“You foolish male,” she murmured after a moment. “You’re not going to die.”
I heard the truth in her words, though. Even without it, I knew what stakes did to vampires.
“You’re a terrible liar, darling,” I said.
This piece of wood was far too close to my heart. There weren’t many ways to kill my kind, but wooden stakes in the heart would definitely do the trick.
Her fingers tightened around my hand. “Can you shadow us out of here? I’m sure there’s someone in the castle who can help—”
“No.” I shook my head, and a searing pain ran through me as the stake shifted. My stomach twisted, and my fangs pierced my tongue. The smoky flavor of my own blood flooded through me, but it did nothing to help the situation.
What a cruel twist of fate.
Vampires needed blood, but our own couldn’t sustain us. It was a horrible joke, one that was only overshadowed by the irony of my current situation.
I needed blood, and Luna was right here. Unfortunately, due to some ridiculous sense of morality that made itself known when she entered my life, I was starving.
On second thought, perhaps ironic didn’t begin to cover it.
“Can you just… pull it out?” she asked.
If I was at full strength, I could have. But right now, the stake was too close to my heart. I risked death if I made one wrong move.
I explained as much to Luna, and she sighed. “Could you… shadow us?”
“That won’t work either.”
I was so stupid. I should never have let myself get this hungry. If I’d been drinking blood, I would have been able to take us anywhere in the Four Kingdoms, even with an injury like this. Now, I couldn’t even get us out of here.
A colorful curse left Luna’s lips as her hand tightened against mine. Pressing her forehead against our joined hands, she groaned. “Obviously, I can’t leave you here and get some help.”
“Obviously,” I said dryly. The Tether would incapacitate us long before she got out of these tunnels. “Damn Ciro to hell.”
Luna cursed. “This is… problematic.”
To say the least.
I coughed. “That about sums it up.”
Luna leaned back, resting her head against the collapsed wall. Seconds slipped into minutes as Luna’s ragged breaths were the only sound in the tunnel.
It didn’t matter. I was a patient male. What were minutes when one had lived for centuries?
Eventually, Luna spoke again. “You said it won’t work right now.”
“Yes.”
“Right now,” she clarified.
I groaned. “That’s what I said.”
Luna muttered something under her breath, her thumb slipping between our joined hands and tracing patterns on the rough skin of my palm. I glanced at her, and her mouth was moving in that silent way of hers.
For a long time, the only sound was that of our heartbeats. Hers was fast, mine was slow. Far too slow, even for a creature of the moon like me.
Then, Luna squeezed my hand. “Sebastian?”
“Hmm?” I was so tired.