42. Chapter 42
Violet
Bash closed the distance between him and Nathara and Lilian. The shadows hadn’t consumed them with the rest of the betrayers. Instead, they held them tightly while Lilian and Nathara watched their only protection turn into mist.
I slowly began walking towards them, and the shadows that once surrounded me seemed to follow me, but didn’t stop me. As Bash came to a halt in front of them, he flicked his wrist and his crown that had fallen off Nathara during the chaos flew to him and sat on his head.
“Sebastian, please,” Nathara said as tears ran down her face.
“I want you to beg, he said, “Beg for mercy for what you have done.”
The shadows released Nathara and Lilian and Nathara fell to her knees to beg. Lilian stood and kept her head high as she glared at Bash.
“Get up,” Lillian said to her daughter through her gritted teeth.
Lilian knew her pleas would’ve been useless. They had attempted to kill the one person in the world that showed no remorse for what he did and no forgiveness for anyone that pissed him off.
Nathara glanced at her mother before looking back at Bash.
“I should’ve killed you two the same day I killed Father. But I spared you. And this is how you repay me?” he said as he looked between Nathara and Lilian.
“We were only doing as we were told,” Nathara screamed as she clasped her hands together, begging to be spared.
Bash paused and cocked his head to the side at Nathara’s confession before returning to his state of no emotion.
“I am the most powerful Sovereign to ever step foot in Alentara. And you are nothing,” he said and then his shadows pounced on the two of them and left no trace.
Bash put his hands in his pockets, and he turned to me and said, “Those two are yours, love.”
Calum looked between the two of us and his eyes widened when he saw a trail of Bash’s shadows creep up me, all the way to my neck where they stayed. They caressed my neck, sending chills down my spine.
Bash chuckled when he saw the shock on Calum’s face.
I saw Calum’s golden crown on the ground. It must have fallen off of him when we all were thrown to the ground. I picked it up as I walked the rest of the way. My eyes were set on one person. On the one that thought she could hurt me.
Not anymore.
Sebastian did Nathara and Lilian a favor with their deaths. But death would be too easy for Celine. She deserved so much more.
“You got too greedy with this alliance, Celine. Pushing your son to get as much power as he could so you could have the power. This is what you wanted for yourself, right?” I asked as I twirled the crown in my hand.
I placed the crown on her head but once it was in place, I allowed the flames to seep slightly through my hands, bringing unbearable heat with it. The heat began melting the crown, and I watched as liquid gold oozed down her head, burning every piece of her that it touched. She fell to the ground as she screamed from the pain.
Her healing had already begun, and the gold quickly hardened from the cold air, etched into her head, unable to ever be removed. For removal would undoubtedly bring death.
It was almost poetic. A constant reminder. Her beauty was gone, and she now looked how she was on the inside.
I knelt down and gripped her chin, forcing her to look at me with the one eye that hadn’t been harmed by the melted gold as I said, “I will make the rest of eternity hell for you.”
This feeling. The feeling of having the power and all of the control. The feeling Bash had described. I understood why everyone wanted it. But it was mine and Bash’s. And I dared anyone to try to take it from us again.
I stood up and locked eyes with Calum. Sebastian had his shadows wrapped around him so he couldn’t do anything to stop me from harming his mother. I knew Calum had no part in this plan when it was first formed. He wouldn’t have told me about Bash’s weakening power or tried to look for the object if he was in on it.
But he didn’t try to stop them when he found out either.
He stood there as they prepared to kill Bash and take his throne like the coward he had always been. And for that, for my mate, I wanted him to burn.
“Let him go,” I said, without looking away from Calum.
Bash dropped his shadows at my command, and Calum lunged for me.
I placed my flaming hand between us, which brought him to a halt, inches from a point of being burned alive.
He looked down at me and said, “You won’t hurt me. Any pain inflicted on me will be felt by your father.”
I glanced at Bash, giving a silent instruction before turning my attention back to Calum.
Calum and my father fell to the ground, screaming in pain at what likely felt like a limb was being ripped from their bodies.
Bash removed a glamour from my body. He removed a spell that had entrapped my memories. I had no doubt he could remove the invisible tether that bound my father to Calum.
Seconds later, the screaming had stopped, and even though I felt bad that my father had to endure that, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at Calum on his knees before me.
“What’s to stop me now?” I mocked, cocking my head to the side.
Every instinct in me wanted to light his ass on fire for being the coward he’d always been. For being a part of this failed attempt. For never putting me first.
But I couldn’t do that. My mind wouldn’t let me. He deserved so much, but his realm didn’t deserve the havoc that would ensue if it were left without a Sovereign. That was all too familiar for me.
“Stand up.” I watched as he stood, battling myself internally for the next words I was about to say.
“You will go back to the Mountain Realm and be the Sovereign your realm deserves. The Sovereign your father always wanted you to be. But if you ever take one step out of line, I will come and rain fire down on you.”
While he looked shocked for a moment, that quickly turned into disgust as he said, “Look at what he has made you become. He turned you into a monster.”
“No. He helped me become what I was always meant to be,” I said, fighting harder to keep my instincts under control.
“This isn’t you, Violet.”
I said nothing to that. It was pointless. To him, I would always be the weak, powerless Violet. But I would never allow myself to become that again.
I thought about Bash, and the emotionless look he gave the people he didn’t care about.
Starting now, I decided to adopt that practice. I turned to walk to Bash but remembered one more thing.
“You might still want to send your mother to Sartova. She might scare your Advisors and the servants with her new look.”
Someone let out a quiet chuckle from behind me, but I knew it wasn’t Bash’s voice.
Calum stood there for a moment, probably unable to comprehend everything that had happened and everything he had learned in such a short amount of time.
But as I took my spot next to Bash, allowing him to wrap his arm around my waist, Bash said, “Leave, Calum. Never step foot in my realm again. Violet showed you mercy, but if I ever lay my eyes on you again, I won’t be as kind.”
Calum reached down to grab Celine off the ground before transferring away.
And just like that, an entire chapter of my life came to an end.