Page 33 of Blood Oath
The shifter whirls on me, teeth bared, and pupils shifted to a dragon’s narrow slits as his rage boils up and he starts to lose control. He’s always been terrible at controlling his inner beast.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Crypt. If you ever use that shit on me again?—“
“Where is she?” I cut in, utterly uninterested in hearing his slew of threats.
His attention snaps back to the problem at hand, and he growls again, breaking open the rest of her door to go inside and check more thoroughly. I’m left waiting in the hall, glaring at the edge of a dreamcatcher I can see just through the doorway. Certainly handmade by Crane. It reeks of blood magic.
When Decimus reemerges, he looks even less in control. “Go look for her in Limbo. Now.”
I go toe to toe with him, only vaguely aware that my building anger is affecting the space around us. My light markings begin to glow, and he stiffens when our clothes and hair begin wafting as if gravity is glitching—a sign that I’m close to ripping a hole in Limbo. He’s seen it once, and from the way he bites his tongue, he clearly doesn’t want to experience that again.
“Tell me what to do one more time, dragon, and you’ll wake up with a mind so twisted, you’ll pray the gods put you out of your misery. I already searched for her aura and found nothing.”
His fury swaps abruptly to something like panic. “Where the fuck would she have gone?”
Before I can strangle Decimus for letting the one and only person I have ever felt anything for out of his sight, we both hear the sound of footsteps echoing up the stairs at the end of this corridor. But just as before, it’s not Maven approaching. It’s her shifter friend with wild blond curls—the one with the fluffy pink aura like candy floss.
She spots us, and her eyes go wide. “Oh, shit. Did you guys just…break that door down?”
“Kenzie.” Decimus sounds slightly relieved as he sidesteps me to address her. “Please tell me you know where Maven is.”
The lioness shifter hesitates, looking between us as her brow furrows. “Actually, I came looking for her, too. I wanted an update on, you know…” She gestures at us vaguely and then shrugs. “If she’s not in her room, she might be at the eastern library or one of the greenhouses. And I know she sometimes sneaks out to Everbound Forest when she thinks I’m not paying attention.”
“Alone?” I grit.
The nearby forest is off-limits to humans, warded heavily by magic, and regularly stocked with dangerous creatures of all kinds—including shadow fiends that the Legacy Council sends here from the Divide. They are for real-world practice during combat classes, but plenty of students have been found ripped to shreds or never found at all after coming across fiends.
Kenzie shuffles, not meeting my eyes as she swallows hard. It’s a typical reaction. Most people, even legacies, are frightened when my markings start to glow. On instinct, they know it’s a bad sign without knowing why.
Instead of facing me, she glances back at Decimus with an apologetic wince. “I’m not sure. Have you guys tried calling her?”
“Fuck. I haven’t even gotten her number yet,” he huffs.
She cracks the tiniest smile. “Well, that doesn’t surprise me. She’s so fucking weird about phones and technology—not to mention she probably doesn’t want you guys blowing up her phone whenever she needs space…” She trails off and looks pointedly at the door. “Speaking of which, she’ll legitimately be pissed off if she sees this. Did you guys snoop through her stuff?”
Would that I could. Just as I’ve never felt obsession before, I’ve never experienced burning curiosity like this. But ever since seeing my darling standing on the Seeking stage, her dark eyes bore into mine without even a hint of flinching…not to mention her aura.
I’ve never seen an aura like hers.
What I told her was no lie. I’m dying to know what her dreams taste like.
“My dragon is ready to hunt Maven down and barbecue anyone in his path. Do you really think I’m about to stop and rummage through her panty drawer?” Decimus scoffs. Then he pauses, clearly considering the idea as he glances back into her room. “On second thought, do you know where she keeps her panties?”
Kenzie laughs and shoos him away from the door, wisely refraining from doing the same thing to me. “Okay, look. I know newly matched legacies are all protective when it comes to their keepers, but both can calm your tits because I’m sure Maven is perfectly fine.”
“Are you?” I challenge, allowing my lips to curl up in a dangerous smile. “Because my keeper is undoubtedly the top target of countless legacies at this school who won’t wait for the kill ban to lift before making attempts on her life to try to raise their chances of ranking above our quintet.”
This shouldn’t be news to anyone. It’s common sense that highly competitive legacies will try to wreck other quintets by targeting quintet leaders. But Decimus clearly hadn’t put together how much danger Maven is in because he goes stock still and shuts his eyes, breathing in and out at a measured pace. He used to do the same thing when we were younger in an attempt to remain in control of the dragon lurking under his skin.
The blood drains from Kenzie’s face, and she wrings her hands. “Shit. You’re right. Um…okay, when was the last time you saw her?”
“Forty minutes ago. At lunch.” Decimus begins pacing.
“Oh! That’s not that long. You made it sound like she’s been missing for hours. Maybe you guys are overreacting—“ Kenzie cuts off when she makes eye contact with me again and gulps, taking a step back at whatever she sees on my face. “Er, n—nope. Totally proportionate reaction. I completely agree. All right, I’m going to go look for her, too, so just…don’t break down any more doors. Okay?”
No promises.
The longer I go without knowing whether my dark little obsession is safe, the more unhinged I feel myself becoming. Without waiting for another word from either of them, I step back into Limbo and kick off into the air, intent on scouring all of Everbound Forest for traces of Maven.
