s gone. Unless his body was snatched, which no one here would have done, he’s out there. And like Tucker told you, he’s probably planning to ruin Aden.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
ADEN GAVE HIMSELF A PEP talk as he tugged the witch, Jennifer, through the misty forest. This will work. Your friends will be saved. You’ll get through this just fine.