Page 87 of Their Blood Queen
“Why the fuck did you bring me all the way out here?” Cage asks as he kneels in front of one of the overgrown dark stalks and plucks at the vine.
“Careful,” I say, not answering his question as the red moon rises on the horizon of the broken blood fields. It won’t be much longer now. “If you touch one of those, it might grab you and drag you all the way to its nest.”
Although, that’s exactly what I intend. This particular vine leads to one of the largest nests in existence, and it’s no coincidence the nest is located in a tunnel between kingdoms.
Cage leans back and frowns at the plant, then glares at me. “Sorry, I guess my Morpheus Kingdom botany lessons are lacking, given none of my family has had access to the blood fields in generations.”
“It wouldn’t be in any botany books,” I correct him. “It’s a relatively new pestilence.”
Cage rolls his eyes. “So you brought me out here to show me a new weed growing in your fields. Awesome, Sabre. I’m not a fucking gardener, if that’s why we’re here.”
I chuckle at the imagery. “Hardly, Cage. But I think you’d find it doesn’t need a gardener. It is a changed form of the preexisting stalks, and it feeds off of soil tainted by corpses, hence the name ‘Rot.’ It also serves to keep the scent of decay to a minimum,” I add with a nod. “Which is a plus.”
“There aren’t supposed to be corpses here,” Cage points out.
He’s not wrong. The blood fields house sleeping humans kept in suspended animation underground, and the stalks that grow above offer fruit filled with their blood.
And their dreams.
Now, the Rot has taken over large patches, sprouting black stalks that only bear necrosis.
“You’re correct,” I admit. “It’s probably what attracted the Corpse Fae who touched the stalks, creating the Rot in the first place.”
Cage gives me a raised brow. “What’s a Corpse Fae even doing out here long enough to infect the stalks with Rot?” He blows out a breath. “Your father is a shit King, you know that?”
I chuckle at the insult that would cost him his head if any other member of the Sanguinis line had heard it. “He is,” I agree. “But at least now the Strigoi and Corpse Fae have something to bond over, hmm?”
He rolls his eyes. “I will never understand you having Corpse Fae friends. They’re assholes.”
“Perhaps,” I concede as I slip a note from my pocket. “But not all of them are.”
Cage’s blue eyes flick to the item before he snatches it and unfurls the papyrus.
He reads the inscription, then pales. “Why am I looking at an invitation that has both our names on it?”
“It’s from Maliki,” I reassure him. Our relationship is a well-guarded secret, and Maliki is one of the few friends I’d ever confide in.
And in this case, I’m glad I did, because Maliki gave me an opportunity I can’t ignore.
Cage’s bright blue eyes flash up to meet mine. He doesn’t hide his emotions.
Surprise. Panic.
Trust.
They swirl together in a symphony of color that’s all Cage. He doesn’t have to practice hiding his feelings, mostly because he works in the shadows. Anyone who sees his face will soon be dead.
“What did you tell him?” Cage asks, mostly because I know he’s trying to get on the same page.
He doesn’t accuse me of keeping secrets, even though I have more than a few I’ve kept from Cage. I think he already knows that. He might even have discovered some of them by now, given how distant he’s been with me lately.
But now that I have his full attention, he patiently waits for my answer. This invitation holds a promise that has him daring to hope for something more.
Like a future where we can be together. Neither of us has entertained that asinine possibility, mostly because our pairing will never be tolerated, not with centuries of bad blood between the Van Drakken and Sanguinis lines.
Not to mention the brutal truth he dragged out of me days ago—we aren’t enough for one another. Or, specifically, he’s not enough for me. Not with the kind of power drain that I have on my soul. Besides, as much as I love Cage, I need a female mate in my life. Preferably one whom Cage and I can share.
That would be impossible in this reality, but Maliki told me of another dimension, one where monsters openly hunt for their brides out on the streets.