Stone Sacrifice ✔️Chronicles of Grey BOOK ONE [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty

I lunged forward with my sword, panic creeping in. Don't say it! Don't think it!

I got him in the side with the blade and he hissed, seeming to come out of his awed state to suddenly realize that I was actually attacking him. "What are you—"

"I have to kill you!" I cried. "Let me kill you!" Foolish, I know, but panic had made my mind a blur. There was only one way out of here, and by the time we reached the exit, they could be there waiting for me.

I was trapped. I was cornered. My only hope was to kill him before Marqis could zero in on our location.

"Mir... Meira, you don't understand—"

"Don't say my name!" I lunged forward, striking him in the shoulder. He cursed but deflected my next strike and twisted, grabbing my wrist and spinning me so that I slammed against the stone wall.

"Bloody shenz, Meira, listen to me!"

I continued to struggle, but it was weakly. I was crying now, tears running down my face as I shook. It was too late, he knew. Marqis knew. It was the end. I searched my mind for another way out, a way back up the chute even, but there was no way, there was only one way out of here. Perhaps if I ran fast enough I could reach the exit before the Knights reached the—

"Miera! Listen to me, will you? The stone can't hear me!"

I blinked at him. "What?"

He relaxed now that he could see he caught my attention. "Your blood." He said. "The Greyov blood, it can't be heard by the Grey Stone."

I blinked further. "You're a Greyov?"

He snorted. "No, Meira, you're a Greyov. For so long as I'm near you, the stone won't look in this direction. Not just you, Mir, everyone around you or your blood."

"W—what?" Jovian never told me this. Surly if that were true, he would have told me.

Arion shook me slightly as if that would help me think. Oddly, the familiar feeling of him shaking me in frustration seemed to do just that. The fuzzy haze of fear seemed to lessen as I paid attention.

"Your blood. The Grey Stone. You've bonded to the stone through your bloodline."

I knew this — it was the reason the stone couldn't reach my thoughts. "But... you're not family." I hoped not at least, or I had been having some really awkward thoughts lately.

"We're not family, but I have your blood." He pulled out a vial from around his neck. I had seen the leather cord around his neck occasionally but never thought anything of it as the cord was nothing special at all. However, this was the first time I saw what hung from it.

It was a simple, stained-glass jar about the size of my thumbnail. Though I couldn't see inside the glass as it was too thick with multiple dark colours, I could still see the few drops of liquid. "What is it?" I whispered, though I was beginning to suspect.

"Your mothers' blood mixed with dust of the Grey Stone."

Just like Jovi had hanging around his neck in a jar of silver.

I spoke numbly. "But... but that's rare, and... and it's illegal."

He snorted with amusement at my words. "You being alive is illegal." He reminded me. "And yes it's rare, my father was a Shadow Knight. He gave it to me before he went out to help stop the attack on the castle." He tucked the vial back into his shirt and stepped back, fully letting me go. "Now, are you done trying to kill me?" He asked simply.

I wasn't sure. I was still processing.

There was a splash as Jazera fell down the fall into the underground lake and our conversation was done. After a moment, I put my blade away, only then realizing that I had a weapon when I didn't have one before. I'd dropped it in the pool with the kraken. How did I get it back?