Page 55 of Ravenous

A dim creak echoed through the room.

The Valkyrie’s hand twitched, one finger rising slowly, as if she awaited something like a bluebird or a butterfly to alight there.

Or maybe she beckoned.

To her tune, lightning danced closer.

Chapter 23Arctos

“Faster, vampire.”

Instead of talking back to him, Emilia only nodded and pushed harder up the trail to the peak.

Weeks into this regimen, Berserkers across the ravine had started gathering to watch, their bemusement undisguised. Arctos wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how relentlessly she trained.

She’d made real progress. That first alder had fallen; more had followed. Her hands had blistered, healed, hardened. The vomiting had stopped. She ate regularly. Atewell.

And sitting across from her at meals had made it harder to view her as a vampire at all. Aside from her small, dormant fangs—no bigger than a Berserker’s canines—she appeared normal.

Her normalcy unsettled him most. If she survived long enough to complete her transition, would her thirst stay buried…or blaze? Could she drink animal blood, or would the scent of his people undo her?

Across the ravine, children played their new game of vampire chase, shrill laughter as they pretended to flee from invisible fangs. A cold thought lingered: one day she might make their games real.

She paused on a cliff near the summit, not winded, just looking out. Her cheeks were pinkened, eyes far-seeing.

When he joined her, he took in her scent, now that his sense of it hadfinally returned after his mission in Bloodreach.Sunlight, warmth, woman.No hint of incense.

“I feel like you can see the entire Skein from here,” she said softly. “As if we stand atop a map.”

The note of wonder—unexpected, almost reverent—made something shift in him. Against his better judgment, he pointed to the horizon. “South, past that forest, you’ll find the Badlands, with its plains of sand and sun. To the north, that range marks our border with Craigdúr. During the full moon, you’ll hear Lykae howls. Will that unsettle you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard one before,” she said. “They’re no friends to a vampire like me.”

“As I told you, running from Ravinelun would land you in worse trouble.”

“What if I climbed Mount Nothrior?” She nodded eastward. “Wouldn’t that open up the entire Skein?”

“Climb it fromthisdirection? Only the strongest immortals can scale those icy, inverted sides. You’d be better off facing the wolves.”

She raised her brows, considering. “Have you explored much of the Skein?”

“Enough to know it and its peoples.” He’d traveled almost everywhere except to the Helter and deep into the Badlands. He’d seen the Skein’s coasts, its mountains, the dangerous beauty of its snowy heart.

“I’m jealous,” she admitted. “I wish I could experience it all. Well, almost all of it.” She drew her focus closer to home. “The ravines truly are a maze.”

“When you’re in them, you can’t rely on smell or hearing. Winds shift, and echoes lie. That labyrinth wants to trick you—that’s its value—so we learn every bend by sight.”

She looked at him expectantly, awaiting another lesson, but he hesitated. Was he truly to teach a vampire how to navigate their defenses?

“How do outsiders ever find their way here?” she asked.

Her interest stirred his suspicions.Planning to lead an army to our ruin?

Though he hadn’t seen vampire soldiers in Bloodreach, perhaps he hadn’t beenmeantto. Maybe this was all by design. The vampires could be lulling Berserkers into a false sense of security while their royal agent learned Ravinelun’s vulnerabilities.

Nothing could hurt the clan worse than a trusted infiltrator.

He answered, “Outsidersdon’tfind their way. We guide them and make them vow to the Lore never to reveal our secrets.” A vow to the Lore was anancient oath, unbreakable for most.Yet not for all.He didn’t know if that vow could bind a day-walking vampire, so he hadn’t bothered depending on one. “We might not have a fortified castle, but the maze guards us better than stone walls ever could.”