57. Kyros
Chapter fifty-seven
Kyros
The sound of drums pounding loudly in the distance feels like they are living in my chest as I slip into the throne room and make my way through the crowd.
More people gather here today than any of the assemblies that Connard held during his courting affairs, but the show is just the same.
Only where he used magick tricks, Phaedra has actual wielders in her ranks.
Steadily, I approach the folly Queen. When her eyes catch the sight of me, she pauses for a moment, caught off guard.
She looks around me, noticing my entrance alone, and narrows her eyes.
She wouldn't dare make a scene, though. Not with her plan at stake. My arrival, though, has caused more than enough of a scene. I’ve evoked fear in many rooms before, but nothing like I do in this form.
People don't just move out of my way. They jump, nearly tripping to get away from my path.
I keep my gaze fixed ahead. One woman is my target tonight, and she has trained me well. Once my target is set…
“Kyros, how lovely for you to finally join us.” She says lyrically, but the sound of her voice makes my ears threaten to bleed.
Her eyes track down my body, lingering on the sash at my hips before jumping back to my face, ire glazing over her eyes.
“Come, my dark prince. Sit with me.” She gestures to the chair to her right.
Where the king would sit. I stay silent as I eye the chair.
Not the actual throne. That coveted seat is on the dais behind her.
A handmaiden pulls the high back chair out for me, and as I take the seat, Phaedra leans in and harshly whispers, “Why is Nolan not escorting you?”
Keeping the show of defiance going, I continue feigning the inability to speak like her other Umbra Vitae.
I merely just look at her, lips firmly pressed together.
She takes a deep breath through her nose and expels it through barely contained rage as she scans the room.
When she realizes Nolan has not accompanied me, she becomes suspicious.
Leaning over into my space again, she digs her nails into my leg as she squeezes.
“Where is Nolan? Speak now, or—”
“Something caught his eye,” I say sarcastically, and allow a smirk to tug at the corner of my mouth.
Her eyes drop to the motion of my lips. Heat enters her gaze like it always has any time I’ve ever smiled around her.
And I’ve just let one purposefully slip in her presence.
I had realized how much she liked that a long time ago and did everything I could to never do that around her because of it.
But for the show, I’m willing to do everything I can think of to distract her.
“He sent me to you.” It's the truth—bent, but all true.
“I’m going to string that useless man up in the bailey.
” She scoffs to herself. Snapping her fingers, she calls for more wine.
She gestures to my empty glass too. “You will serve him tonight too.” She says, and the girl nods, bowing deep before filling the goblet with wine.
Phaedra drains half of hers right away. I do no such thing. I don't touch it.
The room is filled with the ambient glow of flickering braziers and incense burning throughout the dimly lit room.
Food and drink are served in abundance. The colorful spread is more decadent than any family in the kingdom could even fathom having a taste of.
It’s greedy and in bad taste, but most of the people here don't care. The invitation to the palace after the usurper and tyrant king’s demise was all it took for the people of the lower lands to converge and have reason to celebrate.
Those Neer who have been hiding their magick abilities, or those in their family with the power, for fear it would have otherwise been their death sentence.
They mistakenly believe that they are being liberated by Phadrea.
My body is growing heavier the longer I sit here waiting for Astraea and the others to show up.
Our plan has to work. I watch for Drabek at the balcony through the sheer curtains and the tall jali lattice windows on either side.
The long gossamer fabric that hangs from the ceiling at the entrance of the balcony is all wrong.
Where it should be a deep maroon, the color chosen by my ancestors to represent the royal blood of the Eathian king, is now a shade of deep blue, casting the room in a cold glow from the moonlight.
Phaedra snaps her fingers in a way I’ve come to recognize as her summoning the other Umbra Vitae.
Astraea’s father. I had yet to see him tonight.
Gasps of horror fill the large space just as it did the last time when we were in the Diemos throne room together.
Before Astraea burned it to the ground. Pride burns in my chest as I think of my Queen and the stand she took that day.
It's nearly impossible to see emotion on a face that is entirely made of bone, but somehow when he makes eye contact with me, I can see the anger clearly in the way the deep sockets of his eyes darken.
Dark wisps of smoke eddy around him as he makes his way through the sea of people.
The fear in their eyes when they saw me is nothing compared to the nightmare creature that he is.
Kaeleith did say that this magick was volatile and could eat away at the soul; maybe that's why he is more monster than man now.
Phaedra stands, clinking her glass with a spoon.
Like the curtains, her dress is deep blue.
It’s very much like the one she wore to Diemos.
The one that Astraea caught fire to when I gave my oath.
All eyes turn to Phaedra then, and the music comes to a stop.
She smiles wide at the room, lifting her wine.
“My friends of Eathian, thank you for coming to celebrate the turning of a new era!
King Connard, as you know, was never the rightful ruler of this kingdom.
The time he spent on its throne was treacherous for all of our people.
Magick is a part of our lives and never should have been forbidden.
But I stand before you today with a blessing from the divine.
A gift from Runerth for withstanding the hell that was living through Connard Casmir's rule.” Phaedra turns toward me.
This is it. Before I stand, I send a single tendril of my shadows out toward my feet.
It bleeds into the crowd like a vine snaking around them to find Drabek on the terrace.
She snaps at me to stand just before I see Drabek take flight. The sight takes the weight from my chest, and with that feeling, I stand as Phaedra does exactly what we hoped she would.
“The gods delivered the lost Prince Kyros Ruvaen to return to the throne!” Chaos breaks out through the crowd, and Phaedra allows it.
Selfishly, she relishes in their shock and awe filling the room.
She foolishly believes the crowd’s reception is over her announcement alone.
Her revelation that the gods have deemed her worthy of the Ruvaen heir.
She is mistaken. I felt the flare in my chest the moment she arrived.
Their overwhelm is not merely for the announcement of my arrival back in Eathian.
At that precise moment, the Princess of the felled usurper king enters into the throne room.
My eyes immediately land on her. The intensity that they look at her is only a fraction compared to my gaze.
If the fire in my chest could burn me, I would be dead.
Astraea parts the sea of people similarly to how her father and I did.
But where it was from fear at the sight of us, with her, they recognize the symbols she wants them to see.
The deep maroon dress, with gold threads that weave termeh panels throughout.
The color matching perfectly to the kamarband I chose to wear in defiance of Phaedra.
The color represents the kingdom I claim, showing the people that I have not forgotten who I am.
A Ruvaen royal and the rightful King of Eathian.
Gold trim lines the edges of the flowy silk and sheer layered material, but it's the head chain and tear-drop shaped, jade protection stone embellishment hanging on her forehead that has more and more whispers rising through the crowd.
A headpiece worn by the last Queen of Eathian.
My mother. My lips part as I watch Astraea glide through the room, and pride fills me as my twin flame holds her head high, approaching the table we stand behind.
Phaedra stands silently for a moment before she opens her mouth to speak, but I don’t give her the chance. I finally address the room.
“As Phaedra has announced, I, Kyros Kazhal Ruvaen, and my brother, Mavros, have returned to claim our rightful place within this kingdom. We have been kept away for too long, defied by the people we thought we could trust, and it has been the people who have paid that price. Today that changes.” My voice booms over the crowd, and Phaedra sputters, gawking at my announcement as she tries to figure out what is going on.
“Shut. Your. Mouth. Let me handle this.” She hisses through her teeth as she leans in closer to me so as not to be heard by anyone else. I turn to face her then, the smile that always caught her off guard again displayed on my face.
“No, I don't think I will. You see, Phaedra, you are a guest in my kingdom—and you will act as such.”
“PAH! A guest? I order you to sit.” She seethes, looking at me through narrowed eyes.
I don't, and she gapes at me, then looks down to the bands that still cuff around my wrists.
I turn my back on her and hop from the dais and rush to my Queen.
Astraea. When I reach her, I take her face in my hands, and looking into her eyes, I make my next announcement.