Chapter 25 #2
“He took me to a house out past the farmlands and I’ve been there all this time.
Thea was taken in my place and told to pretend to be me to secure the ransom, but.
..well, he came back two days ago after you learned of Amon’s forces being destroyed, and he was like a madman, his plan unraveling before his eyes.
I managed to finally saw through the ropes with a nail that I pried from a floorboard, and I.
..I attacked him.” I let out a long, shuddering breath, reaching my fingers to my battered and bloody face.
“I should have known better. Without my Gift, I’m nothing.
He fought back and I thought he was going to kill me, but I managed to get a knife and. ..and...”
Barony grips my chin and holds my gaze. I let a single tear slip from my eye, my lip trembling ever so gently. A playhouse star, indeed.
“You did what you had to do. What I am proud of you for doing.” He studies me for a long moment. “It was different,” he says, understanding my feigned fear and confusion. It was different killing with my hands than with my Gift, something I’ve done time and time ago without a second thought.
I nod and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
“He said that Tybalt planned to marry me so that you couldn’t take me back, that he was aware of your plan and that your people there had been.
..compromised.” I see the gears inside his mind turning, putting the pieces together.
This part is actually true. Tybalt did plan to marry me and the men Barony had in place within Marrowood to help get me back had been found out and thrown in the dungeons. But it only helps in my plan.
“Because if you were Queen of Marrowood, you’d have to remain there. I couldn’t bring you back here.” He shakes his head. “It’s smart, actually. I’ll give that to the old bastard. But you won’t be going there at all now.”
“Well, what if we let him do it?”
“What?” His brows draw down and he shifts to face me fully. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...” I take a deep breath and shift my shoulders back.
“What if you send me to him, he marries me, making me queen of Marrowood—and then we take Tybalt out of the equation altogether.” I give him a moment to think it through, to understand what I’m saying before I push a little harder.
“We would only need to swap out this collar for a fake...” I can see the idea taking shape in his mind, the merits of it, what it could mean for him.
“I haven’t been in the thick of this Alliance business, the coming war, but Hastings made me want to be.
I don’t want to be watching from the side, helpless, any longer.
I don’t want to be a pawn or a bargaining chip.
I want to be part of this, Barony. I should be a part of this.
You need me, you need my power. And, if I marry Marrowood. ..”
His eyes alight with that dark amusement that always endeared him to me. His darkness doesn’t reach my own, but he has moments when it gets close.
“If you marry Marrowood, I shall need your kingdom...Your Highness.” His lips curl as he bows his head.
He would never give me the title of his queen, would never share his own kingdom, but if I can give him another to control, that changes things.
His greed for more, always more, will outweigh his worry for sharing with me.
“Once I have Marrowood, you and I will marry and you’ll rule two kingdoms.” He quirks a brow.
“I know you never wanted to marry me before, but this is different. It will gain you an entire kingdom. And why should we stop there? Between my power and what you’ll have soon from the Gifteds—I assume Hastings was correct that the experiments are almost ready for you to reap the benefits yourself? ”
“Yes, that’s right.” He has that calculating look in his eyes, the one that tells me he’s taking this all seriously, that I’ve got him inside the trap. I just have to wait for the perfect moment to pull the noose tight...
“So, between the two kingdoms and all of our power, we can take the entire empire. We can—”
He laughs lightly, interrupting me, but I can tell he’s intrigued. “You’ve got quite a plan already set out in that beautiful head of yours, don’t you?” I smile at him, the wicked, dark smile that he’s always been drawn to. “My cunning little ember,” he says softly, pride shining in his black eyes.
“I want you to have everything, Barony. The entire empire, and I want to be by your side when you take it. My only request—” I barely keep my lip from curling in disgust at having to use the word request instead of demand, but I know I must continue to play the part of submissive, doting Gifted, “–is that my Gift remains mine. I will burn all of our enemies to the ground with it, I promise you, and I will bring you every damned Gifted within Duskthorne if that’s what you desire.
You will have all of their power soon enough. But my Gift remains with me.”
His eyes narrow ever so slightly, and I can see the greed for what I have, but he smiles and nods.
“Of course, my dear. You will remain the Flame of Lyanna, always.”
My lips curl upward. He leans in to kiss my forehead, tapping me gently on the end of my nose with his fingertip as he pulls away. His next words make my smile falter and a cold, hollow feeling settle in my chest.
“Besides, now that I've seen what your sister is capable of—that's the power I want for my own.”