adn't

e hunter. The blade. Lysander's warning. And that final phrase the woman ha

know what

hing insi

... different. Too loud. T

r knees, watching fog roll off the still water. That w

ath," she

epped from

and

t be here alo

him. "You didn't tel

fro

d she called you 'prince.'

d slowly. "I just didn

oodborn princess and you're some exiled vampire royal and people are lit

either. But I've been fighting it since before

back away

Crimson Oat

You can't run from it, Kaia. And once it activates, it bi

s a whisper.

said the name like

eryone laughed, gossiped, flirted, fought - and she kept thinking how none of it matt

o talk to

yo

since grade school - and dragged her

u something insane,

le. Your eyes are weird. You didn't sh

haled.

linked.

rought me back. And now I can hear things. And smell

Elena might laugh. But ins

en him," E

inked.

ne shouted acr

slowly. "I

a, wa

already wa

r in the woods. A ruin - stone walls sunken into earth,

he said. "One of the last bloodborn stronghol

grow colder as t

d here?"

efore it fell. Befo

And in the center, carved into the floor, was a symbol Kaia had nev

tepped near it,

ched th

pul

, crimson flags, and a man's voice whisperin

tumble

what wa

ale. "The Oath is wak

an," she

r said. "He's