King of Battle and Blood

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, death by suicide, and sexual content. 

Isolde wakes up and wanders out of her tent to look for other people. When she finds the village of Vaida and enters a house, she sees that several villagers have been brutally skinned alive and then murdered. She vomits and screams. Suddenly, Killian arrives with several guards, and Adrian also comes with some of his vampires. Killian accuses Adrian of killing the mutilated villagers, but Adrian says that magic killed them. All magic was supposed to have disappeared after the Great Burning, but Adrian states that it still exists; when humans try to use magic, it can have disastrous consequences. Adrian also tells Killian about the Lara villagers’ attack, but Killian doubts that the villagers tried to harm Isolde until she confirms it. Killian leaves, and Isolde mounts Adrian’s horse so that he can hold her while she sleeps.

When they reach their next camp, Isolde goes into Adrian’s tent. He reveals that he is 200 years old, and Isolde asks him to explain how he first took over Revekka. (The people of Lara believe that Adrian murdered King Dragos and his pregnant wife to become the Blood King.