Chapter 55 #2
He knew about someone wanting to drain our blood, too.
I wasn’t sure about the other two. Edrin scowled and Lioran cleared his voice, but they both kept their mouths shut.
But they weren't the only ones who could sow discord.
“Precious blood, they say,” I went on. “Worth killing over.”
Edrin’s empty, mean stare barely flickered, while the other two bristled. Not much; not enough for someone who was behind the plot, just someone who was aware of it.
“Let’s hope the gods protect every single hair on that beautiful head of yours,” Beren said, making my skin crawl. “It truly would be a shame if the crater’s dubious leadership put you in danger."
They were trying to dig Ryker’s grave right in front of me, bloodying his reputation and hoping I’d dance on the ashes.
Just like with the attacks, they had miscalculated.
“So that’s what you’re playing at.” It was my turn to laugh. And it sounded cold and vengeful. “You have no claim over Solkar’s Reach, Beren. This land belonged to the Commander’s mother. It’s his birthright, nobody else’s.”
The smile finally fell from Beren’s face. He looked cold. Colder than the ice which had enveloped the soldiers he didn’t care about. Vylkor had probably mourned their souls more than him.
“So it’s going to be like that?” he asked, the severe lilt of his voice spiking the soft hairs on my skin.
I lifted a brow in reply.
“Very well.” He licked his teeth. “Evacuate the crater and there will be no bloodshed.”
Lioran and Edrin both flinched at the request.
Either Beren’s calm had been shattered or this had been his plan all along–he just hadn’t shared it with the other two.
It didn’t matter much to me right now.
A threat was a threat.
“No.”
He tsked, his jowls shaking underneath the beard. “They said you were too stubborn for your own good.”
“Who’s they?”
“Your inevitable demise.” He closed his eyes and rolled his neck from side to side, feigning disinterest. Then that dark gaze of his whipped to me. “Here’s the situation, since you don’t seem to fully understand it.”
Dax growled.
“You’re outnumbered and outpowered,” Beren said. “You may be the fierce Huntress and scared our soldiers away, but you’re surrounded by snot-nosed kids who can barely hold weapons and an old warrior who can barely see.”
He had done his research–but not recently, it seemed.
He didn’t know about the trolls.
“Yet, somehow, that was enough to win,” I said.
“Against only a fraction of our army,” he hissed.
I shrugged. “Not my fault you didn’t send the entire one.”
Beren stopped, looking at me like I was deranged. I sensed the doubt sprouting. “You’re in a hole. A large hole you cannot defend in its entirety. From where I’m standing on top of my mountains, you are an easier target than you realize.”
“I know exactly where my place is, Beren,” I said. “Between you and innocent people. If it’s a war that you want, we’ll deliver.”
“If your beloved Commander would have delivered his fair share of the crater’s magic, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
I tilted my chin. If all he wanted was more magic, then bloodshed could be avoided–as long as he didn’t want to bleed us dry. “How much is missing?”
Edrin’s eyes shone with greed.
Lioran’s face turned even more pinched as he opened his mouth–but Beren beat him to it.
“Too much,” he said. Too fast, too definitive.
Lioran’s gaze shifted with unease.
The grain of hope in me withered.
Beren wasn’t here to negotiate. He wanted to bully and cower for an easy win.
He’d found the wrong person to play these games with.
“That doesn’t work for us,” was all I said.
Beren looked pleased. Like he’d been waiting for any excuse to end this farce and get on with his true wish.
“We’ll just have to pay you another visit.” He shrugged. “This time, I’ll come personally.”
I forced a dark chuckle. “You can try to take it by force–”
“Tried that,” Dax said. “Failed.”
“Or you go on with your lives like you did until now,” I said. “Greed is not worth your people’s lives.”
“We’re entitled–”
“To nothing. The magic belongs to the crater. Otherwise, you could have accessed it without the Commander’s say-so.”
“You forget one thing, Huntress,” he said. “Solkar’s Reach is Ryker’s birthright as long as he lives. He has no heirs–” An eerie grin contorted his face. “And no wife. With the way the war’s going, I doubt you’ll ever get the chance to walk down the aisle with him.”
My breaths turned shallow, even as I tried to keep every inch of me still.
“Though, who knows.” He shrugged again. This one looked like a twitch he couldn’t quite control. “If you’re that set on protecting Solkar’s Reach, I wouldn’t mind another wife–”
All my composure melted into a sea of rage.
One moment I stood there, perfectly still, perfectly unbothered.
In the next, I took out Ryker’s dagger–the one which had brought me so much pain–and impaled it in the table right in front of the palaver portals.
A deathly silence settled in the room. Just like on that first day when I’d realized my world had fallen apart.
For the first time, Beren looked truly unsettled, eyes darting from the dagger to my face.
He recognized it, the louse.
I was sick and tired of these men underestimating me.
Dria Vegheara’s blood ran through my veins.
She wouldn’t have stood for this–and neither would I.
I felt the weight of my brave, undefeated ancestors resting on my shoulders.
But instead of burdening me with their expectations, this time they raised them higher with the potential they’d sowed and saw in me.
I braced my hands on the table, leaning forward menacingly.