Page 5 of Vasmora

“Let her go!” Kazhimyr roared from behind, and I twisted to see two more soldiers holding him back. “Let her go! She’s innocent!”

I hardly knew the general, but something told me innocence would be nothing more than an enticement to her. Ignoring him, the soldiers carried me toward the flickering circle and swung me forward.

I managed to hoist my boots up and plant them on either side of the glowing entryway, where the heat of the glowing light burned my thighs.

Pressure from behind had me locking my knees, refusing to let them toss me through.

“Leave her!” Kazhimyr cried out again, and the grunt that followed told me a fist had answered.

Hand raised, one of the soldiers brought his fist down toward my leg just as I snapped my limb away, which sent him tumbling to the ground. As I collapsed on top of him, my other captive seemed to lose balance.

“You bumbling idiots!” Footsteps pounded toward us, and before I could scramble away, a piercing pain struck my scalp as Loyce hoisted me to my feet. “Enough of this circus act.” Gold flashed in my periphery, and agony exploded across my abdomen, as her fist drove into my stomach.

Air caught in my throat, and I doubled over, breathing through my nose while the shock to my body vibrated on. A violent shove hurled me forward, through the circle, where a hard surface slammed into my kneecaps and palms.

My vision blurred then sharpened as I stared down at white marble floors with gold veins. A quiet trickle dragged my gaze toward a stone fountain in the center of the room and a dozen or so half-naked men and women standing around it. Avoiding their curious stares, I pushed to my knees and glanced around the circular room. It reminded me of something out of ancient Vonkovya with its stone pillars and archways.

Behind me, others filed in through the cleaved entrance, until the general herself stood at my back.

Ignoring them, I took in the high, domed ceiling and portraits of figures that appeared to be neither human nor mancer, engaging in what looked like sexual acts.

Where am I?

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Loyce said, as if reading my mind.

Tears wavered in my eyes. “Take me back.” I spun around to face her, teeth clenched. “He’s still alive.”

A cold crack against my cheekbone kicked my head to the side, blood spraying out onto the marble. “Don’t speak of him again. You killed him. And now you will be punished for it,” she said, turning away from me.

In a fit of reckless fury, I sprang after her.

A glint of metal hit my periphery, and I slammed to a halt just as a blade arced toward my throat. I stilled when it tapped against my gullet, threatening to slice through with the slightest movement. “I wouldn’t, rodent.” The deep, masculine voice rang in my ear, and through a haze of smoldering ire, I slid my gaze just enough to see gold armor in my periphery.

“Captain Drefan, thank you for commanding in my stead. I trust things were uneventful?”

“Positively boring, General.”

“Excellent.” She flicked her gaze toward me. “The good captain here is an avid huntsman. His specialty is stealth. And capture, of course.”

The blade lowered away from my throat, and I pressed a fingertip to the warm drops of blood that slid down my neck.

Captain Drefan stepped to my side, shoved his sword into its scabbard. “You’ve returned earlier than expected. Should I prepare to journey to Dragon’s Pass?” While he wore pauldrons at his shoulder, his breastplate was nothing more than a gold and leather cuirass strapped with daggers, and a thin gold chain that disappeared inside his collar. Blond hair of cropped waves, which he wore smoothed back from his face, emphasized a protruding lower jaw and thin lips. One eye glowed a paler blue than the other, set beneath dark, overbearing brows.

“No. I’ll need you to remain here.” General Loyce groaned. “The king has tasked me to be present in Gildspire while he meets with the Lunasier emissaries to negotiate Prince Dorjan’s release.”

“You’re to journey to the king’s palace straight away?”

“Yes. King Jeret doesn’t trust that the mages won’t attempt trickery, so I’m to serve as nursemaid to the prince during the negotiations.”

Their conversations were nothing more than a blur, except for her mention of leaving.

“Who’s been guarding the prince in your absence?” Drefan asked.

“The Bellatryx, of course.”

“Of course.” The faintest hint of animosity clung to his voice.

One of the women standing at the fountain stepped forward with graceful movements, breasts covered by no more than her long, golden locks of hair. “General, would you like us to prepare a bath for our guests?”