Chapter 37 #2
Yaran looked me in the eye, horror twisting his features.
He stepped back, toppling the chair. Its thud reverberated in the suddenly silent room as I advanced with deadly intent.
‘My liege, please. You… you must understand. I… I was misled. When I saw the marriage contract… I would never….’ he stuttered, stumbling back, tripping over the furniture.
His body crashed to the floor, but he still tried to crawl away in terror.
‘Marriage contract? A forgery. Ernesto planned to replace me! Ask Lady Tivala. She was an innocent pawn in a madman’s plans.’ My hand shot forth, seizing his neck. With the Wild Magic burning inside me, lifting him took no effort at all.
‘I didn’t know… I didn’t…’ I squeezed tighter, cutting him off. I quashed the rush of pleasure when Yaran fought for his next breath.
‘I would grant you a blade – a clean, honourable death – but you called her a bitch… my Viper.’ My hand flexed, the anger rising in waves of berserk fury.
Because of men like him, she’d been forced to endanger herself, and he dared…
Golden fire danced in my vision as weeks of pent-up worry and anger finally found a target
‘Your Majesty?’ Riordan’s muffled voice cut through the fog that enveloped my mind. Yaran was always meant to be an example. His death here would have a smaller but more meaningful audience.
‘The royal council will stay seated, or will share his fate.’ My voice rang out, rising above the sound of scraping chairs and panicked voices.
I turned, throwing the thrashing Yaran onto the table, but not before my fingers grasped his voice box, ripping it out of his neck.
Blood sprayed across shocked faces. Everyone stayed glued to their seats, and for a long moment, Yaran’s gurgling and flailing was the only sound in the room.
The council members stared at me in utter terror, their gazes darting from the body to my bloodied hands.
Then I saw it: the realisation that was that I was done dancing to their tune and that I had made my stand.
I was the Beast of Dagome. If this was the price of saving my country and the woman I loved, I would gladly pay it.
‘The woman he called a bitch is Roksana Regnav, Poison Master of the Dark Brotherhood, Vivamancer, and your future queen.’ My voice was cold, calculating, and final.
It cut through their panic and muttering.
I looked at those who governed my country, and my nostrils flared when I proffered my ultimatum.
‘Your choice is simple: respect her or die.’
I want to meet her. Cinared’s voice in my head threw me off balance, and I blinked, taking a step back from the table. In the stunned silence, Tova’s voice was loud and flippant.
‘So where do I sit?’ he said. I looked at the dwarf, who grinned at me as if I’d suddenly become his best friend.
‘Wherever you wish, Master Orenson. Several seats will be vacated soon.’ I gestured to the captain of the palace guards, who already knew the names of those he was going to arrest.
After the gruesome execution, there was no resistance.
Those whose names were called left peacefully rather than remain in my presence.
At the end, the servants removed Yaran’s body.
They wiped the table clean of the marquise’s blood, while the remaining council members stayed seated, as if someone had nailed their backsides to the chairs.
Of the thirty royal council members, only twenty remained. I trusted several of them; others maintained neutrality, and a few I would never trust, even if I had no proof of their complicity.
I turned to the chancellor. ‘I have filled three vacant positions. I leave it to you and your compatriots to recommend six trustworthy replacements for the rest.’
‘Seven,’ he said, flinching when I looked at him.
‘Six. One is for Lady Roksana. Ensure those chosen are worthy to be here. I don’t care who they are, but if I find out coin played a role in your decision, I’m sure the new chancellor will make better decisions.’
The man sat down heavily, and for a moment, I felt a pang of guilt. He wasn’t a bad official, but he was set in his ways and struggled to adjust to how I handled things.
‘Yes, sire.’ He didn’t look me in the eye. Nobody did, and I exhaled slowly. The purge was completed, and I had the utter and undivided attention of the remaining council members.
It took them a long time to mould me into a tyrant, I thought, their fear scratching over my skin each time I shifted position.
Cinared’s presence, his silent approval, had been lurking at the back of my mind, easing my conscience. I see your heart, Reynard. His whisper was warm, like an autumn fire, and I liked what I saw.
Is that supposed to make me feel better?
I asked, but deep inside, I was grateful.
I couldn’t hide who I was from the dragon, and found both comfort and clarity in our bond.
If I’d known as a child how it felt, I would have begged my parents to throw me into the Cavern of Choosing together with my brother.
‘We have weeded out the rot in our ranks. Now it’s time to discuss an urgent matter,’ I said, pausing to let the noblemen focus on my voice. ‘Many of you haven’t heard the newest discovery involving the Wey Gates, but it is a threat that lies dormant under our very noses.’
‘What threat?’ a minor noble asked, swallowing hard when my gaze locked with his.
I nodded towards Tova. ‘Tova, Riordan, please detail your findings.’
Tova nodded, slapping his hands on the table.
‘Right, so! Noble lords and ladies, in a few short words, my now deposed king was working alongside Lord Tivala and a fae spy to create a portal humans can operate.’ He described the portal mechanics, tapping his stubby fingers on the table.
When his explanation was met with empty glares or disinterest, he said, ‘Listen to me, you clueless dimwits. Tivala isn’t creating a new wonder, he’s using them to bring Tangra onto our land, so maybe you should pay attention. ’
I leaned back in the chair as he detailed the construction and appearance, before Irsha made them gasp by revealing what he’d seen and experienced around Tivalaran’s srebrec pillars.
‘Does that mean… the mages are powerless?’ The chancellor’s hands were shaking as he reached for a drink, and I nodded solemnly.
‘Not just mages; even dragons cannot get close. Not until someone disarms them. I will need to conscript regular soldiers to bring them down while fighting a winter war. Until they do, Tangra are free to create an unassailable beachhead in Tivalaran,’ I said, giving the council a moment to digest my words.
They murmured to each other, but ultimately declared their unanimous support.
‘Will this be enough?’ asked the man I remembered shared a border with Tivalaran. Before I answered, Inga interjected.
‘No. Not if my father can use the gates to bring enough Tangrean soldiers here. We are working on stopping them, but those plans and their schemata are still in my father’s office.’ She sighed, then squared her shoulders, bracing for a barrage of questions.
‘Then we must retrieve them. Or the Brotherhood should!’ a man shouted from the far corner.
‘There are plans in motion, but until we get them, our research is pure speculation.’ She looked at me, and when I nodded, cold calculation entered her eyes. ‘I can return to Tivalaran. I’ll tell my father the Brotherhood kidnapped me, but I escaped.’
‘No. If anyone has to go, I will. At least I know what we’re looking for,’ Tova said.
When I looked at the dwarf, his expression was so thunderous that I had no doubts, even if I tried to send Inga back, this argument would end up on the blade of his axe.
‘There is no point to this discussion. The king’s shadow and my men are already working on retrieving it,’ Irsha said calmly, but his body was more tense than I expected, and the deep crease between his eyebrows contradicted his otherwise controlled demeanour.
He’s hiding something… The thought that Irsha knew more than he was sharing was a nail scratching down a chalkboard, but I forced myself to finish the council session.
Riordan sensed the change in my mood and answered all the remaining questions while I sat observing the Blade Master, who met my gaze with an unreadable expression.
‘Irsha, please stay a moment longer,’ I said, and quietly muttered a curse when his hand reached for his missing daggers.
I was right; the Grand Master’s disciple was hiding something.
The room emptied too slowly for my liking.
Still, I didn’t rush things. My breathing deepened with each exhale as I used my time to reinforce the control I’d need.
When we were finally alone, I asked, ‘What aren’t you telling me? ’
‘I’m like an open book, Your Majesty. Besides, what reason I would have to hide anything from you?’ he answered, looking me dead in the eye.
I didn’t trust that look, vividly remembering the look on Boyan’s face when he’d lied, telling me he didn’t know who’d disfigured me.
‘Irsha, we can talk, or I can call Riordan back and have him rip the information from that thick skull of yours.’ I paused when his jaw tightened.
He said nothing, but his silence was louder than words.
Not just his silence, but the way his pupils narrowed, the pulse on his neck became ever so slightly faster, and the smile he forced never reached his eyes.
‘Irsha, just tell me,’ I said through clenched teeth. ‘Is it about Sana?’
His face twisted with pain before he pulled a scrap of paper out and passed it to me. ‘I got it this morning. It was written a week ago.’ He paused when I snatched the paper.
I tried to read it, but the message was coded. In the end, I threw it at him, my body shaking. ‘If she’s hurt, and I could’ve prevented it…’
There it was – the anger, the fear, the first genuine feelings that slipped from under the mask of a Grand Master’s indifference. ‘Do you think I haven’t considered every possibility already?’ He pushed his chair away, standing up abruptly, but somehow, I was faster.
I caught his shoulder, preventing him from leaving, and in a blur, the tip of the dagger was at my chin, as if that would hold me back.
‘Do not underestimate her, Your Majesty. Roksana is smart and strong, and… the best poisoner this realm ever had. She will find her way home.’ He sounded so certain, yet the tip of his dagger trembled, scratching my skin.
‘Irsha, for the love of gods, where is she?’ The pain in his eyes stole my breath away, the beast rising to the surface, far beyond my control.
I needed to know. Fear flashed through my veins, and I roared in his face, uncaring that the dagger pierced my skin when I pulled him closer.
‘Where. Is. She?!’
The world crashed down on me with his whispered answer.
‘In Tivala’s dungeon.’