Chapter Sixty-Seven
Cadence
The darkness peeled away, and I squinted into the light as my vision slowly returned. Even before I saw him, I felt it; the power in the air, restless and waiting. It was then that I realized it wasn’t true darkness that had encased me.
Not exactly.
Ryker unfurled his wings, and his shadows rippled before retreating beneath his skin.
“Cadence, are you all right?”
The sound of my brother’s voice made my lips tremble, and I choked back a sob as my gaze found Callum’s.
He was unharmed, peering down at me through thick lashes that did little to hide his concern. Wordlessly, I reached for him, my arms tightening around him as though he might vanish if I let go.
A wet, ragged cough shattered the silence, drawing my eyes to where the King was sprawled on the floor, his hands pressed to the bloody wound in his abdomen.
“You thought you could lay a finger on my wife.” Ryker’s voice trembled with his fury as he glared down at his father. “MY WIFE!”
It took me a heartbeat too long to understand what had happened.
The King’s hatred of me had driven him to strike, even if it meant incurring the wrath of his eldest son.
He’d tried to cut me down amidst the chaos of the battle, but Ryker had intervened, and now his father was fighting for his life with every ragged inhale.
The surrounding guards gripped their swords, but one look from Ryker made them retreat. They knew what the King had yet to comprehend: his reign was over.
“She —” his words fell away as he coughed again, spittle flying from his mouth and staining his lips crimson.
“She, what, Father?” Despite his earlier outburst, Ryker spoke with an unnerving calm; the quiet menace made the hairs on my neck bristle.
“She… ruined… everything,” he said between gasping breaths.
“Oh, you mean your plans to leash me, to keep me in line?”
“Her… father —”
“I know exactly who her father is,” Ryker growled.
“If that’s your attempt to pit me against her, you’ve grossly miscalculated the weight of your secrets.
” Ryker dropped to his knee, his face a mere inch from his father’s.
“And don’t delude yourself, Father. Any influence you exerted over me died the second your hands fell on my brother.
You may have forgotten our childhood, but I never will. ”
“Son,” he said, his tone desperate. “I am your father, your king. Fetch the healers, and once I am recovered, we can talk about this, man to man. Or do you intend to let me bleed out on the ground?”
“No.” Ryker tossed his sword to his father as he rose from the floor. “I’m going to kill you on your feet. Now get up.”
I saw the exact moment he realized there was no swaying Ryker. His eyes narrowed, and his upper lip curled as he glared in my direction. “All this for a Wraith Borne whore?”
“I warned you,” Ryker said, his palm wrapping around the dagger at his hip and pulling it free. “I told you if you sent men after my wife again, I’d rip your throat out.”
The King staggered to his feet as he gripped Ryker’s sword.
“I don’t make idle threats.”
The King stared at Ryker, his knuckles white on the hilt of his blade. He looked smaller now, less like a ruler and more like cornered prey.
Ryker tossed his weapon from hand to hand as if daring his father to make the first move.
The King lunged, his feet dragging, but his blade was steady in his grip. Ryker raised his dagger, and the sound of steel clashing echoed off the stone walls. The King swung again, frantic and animalistic. But Ryker met him blow for blow, baring his teeth.
“You were both so weak,” his father hissed. “You, because you cared too much for your brother, and him,” he said, raising his chin in Riordan’s direction, “because his mother coddled him too much.”
A dark chuckle rumbled up Ryker’s throat. “We weren’t the weak ones, Father, you were. You tried to break us, but you only made us stronger.”
The King snarled as he sprang forward. Blood gushed from his wound, and a crimson river flowed behind him with every step. He swung his sword at Ryker’s head, but Ryker ducked, dragging his dagger across the King’s side.
He howled in pain, clutching the fresh injury as blood poured through his fingers.
Ryker tilted his head, examining his father. “What, no witty taunt to break my spirit?”
The King’s mouth twisted, and I could see the hatred in his eyes.
For his own son.
“You’re nothing without me,” he said.
Ryker grinned. “Then this will be a mercy, won’t it? You won’t be around to see me fail.”
They circled one another, and Ryker’s wings exploded from his back, flexing behind him. There was something beautiful about the way he didn’t bother hiding the monster beneath his skin.
The King slashed his blade at Ryker’s chest, but he batted it aside as if it were nothing.
The next attack was slower, less coordinated.
Ryker let him get close, then drove his dagger into the King’s stomach, twisting it hard.
Blood frothed at the corners of his mouth, and his breath came in short, wet gasps.
Ryker leaned into his father’s space as he pressed his lips to the shell of his ear. “All hail our illustrious King,” he said before he sank his teeth into his throat, tearing it free.
A single sharp wail rent the air, then silence fell as the King surrendered his final breath.
Understanding crashed over me like a tidal wave.
The warning was never mine. It wasn’t about Callum. The banshee’s cry had foretold the King’s demise, and I’d only heard it because of… the bond.
Relief, so heady it almost brought me to my knees, engulfed me, and I swayed on my feet before powerful arms encircled my waist.
“I’ve got you, Temptress,” Ryker said, and I let myself sink into the warmth of his body.
But any sense of comfort was snatched away as a slow clap sounded from behind us. The sound reverberated around the throne room, sharp and mocking.
I twisted, expecting another assassin. Instead, my father stood at the edge of the carnage, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes glittering with something dangerous.
“I suppose I should thank you for making my task here easier,” he said, grinning. “Although I must confess, I’m a little disappointed. I expected more from the Night Cursed Prince.”
My hands balled into fists as I remembered what Ryker had revealed about my father’s taunts while he made my mate witness the torture of his younger brother.
He would pay for what he had done. I would make sure of it.
The sound of boots hitting stone filled the hall as dozens of Wraith Borne flooded the chamber.
My father’s gaze shifted to me, lingering there as if he could peel away the layers of my mind and read my innermost thoughts. “Daughter.” His eyes widened as he took in the man at my back. “Nephew, this is a surprise.”
“I wish I could say the same, Uncle, but Cadence has already regaled me with your tale of resurrection. It wasn’t flattering.”
My father laughed without mirth. “I’m sure it wasn’t, but your cousin is blinded by the undue influence of the mate bond. You are not so encumbered. So, what do you say, Callum, ready to join the victors’ side?”
My brother scoffed, his revulsion seeping from him like a deadly fog. “After how you treated my sister? I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”
“So predictable,” my father said with a sigh. “I guess that means we’ll do things the hard way.”