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“I’m going mad,” I said hoarsely. “I’ve lost my mind, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” “You’re not going mad,” Teller said, though his expression was less than convincing. “I can see the Crown myself—it’s floating right over you.”
The flowers tumbled to the ground. “Blessed Kindred, you... you’re...” Teller stumbled backward. “Lily! What are you doing here?”
“This means our King is dead,” Lily murmured. She sank to her knees and placed a fist over her heart. “Long live our Queen.”
Lily lowered her head. “Blessed Mother Lumnos has chosen you.” “Then she made a mistake. I can’t be the—will you please stand up?—I can’t be the Queen. I’m only a mortal.”
Lily’s gasp cut me off. “Grey? Your eyes are grey?” “Why? Does that mean something?”
“No!” I ran forward and clutched her shoulders. “Lily, you cannot tell your brother. You have to promise me you won’t say a word.” “You don’t understand, Luther can help you. He saw—”
I started to sink under the heaviness of it all. One day ago, I was an inconsequential mortal girl living an unimportant life, and now I was... what even was I?
“I can help,” Lily jumped in. “There’s a cabin on the royal hunting grounds, not far from the palace. No one would dare use it without permission from the Crown, so you won’t be disturbed. Besides, you’re the true owner.” She shrugged. “All the royal properties belong to you now.”
away. I had no intention of keeping the throne, and certainly no desire to fight anyone to the death for it. This was all one massive, unthinkable mistake. I just needed some time to prove it.
“When all else fails, keep moving,” I said to the empty room, echoing the command my father had drilled into me. “If you cannot run, then walk. If you cannot walk, then crawl.” His voice filled my stormy mind. If you are outnumbered or overwhelmed, or if all seems lost, just keep moving. Onward, until the very last breath.
Queen or not, I was still Diem Bellator—and a Bellator did not flee from a challenge merely because it scared them.
“Honestly Lily, you really don’t have to—” My voice withered away as I stared into eyes so pale they were nearly silver, split by the jagged line of an angry scar. The eyes of Prince Luther. Lily had betrayed me.
“It’s hardly my fault the Crown chose me instead of you,” I said. “As soon as I find out how to get rid of it, you can have it. I don’t want any part of you or your people.”
“Flirted with you?” I shouted. “Flirted with you? As I recall, Luther Corbois, it’s always been you who can’t keep your hands off me.” He opened his mouth to respond. I silenced him with a finger jabbed into his chest, heat rising to my cheeks. “I wouldn’t flirt with you if you were the last living man on this miserable fucking continent.”
“I don’t plan to rule over anything. I told you, I don’t want your Crown. As soon as I find a way to take it off, you and your friends can fight each other for it.” He frowned. “The only way to pass on the Crown is through death.” “We’ll see about that,” I muttered,
“The Crown’s gryvern is bound to you now, and Sorae won’t tolerate being separated for long. She’ll follow your scent the moment I return to the palace. My family will know to follow her.”
One horse. Only one horse.
Not the one horse trope!!!!!!
“You couldn’t have brought two horses?” “I didn’t expect to need more than one.” “Because you didn’t think I would come with you, or because you planned to kill me first?”
Cold determination settled deep in my soul. I’d always dreamed of something bigger for my life, and this was my chance. My destiny beckoned, clear and unmistakable. Survive the Challenging. Complete the Rite of Coronation. And destroy the Descended.
I was certain the gryvern wouldn’t hurt me. Sorae would rip out her own throat before she would harm a hair on my head. I had no idea how I could possibly know such a thing, but I was as certain of it as my own name.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I stroked my fingertips along the rough, jagged skin beneath her jowl. “Even before the King died, somehow you knew what I would become.” Sorae huffed once and gave a slow blink of her golden, reptilian eyes.
“You saved my sister’s life, and for that, I owe you a debt that can never be repaid. Although I don’t imagine you’ll take it, allow me to offer you some advice that may save your own life.” He paused, his tone darkening. “Tell them as little as possible—about yourself, your plans, your magic. And especially about your mother.”
And then there was Alixe. Like Taran, she had been at the armory the night of the attack. When Luther had forbid me from going in to save the stranded guards, she alone had believed I could do it. I saw the same gleam of recognition in her eyes, and we shared a nod of mutual respect.
No, Alixe looked like the person you’d send to strike down an enemy king in the heart of his own war camp—and still expect her to return home without a scratch. Alixe was the mighty heroine I had merely played at being in every mock war Teller and I had staged as children.
“The other Houses will expect there to be an inquiry into your parentage.” “It’s unlikely to be fruitful. My father has no knowledge of my sire, and my mother is...” I hesitated. “...no longer with us.”
“Let me be clear, family. If you wish to have any hope of keeping your home, your titles, and your royal status, you will say nothing of this to anyone. Am I understood?”
“When you sent your brother, you believed you were helping me?” She nodded emphatically. “He’s a good man. And he can understand you—more than you think.”
“I’m not afraid of House Corbois losing its royal status, if that’s what you’re asking. Whatever choice you make, we’ll survive.” He paused. “Though if you do find a way to pass on the Crown, I ask that you not force the children out of their home, in case it returns to a Corbois.”
“First of all,” I clipped, “since you’ve always insisted on the importance of titles, you may refer to me as Your Majesty or my Queen.”
GEt him
“I should put all four of your heads on a pike for treason. I just assaulted the Queen, and you cowards stood there and watched me do it. The next time someone lays a hand on her and you don’t kill them where they stand, I’ll carve out your eyeballs and feed them to the fucking hounds. It doesn’t matter if it’s me or the Regent or Blessed Mother Lumnos herself. Do your damn jobs and protect our Queen.”
Jesus im suddenly very hot
I really had to stop answering doors without my clothes on. “We’ve discussed this, Prince.” I pointed at my face. “Eyes up here.”
Right before the most passionate, all-consuming, world-forgetting kiss I’d ever had. A kiss made of fire and lust, hatred and hurt, and perhaps something more. Something that lit a spark in my chest... and between my legs.
His voice softened. “Diem, about what happened earlier—” I snatched the knife from his hand and shut the door in his face. Luther was a threat, that had become abundantly clear. Whatever might have passed between us before, it had to end. This was war. And he was my prime target.
She grinned. “Oh, I’m sure it’s the latter. I do my best to provoke him on a daily basis.”
But strangely enough... I didn’t hate it. There was an undeniable strength in the woman looking back at me. Perhaps she couldn’t wrestle nimbly in the dirt or scurry up a tree, but she looked like she could best a man in a thousand other ways. Much more interesting ways.
Making Eleanor my first advisor was turning out to be a very wise idea.
Sorae pulled to her feet and arched her neck toward Luther as her tail whipped angrily. She gave an indignant huff through her scaled snout, curls of smoke billowing from her nostrils. I grinned. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one still holding a grudge over last night’s spar.
I bristled. “You do realize I am the child of a mortal?” “And if you were not the Crown, you would be put to death as a result. Is that the life you want for your offspring?”
“Luther?” Aemonn gave an incredulous laugh. He smoothed a hand over his hair, careful not to disturb his perfectly coiffed appearance. “Yes, perhaps you should,” he said coldly. “He knows best what becomes of half-breed children.”
Tell me who to kill, she seemed to be saying. Unleash me upon them, and I’ll make them pay.
“Sorry, girl,” I muttered. “If anyone’s going to kill Luther Corbois, it’s going to be me.”
Luther was panting now, his chest shuddering with harsh, ragged breaths. “Is this really what you think of me—that I’m capable of that?” Though he seethed through clenched teeth, something in it sounded almost wounded. “Is that why you hate me so deeply?”
“I have so many reasons to hate you.” “Do you?” he growled. “Or is it easier to blame your anger on me than look in the mirror and confront the truth?”
But its crimson fog had lifted to reveal something I’d been hiding from for months—maybe since all the way back when I was a scared little girl having visions I didn’t understand. I was Descended. I had magic. I was strong, and I was fast. I could heal. And I would live for centuries. Millennia, maybe.
“Because I drained my magic last night trying to keep the palace from coming down on our heads. You should be proud—normally it takes me hours to burn out. You ran through my reserves in minutes.” Any other day, that would have made me tremendously smug. Obnoxiously smug. I should have been making sexually charged innuendos about his stamina with a wicked smirk. Instead, I stirred my tea. “I think I’m empty, too.” “No, you’re not. Not even close.” He smiled wryly. “I can feel yours. It’s weaker than normal, but still stronger than any Descended I’ve ever met.”
“Your mother trusted me.” “No, my mother blackmailed you. And now she’s likely dead because of it.” “I helped your mother long before she knew my secrets. And I very much doubt she is dead.”
“The day you saw us arguing, she asked for my help. She wanted to visit a place where mortals are forbidden, and she knew I could get her there.”
“I will not break my promise, but I can give you this,” he said. “If she isn’t back by year end, I’ll go get her and bring her to you myself. You have my word.”
“He could be helpful to you. He knows the other Houses well, and he always has the best court gossip—other than me, of course. But everything with Aemonn is an exchange. Whatever he gives, he always demands something of greater value in return. It may be enough for him that you’re the Queen and he wants your favor, but he could just as easily sell gossip about you as sell it to you.”
“Luther is... hmm, how to explain him? Sometimes I think he was born one thousand years old. He had the future of Lumnos on his shoulders even before his magic came in. Every now and then, I see glimpses of the man he might have been in another life, but it’s buried too deep under his obligations to the realm and the Crown and the House. He’s so consumed by duty, there’s no room left for anything else.”
