Page 19 of Nocturn

A jolt of terror made my rise to my feet easier. They could still see slivers of my skin. Slivers that only my husband would have had the right to . . . if I had ever considered marriage.

“My lord,” the prophet said, her voice thin and frail. “Her blood will turn blue once the spirit of your bondmate infects the body.”

My lungs refused to expand. Horror crawled through my veins, rendering me frozen.

I would truly cease being.

As much as mystery and rumor clouded all talk of Warlords, prophets were spoken of as the true power holders.

“Your Highness,” Lord Horveau wheedled. “We will ensure there is no word of the Vessel being a redblood.”

Lord Draven’s scoff interrupted the silence.

“Get her out of my sight,” he murmured in a silky voice. “I cannot stomach her presence.”

As quickly as he spat the words, the two officers converged on me, taking hold of one arm each.

“Where shall we take her, Your Highness?”

Lord Draven tapped his fingers on the arm of the throne. In a cold tone, he said, "The pit.”

Murmurs erupted amongst the council members.

“While we have you here, Your Highness, there are whispers of an uprising near the Western border of Sycarious . . .”

The voices faded as the officers dragged me out of the Grand Hall and into a slim path branching to the left. Without windows, the hall was dark save for a single gas lamp at the beginning of the path.

Without speaking, they dragged me, but at least I wasn’t being pulled by the collar. My arms screamed in their grip, and I staggered with their slower steps. Fortunately, they weren’t as massive as the Warlord, so one stride of theirs equated mine.

They took a sharp turn and arrived at a door so polished it reflected. I didn’t have time to take in the extensive damage on my body because one of the officers unlatched the chain and whipped the door open.

It was so dark . . . They shoved me forward. I staggered as the door clicked shut, my foot catching on one of the steps as I tumbled against stone. I curved my fingers into the divots in the wall. Dirt gathered under my nails, but I didn’t shy from the pressure. I recovered my balance. Faint light beamed through from the bottom of the door.

The chain attached to my throat jingled and scraped as I dragged it with me. I reached the bottom. Light came from the ceiling, illuminating a small, rounded area with bars across it. I blinked to focus my vision.

My foot smacked into something.

I squinted.

As my vision focused, I made out a shoe attached to a leg, leading up to a massacre. I went cold. The cavernous insides of the corpse lay ripped open, ribs split wide and no organs in sight.

I stumbled back, then my foot slipped and I toppled onto my bottom. My hands landed on what felt like meat. I edged forward and looked down. An arm no longer attached to a body lay across the ground, and I landed in the middle of a pile of torn apart, rotting limbs.

I gagged, the rancid smell of decay becoming unbearable until I retched to the side. So many bones . . .

A hiss ripped through the small, slim section. A very familiar hiss. I whipped my head toward it. Something lay behind the lowered gate dividing me from that side.

The mound moved again, a hiss echoing from it.

Caged before me were two grotesque Hollows. Their emaciated, shriveled gray bodies were long and deformed. One of them slammed itself against the iron bars, reaching its long, knobby appendage through the slit between the gap.

These were bodies, recently fed on by the Hollows. The figure shifted behind the gate, and a blood-curdling gurgle came from the creature. A scream escaped, and I shoved backwards, dragging myself over bones and the raw flesh of the Hollow’s recent meal.

It was still bright out, and these creatures thrived under the thick of darkness, but as weak as they may be in the light, it wouldn’t stop them from feeding on me. I crawled up the stairs until I cringed against the exit. My heart verged on bursting.

I had no doubt they couldn’t reach me, but my heart didn’t understand that reasoning.

“Please let me out,” I screamed, and it melded into the sounds of the Hollows’ shrieks.