Chapter 47
Chapter
Forty-Seven
I t was easy enough to spot the room where Remis was meeting—a pack of twenty Royal Guards lined the corridor on both sides.
And the white rose insignia on half their uniforms told me exactly who he was meeting with.
One stepped forward with a hand raised to stop me. This time, I had no interest in wasting my breath. I flung out a web of shadows that tangled around the guards and trapped them in place.
My magic pulsed outward with enough force to slam open the heavy wooden door. Inside, Remis was seated with Aemonn and Aemonn’s father, Garath. Across from them, Marthe, the elderly matriarch of House Hanoverre, sat with her grandchildren, Jean and Iléana.
“Look at this,” I crooned. “A meeting of my most loyal subjects.”
“Just when I didn’t think this day could get any worse,” Garath muttered.
Aemonn—and Aemonn alone—stood. “Your Majesty,” he said, nodding.
Iléana snorted, glancing smugly at her brother Jean. “She’s not really Queen, Aemonn. You can stop kissing her ass.”
My focus locked on Remis. “I’d like a word.”
“I’m afraid it will have to wait. This meeting is very important.” His eyes flared, his expression trying to convey a silent plea to behave .
I flopped into a chair and crossed my legs. “Well, then. If it’s such an important meeting, surely the Queen should attend.”
“The Crown should attend,” Marthe said smoothly. “And Remis is already here.”
“I think my gryvern would beg to differ.” I shot her a cloying smile. “Would you like to meet her?”
Her face soured and turned to Remis. “First you accuse my grandson of a revolting falsehood, now you bring her here to threaten us? If this is how you intend to make amends, Remis—”
“You should be making amends,” I snapped. “What you did at the Challenging was a shot at me and at House Corbois. A shot you missed .”
“A mistake we won’t make twice,” Jean said under his breath.
Marthe hunched forward on her cane, her forehead creasing as her peppery eyebrows rose. “We’re not the only ones who took a shot, were we? Even House Corbois didn’t deem you worthy.” She clicked her tongue. “Challenged by your own House. A first in Lumnos history.”
“I knew Luther would eventually see what you were,” Iléana said. She leapt to her feet. “I heard he’s back. Where is he? I want to see him.”
I rolled my eyes. “I assure you, the feeling isn’t mutual.”
She stalked toward me with a poisonous glare. Alixe moved to block her, but I waved her off, giving Iléana a tired, unbothered stare.
“You think because you forced him to kiss you at the Challenging that you’ve won him?” she said archly. “He and I have something deeper than you could ever understand.”
“Don’t let me stand in the way of true love.” I swept my arm toward the door. “You’ll find him in my bed. I should warn you though, he’s exhausted.” I bit my lip. “He and I had a long, busy night.”
I could almost see the steam shooting from her ears.
“How dare you?” she shrieked. “Does he know you’re secretly engaged to a mortal?”
I shot a glare at Aemonn. His guilty look confirmed he’d been the one to leak my secret.
“I’ve been loyal to him for years,” Iléana moaned. “You half-breeds know nothing of loyalty. You’re just like the mortal whores, spreading your legs for any Descended man you see.”
My fists clenched.
Alixe jumped forward to nudge her friend away.
“Marthe,” Remis said with a sigh, “I can only control her so much. Step in, or this is not going to end well for your granddaughter.”
“He only wants you for the Crown,” Iléana shouted over Alixe’s shoulder. “Once you’re gone, he’ll lose interest and come right back to me.”
I cocked my head. “It must be difficult to watch him choose someone else. I might pity you, if I didn’t know how you treated him all those years. How you told him his scars made him unworthy to be King.” I thumbed a dagger I’d strapped to my hip. “Perhaps I should give you some scars of your own. Then you can see firsthand just how powerful they can be.”
“ Marthe ,” Remis warned.
Marthe pushed to her feet, bones creaking, then shuffled forward to take Iléana’s hand. “Come, child. Let’s not waste our time on a half-breed who consorts with rebel scum.”
The breath punched from my lungs as a gruesome memory flashed into my head of my father’s blood scrawled across the walls of our home.
Mortal lover.
Half-breed.
Rebel scum.
The grief of his loss came tumbling down on my head. Suddenly I was right back in that kitchen, kneeling at his body, his warm blood soaking into my clothes. I smelled the death in the air, felt his too-stiff body beneath my hands.
It had been so long since I’d had one of these days, where the sorrow felt so fresh and so inescapably permanent. Days where I couldn’t stand to do much more than lay down and cry. It had been so long, I’d begun to convince myself that I had healed.
But this kind of grief didn’t heal.
It waited .
The world spun around me as I gripped the seat of my chair. I fought to catch my breath amid the pounding in my ears.
As the Hanoverres filed out, Jean stopped in front of me and leaned down until his face was near my ear. “Can’t wait to meet my long-lost son,” he whispered. “Tell little Zalaric I’m looking forward to our reunion.”
Everything stilled.
“You?” I rasped. “You’re...?”
He winked, laughing darkly, and followed his family out the door.
My eyes squeezed shut, though it did nothing to stop the visions of my father’s corpse. My godhood slammed against my ribs, roaring to unleash the way it had that day, and my skin began to glow with a silvery light.
Guilt. Rage. Fear. Hate.
Cycling in a vicious, relentless loop.
“Diem,” Alixe said quietly, “are you alright?”
My heart was racing, my magic snarling. I focused on breathing—focused on keeping control. Focused on not reducing this entire palace to rubble.
“Do you know how hard we’ve been working to repair things with House Hanoverre?” Garath yelled. “You just arrived, and you’ve already managed to ruin it all.”
My nails dug into the wood of my chair as I fought to keep control. “You told them about Zalaric?” I snapped at Remis.
He eyed me, subtly backing away. “It’s better they hear it from us directly. If they found out through court gossip, there would be no hope for a truce.”
“That’s a decision I should have been included in. I’m the Queen.”
“Not yet,” Garath sniped. “Right now, you’re just a stupid girl with a Crown.”
My temper exploded—and so did my magic.
A crisp bite chilled the air as dark magic surged and coated every surface. Shadowy tendrils scaled up legs and twined around waists, their thorny vines encircling each man’s throat. The unfurling darkness choked out the sun trickling in through the window, and the room turned an inky black. Only the light from my glowing skin remained.
A vengeful moon and her violent night.
“There’s a bit more to me than just a Crown,” I growled, rising to my feet.
Garath’s lip curled back in a jeer, but before he could speak, the dark fronds stretched over his mouth and nose.
“Watch yourself, Garath,” I warned. “Unlike your usual victims, I fight back.”
I spared a brief glance at Aemonn, who was gaping at his father with a dumbstruck expression—though the corner of his mouth was the tiniest hint upturned.
Garath’s face reddened amid his fight for air. His hand jerked against my hold, and because I’d used up all my good judgment and restraint last night with Luther, I smirked and let his arm go.
His palm thrust toward me in a burst of bubbling, white-hot light. I quickly flicked a shield around Alixe, but I held Garath’s stare as I left myself exposed. His magic sizzled across my skin—then absorbed and disappeared.
His eyes bulged wide.
My smile spread wider. “Come on, Garath. You can do better than that.”
“Perhaps we should speak in private,” Remis rushed out. He tugged loose from my shadows—only because I allowed it—and positioned himself in front of his brother with hands raised. “This has escalated far enough.”
“What do you think?” I called out to Garath over Remis’s shoulder. “Have you had enough?”
Sadly, I didn’t think he could hear me, as his eyes were rolling back, his lips a sickly blue. I grudgingly swished a hand, and my magic receded. Garath fell to the floor with a thud.
Remis shot a look at Aemonn, who jumped forward to drag his father toward the door. I turned to Alixe and lowered my voice. “Warn Zalaric and the others. I’ll find you when we’re done.”
She nodded to me, then to Remis, then left and closed the door at her back.
Remis sighed wearily. “You should not provoke my brother. Garath is a dangerous man.”
“And I am a dangerous woman.”
“I’m not sure you realize just how dangerous you are. Is this your plan as Queen, use your magic to threaten everyone you dislike?”
“I’ll do more than threaten,” I shot back, though Remis’s criticism had struck deeper than I wanted to admit.
My father’s final words to me had been a similar condemnation of my temper and a lack of faith in how I chose to reign. His disappointed tone rang in my ears with each and every failure, an immortal reminder that I was still letting him down.
And if he could see me now, he would be anything but proud.
The painful thought was water on the fire of my anger. I sank back into my chair with a slump.
Remis sat and studied me carefully. “I want to thank you for saving my son. For that, I am in your debt.”
“And this is how you repay me? By usurping my throne?”
“The Fortos King claims the ritual was not completed.” His eyebrows rose. “Do you deny it?”
I worked my jaw, not answering.
“He also said the Crowns had some... concerns about your legitimacy.”
I pulled the Crown into view atop my head. “Is this not legitimate?”
Remis’s head angled as he frowned at it.
I speared a thought over the bond, and seconds later, Sorae’s piercing howl floated through the window. “What about that—is Sorae legitimate enough?”
His attention returned to me. “There is also the question of your involvement with the Guardians. The Crowns believe you planned the attack.”
“I knew nothing before it happened. I was as surprised as anyone else.”
“And yet the Guardians rescued you.”
“The Guardians kidnapped me. They chained me up as a prisoner.”
“You returned in a ballgown and lipstick,” he drawled. “A strange kidnapping, indeed.”
“That was from Umbros.”
“You were in Umbros?”
“Yes. The Guardians chased us into Ignios, and then—”
“You were in Ignios? ” He sat forward. “Do those Crowns know you were in their realms?”
“Yes. Both.”
“And they didn’t kill you for it?”
“They certainly tried their best.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Must you make enemies everywhere you go?”
I crossed my arms. “And what have you done while I was gone, Remis? Have you found my father’s killer?”
“I’ve had my hands full with other things.”
“So you’ve found homes for all of Lumnos’s orphans? Made sure no one goes hungry in Mortal City? Repealed all the laws treating mortals differently than Descended?”
He glowered. “No, I have not.”
“Then tell me, other than conspire with Fortos to flood the realm with army soldiers, what exactly have you done?”
“I’ve been trying to prevent a war,” he shouted, his composure finally fracturing. “Can you imagine what the Twenty Houses demanded after the attack? The Hanoverres wanted to burn Mortal City with everyone in it.” He slammed a fist on the arm of his chair. “And I’m the one who stopped it.”
We glared at each other in silence, each of us simmering in righteous indignation.
His anger broke first with a long sigh. “Those soldiers are here to keep peace, Diem. Believe it or not, I do not wish to see any mortals slaughtered.”
I balked. “You don’t?”
“The other Houses wouldn’t either, if they weren’t so blinded by their prejudice.” His voice turned irritable. “Please, you think any Hanoverre is going to cook their own food, clean their own clothes, and wash their own floors? Our realm needs those mortals to function.”
My surprise turned to scorn. “They’re human beings, Remis, not cheap labor.”
“Regardless, I’m trying to keep them alive. My orders have not been popular. If the Twenty Houses discover I have no magic to enforce the laws, those soldiers will be the only thing stopping House Hanoverre from taking this realm by force.”
“Why should I believe you? Don’t think I’ve forgotten the threats you made before the Challenging.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I confess, I said some... regrettable things. At the time, you couldn’t use your magic, and a Challenge seemed inevitable. I did not expect you to survive it.”
It was hard to fault him for that—even I hadn’t expected to survive it.
“Until things calm down, this is for the best,” he went on. “If you are not in power, the Crowns and the Twenty Houses may stay their hand. And with war looming, the realm needs a strong leader.”
I arched a brow. “And I am not?”
A withering stare was his only response.
The reproach in his eyes was too much like my own father’s, and my gaze dropped to my lap.
“I could force you,” I said quietly, my words proclaiming a confidence I no longer felt. “I could make you step down. Or kill you, if you refuse.”
“You could,” he agreed. “The army would invade, the Houses would revolt. You could start a civil war. Are you willing to get that much blood on your hands to seize power?”
A lump stuck in my throat. Remis knew all my weaknesses, apparently. And now he was expertly wielding them against me.
“It’s only temporary,” he soothed, eyes crinkling with barely suppressed triumph. “Just until the Crowns agree to complete the coronation ritual. If you stay out of trouble, they may withdraw their objections when the war is over.”
I almost laughed. If he thought I was causing trouble now , he would be apoplectic at what else I had planned.
But I did have one thing working in my favor. If Alixe’s theory was right, delaying my coronation much longer would break down the realm borders and wreak havoc across the continent.
I rose and paced the room. “I’ll go along with this charade and let you play King, but only on two conditions.”
“I’m listening.”
“Make Alixe your High General. She’s more qualified than Aemonn, and her loyalty is to the realm, not either of us. I’ve told her you’re right about the coronation. She’ll respect your authority until it’s complete.”
His eyes narrowed. “I thought Luther was your High General.”
“He was. He’s not anymore.”
His chin lifted, his interest clearly piqued. “And your other condition?”
“Suspend the progeny laws and make no move against the mortals.”
“The Twenty Houses will put up a fight.”
“Then fight back .” I fixed him with a hard glare. “This is non-negotiable, Remis. If anyone hurts the mortals or the half-mortals, you will have a civil war on your hands, and I promise you, that’s blood I have no problem spilling.”
He stood as well, pacing as he quietly pondered. It felt largely for show—he wanted power too much to turn me down.
“I accept,” he said finally, “but without my magic, I cannot make another bonded bargain.”
“Oh, I don’t need a magical bond to hold you to your word.” I smiled. “I can do that all on my own.”
I strode to the door to leave. As my hand closed around the latch, I paused.
“I hope you realize I’m doing this for Luther,” I called out over my shoulder. “Because I love him. And no matter how awful you’ve been to him, I don’t want to be the reason he goes to war with his father.”
A shadow passed over Remis’s face. When he spoke, his voice sounded sad, almost regretful.
“I am not your enemy, Diem,” he said quietly. “Nor my son’s. If only you both could overlook your tempers long enough to see it.”
I fought off a pang of sympathy with all the reasons I had to despise Remis: The scar on Luther’s body. The mother he never got to know. The emotions he was forced to hide.
“Enjoy the throne while you can, Remis.” I tapped my temple. “Just don’t forget who wears the Crown.”