Chapter 76
Chapter
Seventy-Six
EVIE
M y tendrils danced among the flames until I heard enough shocked voices in the crowd. When they reached a crescendo, I took out one of Elysia’s exploding beads and flicked it into the fire.
A great big blast erupted, strong enough that the force of it pushed me back, even with my power shielding me.
I grit my teeth against the heat, steadied myself, and jumped through the blaze.
My heinous replica had long since turned to ash, the sides of the golden sarcophagus already melting, but my crown remained stubbornly intact. I wondered if my switchblade had also survived.
Transporting her body from the kitchen to Kaya’s carriage had been a pain. No matter how gently Adara and I handled the body, more of the replica’s fingers turned to ash. By the time the fire had engulfed her, the nose had already started to crumble.
In the cover of the smoke, I’d crouched right out of view, ready for my moment.
Whether I was ready for it or not, it had come.
Zandyr had done his part, now it was my turn.
I landed on the first step, swaying more than my tense muscles demanded. My power retreated instantly back inside of me.
In front of all the Blood Brotherhood, I rose in my full armor, shaky on my feet.
“Zandyr?” I called out, mellowing my voice.
He rushed up the stairs and caught me in his arms.
“Oh, you’re good,” he said, pride coating his thoughts.
“Learned from the best.”
He picked me up and carried me down the stairs, under Banu and Valuta’s incredulous gazes.
“The Blue Queen is alive!” someone shouted from the crowd.
“She survived the fire once more, like only the gods’ champions can!” That had sounded suspiciously like Leesa, and I was grateful for it.
I made a show of hiding my face in Zandyr’s chest as I saw Nylen’s body.
“You can snuggle me any day,” he said.
“After we’re done with these two, I will.”
He placed me back on my feet gently, keeping a strong hand on my waist. For support, nothing else, of course.
“The fates have truly been merciful today,” I chanted, hoping my words didn’t shake as much as my knees. “The Oracle spoke true. I will live a long life and my heir will sit on the throne of the Blood Brotherhood.”
Honestly, how did Banu and Valuta have the cheek to do this self-aggrandizing act for decades ? These dramatic proclamations, the open arms, the exaggerated tone, they all left a bitter taste in my mouth.
But we had to fight fire with fire.
Literally.
“The gods have listened to your prayers.” My gaze swept over the civilians. I’d heard their chants and seen them touch the coffin reverently as it passed through the city. “The poison has not defeated me. The Dragon’s powers drew it out. My Vegheara blood, mixed with his, was too strong.”
“Nice touch,” Zandyr said.
The pain in his chest hadn’t lessened, though he didn’t show it.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, pretending to need his support. “Your Clan is too obsessed with blood and strength not to use that.”
“You asked for another witness.” Zandyr nodded at me. “Tell everyone what happened, my love.”
Love.
Banu and Valuta still stared my way, shocked. I thought I saw him mutter, “Bullshit”, but I couldn’t be sure through all those hairs in his moustache.
“I was getting ready for bed and placed my crown on the table.” I took a deep breath, as if centering myself. “I saw a shadow creeping up on me. When I turned, it was Nylen. I thought he, as the advisors’ guard, was there to deliver a message. Instead, he attacked me.”
“He said–” I licked my lips. “He said he didn’t want to kill me, but Banu and Valuta forced him to.”
“Lies!” Valuta hissed, her dutiful mask now gone. Good. Let everyone see her true self. “This is a farce!”
“You all saw her body and the flames,” Zandyr argued. “This isn’t the first time she has survived a fire.”
“Trickery.” Banu bared his teeth. “And the truth potion will reveal that. She also needs to drink it!”
Now that, we needed to avoid at all costs. Because the truth was I had not been in that sarcophagus and I didn’t have Banu and Valuta’s experience at bending the truth.
“You need to pay for your crimes,” I said. “Against the Clan and against your own.”
Banu furrowed his brows, confused. But Valuta sniffed the danger heading their way. A glint of true fear shined in her eyes–which only intensified as Kylian and Myron returned.
They carried vials of the truth potion, yes.
But they also brought Kaya’s dowry chest.
It was as glittering as in Zandyr’s memories–and reeked just as much.
Valuta gripped Banu’s shoulder as the warriors set the chest down in the middle of the square, right next to Nylen’s body, for all to see.
“Recognize this?” I asked, my voice as deadly as Zandyr’s had been. Plotting my death was one thing–I was a stranger from an enemy Clan who stood in the way of their grandiose goals.
But torturing their own daughter was a crime nobody could look past.
Banu and Valuta had wanted proof.
This was incontestable.
“What is that?” Valuta asked, feigning ignorance.
“It’s not my place to tell. You asked for witnesses,” Zandyr declared.
On cue, the carriage door opened, and Kaya walked out, back stiff, face splotchy with her tears.
She’d been crying on and off since I talked to her and asked her if she could testify against her parents.
That had been the hardest conversation of my life.
All she had to do was reveal the truth of her upbringing, nothing more, nothing less, I’d told her. Banu and Valuta’s powers might have activated something in her mind to prevent her from striking against them directly, but she had been able to tell Zandyr what had happened to her without any repercussions.
Kaya had only relented after Vexa had looked her way with pleading eyes–and I promised Banu and Valuta would have a fair trial and would not be killed by our hands.
After this spectacle, they were not getting away for anything in this world, but they would never be free again. Rotting in a cell deep in the earth, stripped of their riches and status, was a more heinous fate for them than death.
They would spend the rest of their days in prison, yes–but they would have days and Kaya still cared about that, for whatever reason.
The fury Valuta radiated at seeing her own daughter walk toward them was greater than the one she’d sent my way.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. “Remember your place, Kaya.”
Kaya didn’t reply.
She didn’t even look at her parents.
She walked up to Myron, took one of the vials and downed the truth potion in one gulp, for all to see. She gingerly touched her fingers to her lips, hesitant to say the truth even now.
“That is my dowry chest, the one my parents used to cage me in for days on end,” she said, almost mechanically. She had detached herself from the situation, but still pushed through.
Everyone in the Blood Brotherhood liked the Jewel–and would believe her words.
She’d finally understood that her parents needed to be removed from power so they wouldn’t ruin more lives.
I suspected Vexa being attacked again had also swayed her. As long as the advisors had any modicum of power, they would never be truly safe and free.
“It had been happening since I was a child. And continued until Zandyr asked for my hand in marriage.” Kaya gulped. “They beat me. They starved me. They laughed when I pleaded with them to stop.”
“My girl.” Valuta’s voice was meant to sound gentle, but there was barely leashed fury there. The kind that promised more torture and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “You’re confused.”
“I have drank the potion,” Kaya said, emotionless. “I speak the truth.”
Valuta tried again. “They have fed you lies and made you believe heinous, awful things.”
Myron yanked the chest’s lid open, its terrifying interior now visible. The ugly marks Kaya had left inside in her desperation were plain for all to see.
The crowd gasped as one.
Valuta’s face fell.
Banu didn’t say anything. He kept looking at the pavement, nails digging into his palms. If this was his show of remorse, it was an unacceptable one after everything he’d done.
“I’m not lying,” Kaya said with more calm than I could have ever mustered. She dangled another vial of truth potion, this one still full. “Your turn, mother .”
Deadly silence settled around us.
I could smell the expectation and shock in the air.
The civilians stood on tip-toes to see everything unfold.
The warriors gripped their weapons tighter.
The Sages pursed their lips and averted their gazes when Valuta looked their way.
Nobody would protect someone who’d done that to their own child.
My gaze didn’t flinch once from the advisors. I saw the exact moment Banu gave Valuta the smallest nod.
Unleashed, her face contorted with rage.
“All you had to do in your miserable life was sit on your back and open your legs, and you couldn’t even do that.” She spit out at her daughter, before turning her rage toward me. “And you–I should have killed you long ago.”
Chaos erupted at once.
Banu roared and slapped his palm onto the pavement, leaving behind a bloody imprint.
My heart stuttered. It was the same symbol which had been etched on Owyn’s house.
The real one, not the fakes Goose and Leesa had painted on the Capital houses.
He hadn’t been twisting his palms because of shame–he’d been scratching the symbol in his own flesh.
Vile until the end.
“ Blaze ,” Banu hissed at the same time Valuta yelled, “Attack!”
Fire, unlike any I’d ever seen, burst from the symbol and barreled our way.