A Crown This Cold and Heavy (Kingdom of Lies, #3)

by Stacia Stark

“Cavis was from Jadynmire. One of Galon’s men found him wandering alone and barefoot in the forest. He was the only survivor.”

And then, to learn he knew I wasn’t corrupt. Knew my magic wasn’t a rejection of the gods but was instead from my mother’s bloodline…

Because I didn’t have either the time or the inclination to mourn a weak hypocrite.

“I once told you that until you faced up to the reality of your life, you would continue to be a victim to it. And my reality is this—I’m in love with you.”

The patriarch worked night and day, obsessed with obliterating Madinia. If he ever got his hands on her, she would die screaming for mercy. A calculated risk.

I clamped down on a sob. Cavis hadn’t talked. He was under the king’s compulsion, and yet he hadn’t said anything. It would be costing him.

“I will search every inch of this continent if that is what it takes. I will slaughter anyone who stands in my way. Prisca will live. I will make sure of it.”

“The blood vow prevented me from admitting my relationship with Daharak unless two conditions were met—her life was in danger, and there was a way for me to help. I haven’t spoken to my sister for years, but she knows if she were to be targeted, I would attempt to save her life. May I lift my hand, Your Majesty?”

After all, this little conversation had proven one thing: I had something that the pirate queen considered precious, even if she had attempted to conceal his existence. Her brother.

“Falling in love with Prisca was the most inconvenient thing to ever happen to me. And if I had never met her, I would have lived a long, empty life.”

“Dead,” I choked. “You’re dead. I’m going to kill you. But first, I’m going to kill everyone you love.”

Forcing myself to push those thoughts out of my head, I focused on my reality. I would be the queen who lived. I had sacrificed my daughter for this. I would never feel her kick. Would never kiss her tiny toes or search her features for traces of my own.

Perhaps I would allow the hybrid heir to live for a few years. She could retire to her own continent and stay there, and we would enjoy peace. When I finally arranged for her death, I would ensure it seemed accidental. Or…I would make it look as if the fae king had ordered her death in retaliation against his brother.

I would be powerful. I would be generous. I would be loved. No—I would be adored. Adoration surpassed mere love.

“I didn’t need anything before Prisca. I wanted peace on this continent. I wanted our people to be safe. I wanted Regner dead. But I didn’t need anything for myself. I didn’t know I could have anything myself. And then I met her, and for the first time in my long life, I needed.”

No matter what Prisca did—even if she was to truly become a monster—I would be by her side. If she ever lost the part of her that could reason, I would hide her away and guard her for the rest of my life.

Since I don’t believe my sister will ever become a threat to innocents, I prefer your unhinged kind of love. But if I ever think you’re likely to corrupt her, I will find a way to end you.”

She’d saved my life in that castle. In a choice I’d never have been able to take back, I’d attempted to set myself on fire. Remembering that moment now, I found it difficult to understand what I’d been thinking. I hadn’t been thinking. But I’d seen no way out. And if I was going to burn, it would be by my own hand.

And now, I was going to have to decipher the queen’s fucking riddle and find a way to save the hybrid heir. Before she was slaughtered by the same man who’d killed my father.

My people often referred to those with Madinia’s magic as dragons. They were believed to have a closer connection to the gods. Perhaps that was why Prisca’s dragon had somehow achieved what none of us had managed.

“I’m going to rape you,” he said. “And then I’m going to kill you.”

“My name is Calysian. And I insist on helping you in some way.”

If Madinia ever chose to truly care about someone, she would be a force to be reckoned with.

My brother preferred Asinia where he could see her, even if he still refused to admit such a thing to himself.

“It’s a sign. That we could be mates. While fae men often have the Knowing before their mates, the women occasionally recognize their mates when they meet them…”

I needed you to choose me, Prisca. Because I would choose you ten thousand times over, every day for the rest of my life.”

I’d been certain that love was being willing to give someone up if that was what was best for them. But I was wrong. Love was being willing to fight. It was being willing to stand up and say, It’s you and me, we’re in this together, and gods help anyone who attempts to tear us apart.

My hands heated, and he grinned at me. I recognized that grin. This was the man who’d escaped Regner’s dungeon with Prisca. Calysian. That was what she’d called him.

He was a handsome bastard, that was for sure. Handsome and far too large. What exactly was he doing here?

“I did a little research about you, Madinia Farrow,” he said. “Did you?” I purred. “Then you know I could turn your insides to kindling.” Calysian laughed. “Relax, beautiful woman. I’m here to help you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “If you go missing and fuck up our plans, no one is coming to rescue you.” “Haven’t you heard?” Calysian smirked. “Madinia Farrow doesn’t need rescuing.”

His expression turned flat. “The debt has not been satisfied.” “It has.” “Weren’t you listening? I decide. One day, I will find you, Madinia Farrow. When you’re ready to be the woman I think you are.”

“I know you. You were one of the queen’s bitches.” “And now, I’m a free bitch,” I said coolly, and the corner of his mouth quirked.

His shoulders stiffened, the only sign of his irritation. “I don’t know what you want from me, Asinia. When you figure it out, let me know.”

“In every life, wildcat. No matter what happens, you hold on to that. It’s you and me in every life.”

“How do you control a population? You keep the people poor and uneducated. Tell them the same lie for centuries, and tie that lie to religion. Those people will believe you even when the truth is dancing naked in front of them. Because to believe otherwise would mean their entire world has always been a lie. And that realization is too difficult for most people to take.”

“No. But I care about Lyrinore. All of us have suffered and lost loved ones for it, and there will likely be more to come. And yet you would prefer that Zathrian rule. A liar and a murderer, whose parents dropped the wards that day, killing thousands of hybrids.”

“Agreed. I’ll wait as long as you need. And then I’ll take our people home.”

Demos’s face might have been carved from stone. “I came all this way for my brother.” I was watching closely enough that this time, I caught the flicker of relief at Demos’s words.

“The brother of my sister is my brother. I’ve claimed him as such.”

“When I woke up, the most beautiful man I’d ever seen was leaning over me, scowling as if I’d been created to make his life more difficult.”

He was—and always would be—exceptionally ruthless. Part of me loved that about him. He made me more strategic with my own decisions, helping me remove the emotion from them.

“It’s not enough for you for one of us to pretend to be satisfied by your fumbling incompetence? You need both of us to feign pleasure to feed your ego?”

“When bound by blockade’s tightening fist, heed the drifting shadow, else all be lost. To prevail, dance the sails toward the sun.”

“When the land itself repels war and unnatural clouds obscure the sun… When the waves are coerced…and reflection deceives… The Bloodthirsty Prince will die.”

“His death will ignite a rage in you that has never been seen before and will never be seen again.” The seer glanced at Madinia. “You must find a way to help her channel that rage and not become lost to it. Or she will doom all of us.”

Pris wouldn’t have entered this war if I hadn’t been taken. I had been the catalyst. And I refused to live the rest of my life knowing I was merely one of the reasons this war had begun.

Dropping my crossbow, I pulled off my tunic, leaving me in just the flexible band around my breasts. “The closest I get to undressing you, and I can’t even make the most of it.” His words came out weak, but still soaked in humor.

The price of love was loss.

“This is all because of that fucking book,” Caliar snarled. “It’s a grimoire,” Madinia said, her voice dripping with scorn. “And there are two others out there, waiting to be used for just as much evil.”