GOE 08 - Bound By Darkness [calibre 0.9.30]

Slowly she lifted herself upright, her gaze skimming over Kostas’s finely hewed features and the slicked-back black hair before settling on his soulless eyes.

“Jaelyn.” At her side, Ariyal shifted to wrap a protective arm around her shoulder.

“You will stay out of this, Sylvermyst,” Kostas commanded, his gaze never wavering from Jaelyn. “I will deal with you later.”

“Please, Ariyal,” she pleaded softly, deliberately untangling herself and stepping away from her mate. If she was going to be sacrificed to sate Kostas’s bloated pride, she didn’t want Ariyal caught in the cross fire. “Hello, Kostas.”

His lips thinned, as if he was annoyed by her response to his surprise visit.

What did he expect?

Wailing and pleading and serious ass-kissing?

It simply wasn’t her style.

“Do you know, I had great expectations for you, Jaelyn?” he chided, speaking to her as if she were a disobedient child rather the vulnerable young woman he’d tortured and tormented for decades. “You had the potential to become the greatest Hunter in the past millennium. It was only your heart I questioned.”

“And so you tried to destroy it.” Her chin tilted. “I will never forgive you for that.”

He shrugged. Emotionless.

“A Hunter cannot have a weakness.”

She could feel Ariyal’s growing fury, laced with fear, as it pulsed in the air. She sent him a warning glance not to interfere before turning her attention back to the man who had the right to destroy her.

“I happen to believe it’s my greatest strength,” she countered.

His lips curled into a sneer. “If that were true then it wouldn’t have led you to betray your loyalty to the Addonexus.”

“I never asked to become a Hunter.”

“It was your destiny.”

“Chosen by you.”

“Chosen by fate,” he insisted. “Do you have any notion how many vampires would quite literally kill to be in your position?”

She did.

Being a Hunter brought her the sort of awed respect her fellow vampires coveted.

It was bound to go to any female’s head.

But the few benefits didn’t come close to making up for the nearly soul-destroying price she’d paid.

“Then you shouldn’t have any trouble filling it,” she said.

Kostas’s fury spilled through the room like icy needles. “Now is not the time for flippant remarks.”

She shrugged. “Do you want me to beg?”

His eyes narrowed, assuring Jaelyn that even if she could manage to kiss this man’s ass he wouldn’t be satisfied.

“You could, but it would do no good,” he drawled, proving her right. Not that he wouldn’t enjoy seeing her on her knees begging. He might be missing a heart, but his ego was fully functioning. “You have committed the worst crimes known to the Addonexus.”

“I thought attempting to kill the Ruah was the worst crime?”

He imperiously ignored her accusation. “Not only did you allow yourself to form a relationship with your prey, you actually mated with him.” He cast a condemning glance toward the rigid Ariyal. “And if that were not bad enough, you have reneged on a contract with the Commission.”

“Actually, I didn’t renege,” she swiftly denied. “The terms were altered by one of the Oracles.”

Kostas stiffened, clearly caught off balance by her revelation. Siljar had told her to keep it secret, so that’s what she’d tried to do.

In fact, she’d only confessed the truth to Ariyal a few nights before.

“It does not matter.” The Ruah at last dismissed what he didn’t want to hear. “Any one of those atrocities carries with it a death sentence.”

“Why you ...”

Ariyal charged forward, but as fast as he was, Styx was faster, moving to intercept the maddened Sylvermyst and wrapping him in his massive arms.

“Stop, Ariyal,” the Anasso commanded, clamping his hand over Ariyal’s mouth. “You’re only making matters worse.”

Jaelyn was relieved that the king had moved to keep Ariyal out of danger, but she couldn’t deny the small pang of disappointment.

She hadn’t assumed that she and Styx were suddenly buddy-buddy, but she hadn’t expected him to actually help Kostas send her to the gallows.

“Either you get rid of him or I will.” Ariyal’s words were muffled, his anger a warm flood that battled against the chill in the air.

A humorless smile pulled at the Ruah’s thin lips. “The Anasso is the King of Vampires, but the Hunters belong to me,” he informed Ariyal, pride thick in his voice, although Jaelyn suspected he resented the fact that he wasn’t the ultimate leader of vampires. Hideous thought. “It is my right to punish my people how I see fit.”

She couldn’t argue the truth of his words.

All she hoped was to convince him that it would somehow serve his purpose to keep her alive.

Yeah ... fat chance.

“And what purpose will my death serve?” she demanded.

“It will remind other Hunters that our laws are meant to be obeyed.”

“So you’ll kill me just to make an example of me?”

The empty gaze moved slowly down her rigid body before returning to her face.

“You’re like a cancer that must be destroyed for the good of the Addonexus.”