Bloodtraitor Read Online Free PDF Page A

way, or had he been cut down in the woods by the soldiers chasing us?
    When no one responded to argue or agree, Aika added, “Besides, letting Misha sell a cobra seems a small price to pay if it gives us a chance to destroy Midnight.”
    “It’s not a small price,” Vance sighed. “But I don’t see any other choice.”
    Kadee reached out and put a hand on top of Vance’s. “I hate this,” she said. She drew a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “Fine. It’s one more sin on our souls—don’t think it’s not—but I’ll risk explaining myself to God someday if it means I can help set Midnight aflame.”
    Someday, my sister, you will be queen. When you and your king rule, you will bow to no one. And this place, this Midnight, will burn to ash.
    I knew those words had been lies when I spoke them, but that lie had been powerful enough to bring a white viper nearly to the throne—something that had seemed impossible only a few days earlier. Now I could see faith in Kadee’s eyes. She believed, and so she was willing to stand with Nathaniel and fight.
    Twenty-two years ago, I had lied to save my life.
    Now I was willing to die if I could make those words the truth.

I WALKED LISTLESSLY
around the outskirts of our camp, reinforcing the magic that hid us from hostile outsiders…the magic I had allowed to weaken while I was in Midnight, enabling Julian Cobriana’s soldiers to find the people I loved most.
    I slid down to sit with my back to the strong trunk of an aspen tree, and sucked in a heavy breath. One of its golden leaves quivered to the ground, another reminder that fall was here. Soon I would face my first winter alone.
    Not alone,
I tried to tell myself.
You have Farrell, and the others.
    It isn’t the same.
    Though I was most familiar with the five trainers, I recognized the vampire who appeared before me immediately. Acise was one of Jeshickah’s two sisters. I had never actually seen Katama, though I had been told she was Jeshickah’s birth-twin; she preferred to deal with distant economic affairs instead of involving herself with the local slave trade. Acise likewise spent little time at Midnight, but when she did, she worked as a mercenary.
    Without preamble, Acise announced, “I have a business proposal to discuss with your guild.”
    “I don’t think our guild has any interest in any business you might propose,” I said in a shaking voice as I stood.
    “What if I could offer you one of your white vipers back?”
    My world reeled. In that moment, I would have agreed to just about anything.
    “What’s the price?” I asked.
    “Gabriel wants a hawk. Specifically, Alasdair Shardae, the avian queen’s younger daughter. She’s freeblood, so we can’t just pick her up, but if she happened to be offered to us by another shapeshifter…well, Gabriel would be certain to offer fair trade, a shifter for a shifter.”
    I whispered, “There are two of them.”
    Acise shrugged. “He’s only interested in one hawk,” she said flatly. “Choose. And act fast. The longer the trainer is bored, the less you will be able to salvage.”
    —
    From the darkness of the caves, I reached out magically for Misha. I had done so a thousand times when she had been in Midnight. I knew that the first trainer who had owned her and Shkei, Taro, had mostly neglected them—he had been busy tending to Vance, though I hadn’t known that at the time. The true abuse hadn’t begun until Gabriel had purchased them to use as currency for a deal my guild could not refuse.
    Once, I could have reached my sister from across the globe just by closing my eyes. These days it was a struggle to determine where her group was camped. My magical connection to her now was like a rope that had spent too long on a ship at sea. It was tattered and torn, and would leave splinters in the hands of anyone who tried to climb it.
    The sea analogy was not mine, or hers. It came from Gabriel, who had left so much of his will overlapping