Chapter 24 #2
“It was my pleasure.” Zek sweeps his hand in front of him and bows at the waist. Enormous cream-colored wings speckled in brown unfurl from his back. He lifts head and his bright blue eyes narrow in on me. That mischievous smile I found so endearing graces his face, but now it’s laced with malice.
“No,” I cry, clasping my hand over my mouth.
He doesn’t need to completely shift for me to know I’m looking at Micah’s murderer.
Every piece of this puzzle is coming together in my head.
When the carriage exploded, he didn’t run to my aid.
He appeared after the danger passed. The night Kyron’s guard was slaughtered, Zek supposedly sat outside my door, but he was actually nailing an innocent man to the wall.
The hawk that waited for Kyron and me at Basecamp was him. He knew where to find me.
Zek was never taken. He returned to his people.
A scuffle ensues behind me. My father and Leif have wrestled Borin to the ground. He wails and thrashes like a rabid beast while tears streak down his face. The man who killed his husband stands before him, and there is nothing he can do to avenge his death.
My father wraps Borin in his arms and rocks him back and forth. “You will get your revenge. I promise you will. But not in this place, my friend.”
“I will kill you,” Borin yells through his sobs.
Zek narrows his eyes and snarls like Borin’s threat is nothing more than an irritating fly.
My shock wanes, and my curiosity takes control. “How did you become a Lucent guard?”
“It’s a funny story, but sort of long.” He props an arm on the back of Esmeray’s throne and looks at his fingernails.
“Condensed version: I wanted to be king. Like I told you before, our people require a notable act along with killing most of the other competitors for that to happen. I thought, shit, I can find a way to weasel into the Lucent guard, prove I’m the best, get a prime assignment and send all the intel back to my people, so they could plot to take your land.
Guarding you was the cherry on top. I was hoping to fuck you, but you know, the whole pining for your parah thing really messed that up. ”
“You son of a bitch!”
Kyron charges up the stairs, and I rush to grab the back of his jacket, pulling him back down beside me.
I entwine my fingers with his and feel the rage coursing through him.
The emotion is so strong that it knocks the breath from my lungs.
I push away Kyron’s gift, needing some space before it suffocates me.
My head clears, and I return my attention to the queen.
“You still haven’t told me the terms of the treaty,” I snarl.
“Sorry. Everything is so intertwined, and I get carried away with all the drama. The terms are simple. I reunite Pliris as its queen, and Allaji gets Cyffreds to work their fields, so they can continue to carry on like the animals they are.”
My heart hammers against my ribs, and dread rumbles in the pit of my stomach. My tongue thickens, making my next question almost impossible to ask. “What Cyffreds do the Allaji get?”
“The Lucent Cyffreds, of course.”
“No!” I bolt up the stairs and grab Esmeray around the neck. My fingers squeeze, and she claws at them, trying to get loose. Greer and Kyron grab me, pulling me away from her.
“You are bound to a treaty with Lucent,” I say through gritted teeth, fighting to get free.
Esmeray rubs the red finger marks on her throat, gasping for breath.
“Our treaty had an expiration date. Once we were no longer at war with the Allaji, it was void. We are no longer at war with them, Lucent is. But not for long. The Allaji are rounding up your useless subjects as we speak and carting them to their new home. As far as the Khiros are concerned, they will fall in line when they see all I have to offer them.”
I hate her with every fiber of my being. She said Micah was a coward, but she hides in the safety of the sanctuary. He was fighting a war, and she can’t even face me without the Statera’s protection.
With an eerie calm, Kyron says, “We won’t let you get away with this. I will fight against this until your last breath if I must, and when you’re gone, I will undo it all.”
The queen dips her head, and dozens of warriors converge upon the dais. They race up the steps, blocking us from everyone on the floor and trapping us like mice in a cage.
Knowing she has the upper hand, Esmeray doesn’t fear approaching her son.
She runs her hand over the side of his face.
The gesture is so tender and motherly that I almost forget how wicked she is.
Her words are soft, melodic as she says, “Don’t worry, son.
I will free you from this bond, make you forget Raelle Mansi ever existed.
I will pluck the memories of her and Lucent from your mind one by one.
And when I’m done, I will reteach you to be a strong ruler like our ancestors.
You will be an entirely new man, free of the absurdities caused by the parah bond. ”
Six warriors tackle Kyron to the floor. He screams and thrashes as they struggle to pin his arms and legs.
My panic surges along with the shouts of my people below us.
If Esmeray uses her Cognus power to erase Kyron’s memories, the future of our kingdom and all of Pliris is doomed.
Cyffreds will be under the control of others, and not only to the Allaji, but to Pliris.
Power-hungry Khiros will drain their dormant gifts to satisfy their cravings. And Micah’s death will be in vain.
The queen kneels behind Kyron’s head and lowers her outstretched fingers to her son’s temples.
“No, this can’t be happening,” Greer says in a trance-like state, and her fingers dig into my arm.
She has taught me so much about strength and sacrifice.
There isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her friends.
She would even forgive them when they hurt her in ways that leave deep scars on her soul.
Every blade she sheaths on her body is a meager representation of her strength. Every. Single. Blade.
I snatch the dagger at her thigh and barrel through the warriors, grasping onto an Electro’s power.
My fingers spark with the blue lightning as I electrocute those standing in my way.
Esmeray’s hands brush Kyron’s head, and I fling myself at her, knocking her back.
The blade slides through her breast, scraping against bone as it pierces her heart.
I hold my buzzing hand over my head and create a dome of lightning around her and me.
“This is for every Cyffred you have imprisoned. And this”—I turn the knife a click—“is for Micah.”
Esmeray gasps and blood trails from the corner of her mouth.
She smiles, and a gurgled laugh rumbles from her lips.
“I didn’t mention the last term of the treaty, did I?
You. I promised to give him you. The Statera will forsake you for spilling my blood here, and you will be nothing more than the Allaji king’s whore. ”
I lift my trembling chin and clench my teeth. “And you will be dead. May you dwell in the darkness for eternity.”
“I’ll see you there,” she gasps.
I twist the dagger, and the Stigian queen jerks before releasing her last breath.
Bile rises in my throat, and my body convulses. I let go of the electric shield, bracing my bloody hands to the ground and gasping for my next breath. I won’t regret it. I did what I had to do to save so many.
“Raelle?”
I lift my head to find Kyron crouching next to me.
His brows knit together with worry, and his focus only on me.
He holds a shaking hand out to me, beckoning me closer.
His shadows join his efforts, slithering around me in calming strokes.
I can’t recall ever needing to touch him as much as I do now.
The base of his neck looks like a safe place to rest my head, and his body is sturdy and will keep me grounded.
I can hide from these horrors in the circle of his arms.
With urgent need, I shift to my hands and knees to close the space between us.
My palm reaches his cheek when a head-splitting screech echoes through the sanctuary.
Fear has me scurrying forward, desperate to make it into his arms. My shuffling knees and hands leave the ground in a swoop, and sharp claws dig into my waist. The black marble floor whisks by as does an enormous ball of fire.
The hawk glides to its side, clearing the double doors of the sanctuary with me in its clutches.
My panic renders the Eporri useless, and by the time I find a semblance of control, it’s too late. We soar through the sky, and I’m too high to feel the Statera’s energy coursing through anyone.
I hang limp in Zek’s talons, uncaring about the ground far below.
My hair blows in the wind, the strands clinging to the tears streaming down my face.
The price I paid was steep, almost too steep.
I lost it all in a matter of minutes: my crown, my family, my parah.
Even the creator of my life force has abandoned me.
The only shred of hope I have is knowing the people of Pliris will finally know peace and equality under the rule of their new king.