Chapter Twenty-Five #3
When Ama pointed to the King of Sin’s seat, he practically sprinted away from her.
She looked around the room, pausing on Nico for a minute, before addressing all of us.
I didn’t miss the hurt in her eyes when she’d looked at the Incubus.
Yeah, he was going to suffer for that admission that he had been told to seduce her.
“If you don’t mind, House of Runes, I would like to speak before you do,” she said emotionlessly as everyone watched her with equal measures of fear and awe.
The awe might have been from the six of us men, to be fair.
When they didn’t respond, she nodded sharply and stood in front of the podium, clearly trying to sort through what to say.
Or, at least appearing to—I knew Ama knew exactly what to say.
“I had mulled quite some time over who to vote for, since I can’t vote for our own house,” she stated softly before looking at the House of Fallen.
“My first thought was the House of Fallen because, despite their clear distaste for me, I can’t deny that they are fantastic leaders.
I had also considered the House of Hellfire, as their military capabilities and strategy far outweigh any of the other houses.
Then, of course, there was the House of Shadows, which is made up of some of the most level-headed and calm individuals I know. ”
Except when I imagined stripping her bare and devouring every inch of her. But sure, calm.
“But do you know who I never considered?” She offered a tight smile to Runes and Sin.
“Both of your houses, and surprisingly, it's not because of your open hatred of me. No, it's because, while you preach about purity, you dirty your hands every day. You are the ones who can’t earn anything fairly, always cheating or scheming your way into positions of power. Just like you did when you became additional houses to this realm. You were never meant to be, and you know it.”
Her eyes flashed to me, and I nodded. The words had an obvious impact, and the entire room seemed to freeze.
Then Nico shifted to stare at his parents in confusion.
Finias seemed unsurprised, but I could tell Damien, Drayven, and Colt were all startled by this revelation.
I had made a promise to my parents to never reveal the truth, but this had been the right time.
It proved one of many of the motivations for what they had done.
“Last night,” she breathed out and chuckled humorlessly, “I had thought something was off at the ball. As you know, your sons are reasonable and level-headed men, but last night, everyone’s emotions were heightened and messy because King Marcelo was trying to play all of us. Trying to make all of us look bad.”
The man didn’t deny it, which was essentially a confirmation. In fact, his smile almost made me think he was proud of his actions, and it filled me with a blood lust that had nothing to do with his magic.
“Then,” Ama pointed out, “the greatest cheat of all. The House of Runes tried to have me killed.” She reached up and pulled her dark hair behind her, completely revealing the ugly mottled bruising that showed a clear attempt at strangulation.
My mother’s gasp rang in my ears, and I squeezed her shoulder in comfort, keeping my eyes on Ama.
Finias’ father stood, but Ama put up her hand, silencing him.
“Clearly, the House of Sin and House of Runes have been working together, and they managed to get me alone, away from everyone else, so that an assassin could attack me in my own bedroom. All because you couldn’t stomach the idea of me winning this vote. ”
Finias’ father scoffed, so nonchalant that I was absolutely baffled when he said, “You have no proof of that.”
Why weren’t they freaking out more about this coming to light?
“The assassin was from our house,” Finias countered. With a snarl, his mother grabbed his hair, yanking hard and causing him to grunt. I stood, feeling disgusted at the clear act of abuse and intending to defend Finias, but Ama beat me to it.
She was across the room, throwing Queen Ava off Finias. The woman hit the wall and slid down, offering a careless laugh.
“Do not touch him,” Ama growled. “You abusive fuck head.”
“So what?” King Roarke retorted.
“So what?” Ama hissed.
“You don’t deserve to be alive. You are not natural. You’re sick and disgusting.”
“And how, exactly, did you plan to explain how I had been killed, when your house is known for having assassins? Did you think you would escape suspicion?” Ama demanded, looking furious.
Queen Ava stood and stepped forward, bleeding from the head as she sneered. “No, you foolish girl. We just didn’t care if they suspected us. Do you want to know why?”
“Enlighten me, bitch.”
“Because no one who opposed us was going to leave this room alive in the first place.” The woman’s smile grew wider as King Roarke shouted a command. Suddenly, glass shattered and doors were thrown open.
Fuck. They had planned on killing all of us. We had read the situation entirely wrong, and now we were going to pay for it.