The curve in the rock was subtle and as we rounded it, a series of caves were revealed. Shit on toast, it was going to be like a fucking labyrinth.

“Alex, what do you smell?”

“Rylee, the Blood wouldn’t have been walking around here.” Faris so kindly pointed out.

“I fucking well know that,” I snapped, my weakness making me more irritable than usual. That didn’t mean I was going to apologize, or explain. Alex had a nose like no other.

He lifted his head and pointed with a single claw. “Alex smells Jack, and Al.”

Bingo. “Wait, Al? You smell Al, too?” What was the shaman we’d met on the far coast doing here?

Alex nodded and gave me a grin. “Al and friends.”

Shit, we did not need cannon fodder at this little shindig. But it looked like we didn’t have a say in the matter if they were already here.

Doran moved closer to me, and Faris stepped away, spinning in a slow circle. “I cannot sense them.”

I snorted. “Always trust the wolf’s nose, dumb ass.”

Alex and I led, and at each cavern I felt the pull of the Blood. Either they were in every cavern, which wasn’t possible, or they were so deep in the rock, every cavern felt like the right one. My gut instinct was the latter and less easy of the two.

In my mind, that made the solution simple. Look for the cavern that felt furthest from the Blood and head in. I could only hope I was right. If I was wrong, we were in for a long night.

The feel of Berget’s thread getting closer forced my feet to move faset nly hopeter.

But not fast enough.

We stood in the front of the last cavern, the one that did indeed feel the furthest from the Blood, when they hit us. And I mean hit.

Jack slammed into Faris, and Berget tackled me to the ground, her fangs extended. I’d love to say things slowed down, that I was able to get my swords free, but that is so far from the truth, it’s scary.

She was on me, her teeth inches from the bite marks Doran left when she froze. “Who has been feeding from you, Tracker?”

And then she was flung off. “That would be me.” Doran stood over me, power all but rumbling off him.

She snarled and leapt at him. “Daywalker, you are no match for me!”

Ah, she couldn’t tell yet. I pushed to my feet, wobbled, and Alex caught me. I used him for balance as I did my best to follow what was going on. Jack was giving Faris a serious run for his money, the two of them exchanging blow for blow, sharp as lightning that suddenly broke above us. As if that wasn’t enough, the skies opened and the rain fell; the densest downpour I’d ever experienced in my life.

I pulled out a sword, knew I could only handle one at a time. This was what I got for not thinking things through, though it wouldn’t have changed my mind when it came to saving Doran. With the blood loss, I was weaker than I should have been going into a fight.

Faris threw Jack to the ground and held him, immobilizing him. “Rylee, he is no longer your friend.”

“Just hold him. We end her, and he’s free.”

The look Faris gave me said it all. I was a fool in his eyes, but he would do as I asked. Small mercies.

The rain hammered around us and I sloshed forward to where Doran and Berget grappled. I couldn’t let her kill him, anymore than I could let him kill her. She was on top, one hand over his heart, the other wrapped around his throat.

But I knew what would draw her attention. “Berget, I found the Blood. I know exactly where they are.”

Her head snapped toward me and it was all the distraction Doran needed. He flipped her over and pinned her hands. All that power from her adoptive parents, where had it gone?

“She’s weak,” Doran said. “No blood for a lot of days. This is our only chance.”

Faris grunted. “Kill her quickly.”

Doran made eye contact with me. “The opal is under my shirt.”

“Opal, what the fuck are you talking about? Kill her.”

We ignored Faris, and I knew he wouldn’t let Jack go, which meant he was conveniently out of the way with his hands rather full.

I reached his side and slid a hand into Doran’s shirt, the warmth of the opal drawing my fingers to it. “Anything I need to say?”

“No. But Faris is right, make it quick.” The strain in his face and voice were obvious.

Much as it might seem that putting the opal under the skin of her chest would be best, I doubted there was enough skin for the size of the opal. “This won’t hurt a bit,” I said as I slid my sword across her belly, in the general vicinity of her appendix, through skin and muscle.

She bucked and writhed, her blood making her slippery. Worse, the skin began to knit as she screamed obscenities in several languages at us.

I dropped to my knees and grabbed the edge of the wound, holding it open as I slid the opal into the opening. I let go inges at and the wound sealed in a matter of seconds.

Doran let go and grabbed me, yanking us away from her. But she didn’t move, just laid there, the rain pelting her face, the bare twitch of her muscles the only thing giving away that she lived yet.

“Come on,” I whispered, my heart beating wildly. I had to believe, had to. She would pull through this.

Her body stilled, and a whoosh of air slipped out of her. I grabbed Doran’s arm. “Doran, what’s happening?”

“I don’t know. It will either work or it won’t.”

“Kill her!” Faris screamed again, his voice bouncing off the rock.

Berget trembled and then her back bowed, a scream ripping out of her. Heels and head were all that touched the ground as she continued to scream, her arms straight out to the side.

I dug my fingers into Doran’s arm.

Please, please let her come back. Let me have her for a little while.

Her screamed faded, like the sound of an engine slowing, sputtering, and then dying. With the loss of sound, her body slumped with a splash into the puddle below her.

Alex pressed against me, lifting his nose to the air.

“Smells different.”

“You are breaking your oath, Tracker,” Faris screamed. I’d had more than enough of his shit. Fury and grief merged and I screamed back.

“No. I’m not. You said to kill the Child Empress.”

His eyes blazed with fury. “Then kill her.”

Berget sat up, a hand going to her side, her clear blue eyes wide as they met mine. Her hands fluttered in front of her face, then dropped to her side.