Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)

by Lauren Roberts

The battle within his mind roars louder still. But he has learned to ignore the constant din of chaos, just as he does now.

Because nothing can save him from this fate. Not even that persuasive, gentle voice.

is this kai?

Edric Azer haunts me only in the fragments of my mind and the matching broken heart he carved into.

And yet, I still cannot bring myself to look at this Kitt. My throat burns. I may have created something far worse than his father.

“The future queen of Ilya bows her head to no one.”

“And if we wish for our great kingdom to remain, we will welcome Ordinaries back into it.”

But I hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing but this moment and the hope for every one after.

“Calum was once a prisoner of mine. Once a Resistance leader who I thought was a radical.” My heart stutters, my eyes searching until—

As an Ordinary, a united Ilya was all I ever hoped for.

It is my turn to become the difference I always dreamed of being, even if the king’s reasonings do not resemble my own.

I thought I’d known torment until it wrapped around her finger.

I’ve been nothing but willing when it comes to drowning in those ocean eyes. But now, I can’t fathom drowning if she is not the anchor I’m sinking with.

Engagement. It feels as though the ground is caving in beneath me. Why couldn’t we have just stayed in that field of poppies?

I would spend the rest of my days making her flower crowns if she wanted to be a queen. My queen. Not Kitt’s. Not Ilya’s. Mine.

ONLY HISSSSS

My future queen has just made her first decree.

“I… I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this.” I feel each vigorous shake of her head.

“I was ready to die. I was ready for you to be the last thing I saw and now—”

This is…” When her breath catches, I know it is the ring she runs trembling fingers over. “This is until death do us part.”

There’s that anger again, washing over me in waves. Because she was meant to be the death of me, not the life of another.

It was her I was meant to adore in this world and crawl t...

“I don’t need you to fight my battles.” “Oh, darling,” I murmur, “I know you don’t. But if I am to be your Enforcer, then you better get used to it.”

I tip my face until her forehead meets mine. “I’m too selfish to let you go so easily.” “Then pretend.”

Because if she truly becomes Kitt’s, I will spend the rest of my life mourning her.

“You’re not supposed to touch me at all.” “But you could command me to,” I drawl. “Then I’d simply be following an order.” Her laugh is breathy, and I memorize the sound.

Her lips have only just brushed mine when the door flies open.

Powerless. Fatherless. Adena-less. These were the things I was already struggling to survive. And yet, it’s the ring on my finger that may be the death of me.

all the places I imagined sitting, a throne was the last of them. A dungeon, yes. At the edge of a blade, certainly.

Because Ordinaries don’t rule. They cower.

“It’s the queen’s quarters, of course. Well, the new ones. The memory of her late majesty, Queen Iris, still lives in the previous rooms.” Her words have my stomach dropping, skin paling.

“Oh, no, they wouldn’t dare. Not with the king having claimed you as his bride-to-be.” Claimed me.

Those are words I certainly never thought would be associated with Kitt. His brother, on the other hand…

I know exactly what it feels like to be claimed by the Enforcer. ...

“I can’t seem to die, can I?” I wipe a loose tear from my eye. “What was it you called me?” I can see the exact moment recognition lights his face. “A cockroach,”

Reading between the lines is rather difficult when they are blurred.

His smile is tinged with an amused sort of sadness. “I thought you might let her go.” “Why didn’t you tell me of your plan with her?”

“Fine, you want another option?” Challenge rings in his voice, smothering any sign of the composed king I returned home to.

“My way out is killing her. That is what I was going to do. How does that sound? Are you happy now?”

Because what is worse than her dying is me being the one forced to kill her.

“I grieved. I learned. I came to my senses. And you’re right. I’m not the crazed boy you left. I’m a king.”

I force a calming breath into my lungs. Thoughts of Father are dangerous. They tend to lead me to her.

“Do you think Adena would like this dress?”

But for the first time since her death, the sound of Adena’s name doesn’t feel like a twisted knife to the gut. No, I want to remember her like this. See her in the stitching of a dress or in the rays of the sun. Watch her shine through every second for as long as I remain breathing the air she no longer can.

Even still, Iris was hidden away long before the growing of a spare in her womb.

Iris has always been the type of beautiful that can only be inarticulately described as breathtaking.

Edric, with his lust for power, married the woman before him nearly a decade after the Purging.

“But it has been years since the people have heard about me. Seen me. For all they know, I died shortly after giving birth to Kitt.”

WHATTTTT

“And I would rather them think that,” the king utters slowly, “than use you against me. I won’t risk an enraged Ordinary putting you in danger to hurt me.”

“In our five years of marriage, I have done little more than hide away.”

Edric lets his gaze fall to the bedside table. Her beloved jewelry box sits there, filled with each of the queen’s coveted pieces.

Iris has a passion for beauty, and despite her confinement to the castle, she has never missed an opportunity to sparkle in even the dullest of halls.