21. Raelyna #3
I should have known I was wrong.
“Disappointing,” he said, finally. “You have truly been a disappointment from the moment I became king, Raelyna.”
I hated him.
It was official.
In case I hadn’t said it yet . . .
I hated Lucanus with every fiber of my soul.
“I would say that I’m sorry it’s come to this,” he stated, “but, at this point . . . I’m not.
You’ve been far more of an inconvenience than you’re worth to me.
” He motioned to a guard by the door, and the male stepped forward, walking toward us until he stopped before his king and nodded his head in deference.
It took everything in me to stand still—not to fight against whatever would happen to me.
To my shock, the guard merely lifted a small screen, handed it to me, and tapped the Play button in the middle of the device. A small, golden, flashing light in the top corner told me that what I was seeing was a live recording.
I watched the video play across the screen, noting how it was broadcasting from the Temple District of Solis.
I recognized the High Temple, in the center of the screen, first, before my eyes narrowed in on a quad of guards marching toward the front entrance of the temple.
My hands shook with rage as the video zoomed in on its own accord, focusing on the group of RSG.
There . . .
In the middle of the quad of RSG, completely surrounded and bound in golden cuffs . . . was Orela.
Tears streamed down my middle sister’s face as they pushed her forcefully toward the front entrance of the temple.
The device fell from my hands, a loud clatter filling the space as fury rose within me.
My eyes flicked toward the male responsible for this—toward the male breaking a bargain—my voice trembling as I spoke in a haunting tone. “You wouldn’t. We had a deal. We made a bargain.” I pointed toward the mark—stark against my skin as I glared at the male currently tearing my life apart.
“And unless you give me the answers that we need . . . I shall consider our deal broken by you, seeing as you’ve conspired against your king and your Quarter.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong!” I protested. “You can’t do this, Luc! You can’t!” Tears were streaming down my cheeks, my makeup smearing as I stared at him. “I haven’t done anything! That male told me he was a guard.”
The words fell from my lips in a shout, even as a small part of me questioned if I had done this.
If my snooping and sneaking through the court had caused this.
If I was the reason my sister would now be subjected to a life of servitude in the temples—used for her seer affinity, unable to ever fly through the skies of Solis again.
“How unfortunate.” Luc’s voice was eerily calm as he leveled me a pointed look.
“And here I thought you would turn out to be of more use than your traitorous father. By the power of, well, myself, as King of Solis, I hereby consider our bargain void, rendered useless by your act of treason against your king. From now on, you shall be marked as discredited.”
My lips fell in a pained gasp as a flash of scorching pain burned at my wrist, and my gaze could only drop in horror as I stared at the mark on my wrist—at the black line cutting across the bargain mark that marked me as a discredit to society.
That would tell anyone who came in contact with me that I was not to be trusted, that my word meant nothing, that the king discredited me.
“I hate you,” I seethed, venom flashing in my eyes. His fist struck me before I could even process that he had moved. My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning from the force of his strike.
Then, he laughed. A cruel laugh that cut through the air as his eyes narrowed in on me, and a sinister grin spread across his face.
“Get used to it.”
“I didn’t do anything. You can’t just make a deal with me when it benefits you, then get rid of me when you no longer want me.”
“And yet,” he replied, “I do believe that the title King means that I can do exactly that. And I have no further use for you . . . unless, of course, you have information about the Aurelian spies who have infiltrated my Quarter.”
“It’s good to know how little I mean to you. I’ve already told you, Luc,” I stated. “I don’t know anything about any spies. I’m telling the truth. Don’t punish Orela for something I didn’t do, please.”
“Your sister is where she’s supposed to be—where she has always been intended to be .
. . at the temples, serving the gods and myself.
Now, as for the reports, they state otherwise.
You’ve spent far too much time in the company of the Guild.
” That was all he said before he was flicking his hand dismissively, and I felt his affinity pull itself from where it had held me in place.
The RSG to my left gripped my arm in a brutal display of strength as he forced me from Lucanus’s presence.
“Oh, and, Raelyna,” Lucanus’s voice sounded from my back as I was led from the room. “Come find me if you change your answer and decide those two spies aren’t worth the cost.”