Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) - Emily A. Duncan Page 0,86

floor, too aware of the Vulture moving—slowly now—closer.

“Frightened little thing, aren’t you?” the Vulture said, trailing an iron claw over a row of books, the spines fraying open underneath.

Desperation sent Nadya scrambling for a thread of anything that would stop the monster in its tracks. With each step the Vulture took toward her, Nadya shuffled back until she hit the wall and there was nowhere left to go. This was where it would end. In the dark. Alone. In the home of her enemies.

The Vulture was inches away from Nadya, crouching down in front of her. Its mask was completely blank except for two slits for its eyes.

“No more running, pet.”

Nadya gritted her teeth. No gods, no hope.

The Vulture moved to strike and Nadya had nothing left to lose, nothing left that could save her. But she refused to die here.

It had been like a well the first time she used it, a well Marzenya had uncovered. Now it was a river, the dam burst. All of Nadya’s frustration and fear channeled into power. Magic that was hers alone. The Vulture was knocked off its feet, crashing into a table and snapping it as if it were made of paper.

Nadya stared at her hand, horror churning her stomach. What was that? She scrambled for her prayer beads. Maybe the veil parted, maybe that was Marzenya.

But Marzenya was far away. That had been something else entirely.

Abruptly the prince skidded into the room, blood dripping down one hand.

What is he doing here? Nadya thought with a touch of despair. This couldn’t get any worse.

“Józefina?” he said.

The Vulture staggered to its feet behind Serefin. Nadya stood, flinging out a hand. Shards of ice shot off her palm and drove the Vulture back down into a pile of books.

Serefin turned. While his attention was diverted, Nadya sliced open the back of her hand. The prince stepped toward the Vulture.

“Leave,” he said. A simple order that had enough command to it Nadya could easily see this boy as the king of Tranavia.

“This isn’t your business, princeling,” the Vulture hissed.

Serefin yanked a page out of his spell book and when he crumpled it in his fist the Vulture dropped, still as stone.

“Did you kill it?” Nadya whispered.

Serefin shook his head. “It takes more than that to kill their kind. I don’t know if I could if I tried. They won’t be down for long. Minutes, at most.”

He offered his hand and helped her to her feet before he returned to the unconscious Vulture. He crouched down, taking a lock of its hair between his fingers. Nadya thought he was going to take off the mask, but he straightened.

“Return to your room,” he said. “Lock the door, though I don’t think they’ll try again.”

“What?”

“Go,” he urged. His lieutenant, Kacper, jogged into the room.

“Blood and bone, Serefin,” he said wearily when he saw the unconscious Vulture.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on,” Nadya demanded. If there was a chance this hadn’t been because of Malachiasz, Nadya needed to know.

Serefin glanced from her to Kacper. Kacper shrugged. Serefin raked a hand through his hair. When he looked to her again, his pale gaze was narrow.

“My lady, the participants of this grand game are in danger. Please, just return to your chambers.”

She opened her mouth to protest but he held up a hand. His expression was beseeching and she sighed. Adrenaline was draining to exhaustion and going to bed sounded like a fabulous idea. She just … wanted to forget all of this. She darted back to the table to pick up the book she’d found and bade the prince a good night.

“Thanks for saving my life and all,” she said.

“You seemed to have it rather in hand.”

Nadya carefully opened the book as she walked back to her chambers. She didn’t want to flip through the pages for fear of it falling apart in her hands. But the book landed on a page that had one line focused in the center.

Some gods require blood.

She stopped dead. All the creeping dread that had been building within her solidified into something she did not understand. A feeling that was far too certain she had found something that was truth. A truth she dare not confront.

She shut the book and ran for her chambers.

And straight into another Vulture. This one slammed its fist into Nadya’s face and no amount of power could keep her from passing out.

* * *

Nadya woke up in a pool of blood. There were sharp points