CHAPTER 27 - BLAKE

On some level, I knew what I was doing was wrong.

Sure, I knew that.

I felt a little guilty. But it wasn't enough to stop me.

Pendragon had attacked me . Not the other way around.

And even though I'd won our fight, she'd still managed to humiliate me just by daring to challenge me in the first place.

If she hadn't made me lose face like that, would Coregon have fought me in the arena that day? Would my uncle have summoned me and beaten me to a fucking pulp?

Well, the last part, probably. It was a regular little Drakharrow tradition for the two of us.

There was something about me Viktor hated. Something that reminded him of my father. I knew he didn't treat Marcus the same way, no matter how out of control my older brother got.

I'd lied to save Pendragon. I'd covered for her to Kim. And she didn't even know it because Kim hadn't bothered to summon her along with me.

She had no idea what I'd done for her. That blissful ignorance really pissed me off.

Maybe I was truly beginning to lose it.

Rage simmered beneath my skin. The memory of Viktor's fist slamming into my face. The memory of holding Coregon down while he was crushed.

My whole body ached with the weight of rage. Everything was spiraling out of control.

Now here I was, taking it out on Pendragon.

So yeah, I was an asshole. But the truth was, I felt guilty when I slipped inside Pendragon's mind...but I also felt good. There was a thrill to it. A dark power.

I felt her . The real her. She was sweet. Intense. It was almost as good as tasting her blood might have been.

But I hadn't expected her to fight back so fiercely. It was clear Rodriguez had been doing a damned good job of teaching her. And yet, she still wasn't ready. Not nearly ready enough to face someone like my uncle.

Viktor wouldn't go easy on her. He'd tear through her mind like a tempest, leaving nothing but ruin in his wake.

Part of me wondered uneasily why he hadn't done it already. If he thought she might be a spy, why not search her?

Then a worse thought came to me. Maybe he already had. Maybe he'd already seen everything I was about to see and was just keeping what he'd learned from all of us. From me.

Earlier that day, I'd rationalized to myself that I was going to do this for Pendragon. I would push her to her limits to make sure she was strong enough to survive.

She didn't know that. She wouldn't believe me even if I told her.

But now, as I stood in Rodriguez's office, I knew I was also doing it for myself.

A high washed over me as I began to push past her defenses. She struggled against me and it was exhilarating.

Beneath that rush, the guilt and regret tugged at me again.

She wasn't like the others. She didn't deserve this. Not really.

I ignored the guilt and pushed harder.

I was in.

The first memories I grabbed onto were strange and disjointed. Nothing looked familiar.

I saw flashes of places that didn't resemble anything I'd ever seen in Sangratha at all.

I pushed past scenes of a strange beautiful city with a river running through it and a forest on fire. I caught hold of a memory that felt important to her. Recent, too.

My pulse quickened as I scanned through it. From Pendragon's viewpoint, I watched a woman with silver hair locked in a duel. She was facing a man–no, not just a man. He was almost like a highblood, but different. He radiated power. His entire being was charged with an energy I couldn't quite comprehend.

The woman with silver hair fought him with a passionate energy of her own. She was wild. Raw. Untamed. A chill went down my spine. She reminded me of someone. Of Pendragon herself. And yet the way this woman was fighting was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

As I watched the fight, another figure caught my attention.

A dark-haired man stood by, his face covered with blood, watching the battle.

Then he turned and seemed to see Pendragon for the first time. His expression took on an intensity that made my stomach churn. The way he was looking at her–like she was everything to him. I saw the love in his eyes.

My hands clenched as hot jealousy flared inside me, sharp and painful.

Who the hell was he?

I had to find out. I had to dig deeper. I had to know who this man was, why he looked at Pendragon that way.

But then, out of nowhere, a voice echoed in my mind.

A woman's voice. Older and imperious. She sounded amused, but I caught the hint of a sharp edge. "Tsk, tsk," she purred. "You're not supposed to be here, little vampire."

I froze. It wasn't Pendragon's voice. It was someone else. Someone inside her mind .

Before I could even react, I felt a violent shove. As if an invisible force had taken hold of me and hurled me backwards.

I staggered and blinked, my back hitting the door.

But before I could regain my composure, I realized something else–something terrifying.

Pendragon hadn't moved. Her eyes were closed, her brows furrowed with concentration.

And then I felt it.

She was inside my mind.

My heart slammed against my ribs as I felt a presence, creeping along the edges of my consciousness.

It shouldn't have even been possible. Pendragon didn't know thrallweave. Mortals weren't supposed to be able to wield it.

But there she was, slipping into places she had no business being.