30. Rozrunuuk
Chapter thirty
Rozrunuuk
The Autumn Court
I fashioned the portal for us to arrive in Thea’s bedchambers. Sorry to find out her sister wasn’t in the room. It would have been so much easier to deal with her alone. Thea walked to her closet and withdrew a gown of yellow silk. She tossed the plain cotton dress into the fireplace and watched it burn. A range of emotions flickered over her face. Neither of them could pinpoint what she was feeling being back here in her castle, knowing her sister had betrayed her.
“Did you realize your sister wanted the crown?” I brushed her fingers aside to fasten the buttons on the back of her gown.
Her shoulders lifted and fell as she sighed.
“I take that as a yes.”
She moved out of my reach and picked up her hairbrush. “Melanie has always been unsatisfied with her life.”
“You should have mentioned this to me.”
Her hand moved the brush through her hair. “I would have in time, but I never … I suspected she was behind the assassination attempt at the trials, but I couldn’t prove it, and with the culprit dead, I couldn’t question him. I’d sent a siren with a letter to the alpha of the pack, but I didn’t hear from him. She may have been one of Melanie’s allies in this takeover.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me? Trust me?”
“I wasn’t sure about you, but now I am. Besides, I didn’t think she’d wipe my memory and banish me to Earth.”
“No, I suppose you couldn’t have predicted that.” I stepped closer, took the brush from her, and tossed it on the table. “You’re delaying the inevitable.”
“I am. She’s my sister.”
“You can’t kill her?”
She lifted her chin. “I want to, but I don’t think I can. She’s my twin. A part of me.”
I frowned. “You are separate beings.”
“But we grew together. Part of me can sense her emotions.”
“What do you sense now?”
She shook her head.
I clasped her chin in a firm hold. “Tell me.”
“Power. She’s gloating on power.”
“Where?”
“The throne room.”
“Lead the way, little queen. I’ve got your back.”
She wrenched her chin out of my hold. “Do not kill her.”
I held my hands up. “Unless you give me the order, I shall only shackle her if you need my help. But,” I said, “you will not.”
“You have such faith in me.”
“Of course. You’re my mate. Fate wouldn’t have matched us if you weren’t my equal.”
“We may be equal in bed, but you will always have to defer to me as queen. Sirens won’t accept a king to rule them. Ever.”
She strode for the door without waiting for my answer.
I understood. Demons were the same. Kings were the rulers. Queens was an accessory to be flaunted in a display of power. My brother had yet to claim a queen, but the day would come when fate would send her his way. I hoped she gave him as much trouble as my mate gave me and was just as spectacular.
Thea strode from the room as though her power returned with every step. I couldn’t wait to see her crown back on her head glowing with the ripe red rubies against her blonde hair. I was partial to red. The color fed the rage inside my demon. I kept pace with her, glancing left and right, keeping my senses alert for any threat.
None approached.
Two guards stood outside the massive floor-to-ceiling throne room doors. They crossed their swords over the timber, then glanced at each other in confusion.
“Stand down,” Thea commanded. “And let your queen enter.”
“But,” one stammered. “You’re already inside.”
“How?” the other guard shook her head.
“Now,” she snapped with a click of her teeth.
They hurried to do her bidding as they sheathed their swords and opened the large doors. Inside, every head turned our way. The room was enormous. Great columns lined a row to the throne at the end. Melanie sat on a throne made of jagged obsidian rock and a seat of black fur. Thea’s staff, the one I’d made, balanced against the throne by Melanie’s legs. The gold handle glittered under the candle sconces and the red rubies I’d embedded in the piece winked at me.
My mate would reclaim that too.
“Melanie.” Thea marched down the walkway. Every siren gasped and skittered back from her, their eyes wide and scared.
They should be alarmed. They’d been worshipping an imposter.
“What is the meaning of this?” Melanie said. “Who is this imposter?”
“Imposter,” Thea roared, halting a half-dozen steps from the throne. “You’re the imposter. How dare you use a witch’s glamor to fool everyone into thinking you’re their queen?”
I strode up behind Thea, giving every siren a wary look. Would they believe Thea? Or would they fight to protect the woman they believed was their queen? How many were in on Melanie’s coup?
Murmurs broke out amongst the sirens.
“I’m not using glamor. You are.” Melanie stood and picked up the staff. She waved the luminous gold and glittering rubies at the crowd. “Guards seize this imposter.”
The guards from the door who’d followed us inside stepped up behind us.
I turned to face them, revealing my wings from my back as I did. “Choose cautiously which one you believe for I’ll protect my mate.”
They exchanged another glance and then lowered their swords.
“This is preposterous,” Melanie said. “Look, my sister, Melanie, is right next to me.”
A woman stepped forward, a replica of Melanie. Behind her stood their two handmaidens. Whatever spell Melanie had gained was a good one. She’d glamored not only herself, but two other sirens to fill the positions people would miss.
“Where are your guards?” I whispered to Thea.
“Good question. Where are Arine and Raefa?” she called out.
More whispers rippled through the crowd.
“You two.” I pointed at the guards. “Don’t you think it’s strange the queen’s personal guards aren’t here, you know, being her guards?”
They exchanged another look and then ran from the throne room. At least they exhibited some sense in them.
“She is without a doubt not Raelin.” Thea pointed at the handmaiden standing to the side. “Whoever you are, you will pay for betraying your queen.”
The woman glamoured to look like her handmaiden flinched. Melanie shot her a glare, making her tremble. I flared my wings from my back. The talons were so sharp they would slice heads from bodies. If anyone rushed Thea, they wouldn’t get anywhere near her. Not with me to protect her.
I’d like to slice her sister’s head from her body, but that was Thea’s call.
The guards returned with Thea’s personal guards in tow and the real Raelin. Gasps rippled through the crowd of sirens. The air grew hostile and filled with anticipation of the battle about to unravel.
Raefa bowed to her queen. “Your majesty, we’ve been searching the many realms for you for years.”
Ailine bowed too. “We’re sorry we didn’t protect you. When Raelin and the Beast escaped the dungeon, we hid her. We knew your mate would find you.”
“Your majesty. I’m so happy to see you.” Raelin fell to her knees at Thea’s feet.
The voices of the crowd grew louder after hearing the exchange.
Thea patted her handmaiden’s head with a kind hand.
Thea nodded at Arline and Raefa. They moved to stand on either side of her and drew their swords.
“Melanie,” Thea said. “Whatever spell you’re using, it’s over. Reveal your true self now.”
Melanie flared her wings from her back and flew down from the throne, skittering to a stop in front of Thea. Raelin rushed her, tackled Melanie around her middle, and slammed her onto the floor.
I didn’t see that coming from the quiet handmaiden.
Thea let her wings explode in a golden display of feathers. She wrenched Raelin from Melanie before Melanie recovered. Thea straddled Melanie. The handmaiden gathered up the fallen staff and handed it to Thea. She whacked Melanie over the head with it. The crunch of bone and flesh under the gold was a glorious sound. Blood spurted from Melanie’s forehead.
“Stop,” she cried, lifting her hands to shield herself from another blow.
“Undo the glamor.” Thea leaned down into her face.
Melanie’s eyes skittered to the staff. I didn’t miss the telltale sign.
“Check the inside of the staff,” I said, keeping my distance, otherwise my rage might get the better of me and I’d end up destroying every siren, possibly even the realm.
Thea twisted the end. Four tiny vials slid from the tube and clattered to the floor. Thea handed one to Ailine and Raefa, one to Raelin, and nodded at the other impersonators. They rushed forward. The imposters stumbled back.
I flared my wings. “I wouldn’t run if I was you unless you want to lose your heads and then your lives eventually after many hours of torture.”
The women froze as the bodyguards and handmaiden advanced on them. They grabbed their heads in vicious headlocks and poured the vials down their throats. The air shimmered. Crackling energy rippled over them, then their forms wavered and returned to their original selves.
The crowd roared in anger. “Kill them.”
Thea raised the staff to silence them.
“Drink the potion, Melanie.”
She shook her head and squeezed her lips shut.
Thea’s eyes flickered with sadness, then she ripped Melanie’s throat out with her bare hand and poured the vial down the gaping hole.
The air wavered as blood spurted from the wound. The glamor surrounding Melanie lifted. She looked identical to Thea, but now she didn’t possess any of the queenly poise or elegance. She struggled to speak, attempting to beg, but Thea climbed from her body, hauled her to her knees, and stood behind her.
“I will deal with the traitors. Remove their voice boxes and wings.” She clamped her hands over Melanie’s wings.
And then she sang. Her voice was beautiful and forlorn, full of pain and vengeance. The first time I’d ever heard her sing, her song didn’t affect me as it did other men. Right now, her voice tugged at my heart. Made it swell and beat with a profound love that was all for her. My mate captivated me with her singing. The core of who she was came from her voice. Every one of us understood at this moment why she was the queen. The title wasn’t hers through a right of birth. It was hers because she was the one to rule the sirens with every firm note in her voice. I stood by her side as she wrenched her sister’s wings from her back in a crunch of bone and golden feathers fluttering in the aftermath to land on the bloodied floor. Melanie collapsed onto the floor, unconscious from her vicious wounds. Her wings would regrow. Her voice box, too. None of these injuries were permanent. I longed to take her heart from her body, a surefire way to kill a siren and end the threat to Thea, but the sadness glinting in the corners of her eyes held me back.
Thea removed the crown from her unconscious sister’s head and placed it on her own. Her eyes dared anyone to argue with her. She strode to the throne, her regal gold and now blood-splattered gown rustled with each determined step. Thea paused at the top, staff clutched firmly in her hand. She took her rightful place and sat on the obsidian stone throne.
“Beast,” she called me.
She was magnificent, glowing with all the queenly power inside her little body. The strength it must have taken her to incapacitate her sister and not kill her was phenomenal.
I strode to the throne and dropped a bow at her feet.
“My queen.”