Chapter 39
“Aball. We need a ball,” Iaoth pronounced, flicking through the dresses in her expansive closet. “So many of the Kisst have been…testy lately. The court needs a reminder of our power. We’ll let them dress in their light and then strip them until they’re obedient. Like you.”
The slide of the hangers over the rack scraped against my raw, irritated nerves. I’d sat here—nearly an hour now—while my sister rattled off plan after plan, scarcely allowing me a word. She kept no maidens to attend her, save for the lone female who helped her dress.
Because she was such a bitch she’d driven them all away. No amount of coin or jewels could buy the presence of another to listen to her brittle whining.
Unlucky for me, I was her kin, and as head of our house, obliged to her. A fact she exploited each day I remained in the palace. I almost wanted to go out on the road again just so I could get away from her.
But I couldn’t leave Sylaira behind.
“It will be a nice teaser for your upcoming vows too. You and Dasha, together in front of the whole court. House Elyriane and House R?viel, united at last. No one will dare to challenge our rule. Plus, we have to introduce all the new Seers to the court too, show the nobles what a good omen it is that you brought home two powerful ones. A sign from the Goddess that she wishes for us to exterminate those red-eyed beasts once and for all.”
My nails dug crescents into my palms. The last fucking thing I wanted was to dance with Dasha in front of all the nobles. For Iaoth to parade me about like I was one of her prized pets in order to show the other nobles that Stadiel’s reign was secure.
Which is exactly what they’d do to Sylaira and the other Seers too. She’d be as much of a performer as me. Thank the Goddess no one would see her dancing, because I might lose my shit if someone got to witness that fluid grace before me.
Even without her on a stage, the two of us in the same room, in front of all of the nobles who would pounce at the first sign of weakness? We were fucked. Caught out the moment she stepped into my orbit. When it came to my mate, there was no hiding my obsession—not for long anyway.
Sweat beaded my hairline. I resisted the urge to reach behind me and swipe the back of my neck.
Iaoth spun to face me, her wispy gown gathering at her ankles. Her ice-blue eyes seared into mine. I merely blinked, expression smooth as a glassy lake, and waited for her next attack.
I’d long since stopped flinching under her gaze.
“Dasha says you’ve yet to visit her since your return, despite my repeated requests that you do so.”
I shrugged, then toyed with a discarded necklace draped across the table beside me. “I’ve been busy.”
“It’s almost as if you don’t want this, Vaeron,” she hissed, frowning and crossing her arms. “What’s more distasteful, Dasha or your duty?”
I smothered the urge to tell her that I never had a fucking choice in the first place. She never asked me if I wanted to bind myself to Dasha. Stadiel simply told me it was going to happen while she smiled on.
When I didn’t reply, she issued another order. “You’re going to visit her chambers tonight.”
The thought of doing so made my skin crawl.
“That would be imprudent,” I stated, somehow able to keep my tone measured.
She cocked her head to the side, looking like a crazed bird. “And, pray tell, why is that?”
“We both know she’s no virgin.” It made me sick to throw that information on the table like a weapon. But no one ever gave a fuck about what I wanted; no one asked for my consent.
Iaoth opened her mouth to admonish me, but I cut her off. “And I need to ensure that my line continues. Not through another male’s bastard. Once we’re sharing a bed, I can easily tell if she’s hiding something. There’s always fire beneath the smoke of a political marriage.”
Iaoth crossed her slender arms and huffed.
I lifted my scarred brow, waiting for her to challenge my logic.
“You don’t have to fuck her,” she finally grumbled, like the idea that I wouldn’t was somehow insulting to her.
I dropped the priceless gems, the ping of stone against wood echoing while I gathered my next words. “Why else would she want me there?” I questioned, steel edging into my tone.
Iaoth threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know, Vaeron. Maybe she wants to figure out if you’re completely incompetent before your vows so she knows what she’s getting into?”
A muscle feathered in my jaw as I held my tongue. The temptation to scream at her, to reveal my bond, was too great. I could picture the shocked expression that would slap across her face. The way her jaw would slacken. The red that would tinge her cheeks.
The temptation was almost too sweet to let the moment slip through my fingers. Instead, I leashed control and shoved to my feet, giving her my back as I stalked into her sitting room.
“Vaeron!” she screeched after me. But I ignored her and kept walking.
Her hand clamped around my arm, giving me a tug. I shrugged her off and whirled on her, towering over her in the span of a second.
She took a healthy step back, nearly folding in half over a settee. “I need one more thing,” she gasped out as I pinned her.
“What?” I bit out, my patience a mere gossamer. “What more could you possibly want from me? I already have a list that’ll take me days, and you want it all completed by lunch.”
Iaoth’s expression twisted like I’d insulted her by not wanting to roll over every single time she requested something of me.
“Stadiel requires your presence at the council meeting this evening. Decisions must be made on provisions for our holy warriors fighting on the front. I need you to sway houses Thesariin and Liraeviel to whatever the Koron wants them to do.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “And where should I meet you to have their memories altered?” Because I could Command their vote, but they would remember exactly who made them do it. And possibly tell others.
This was why Iaoth and I had always been somewhat of a package deal. Our magics complemented each other in that way, and Stadiel wielded us like twin blades for his ambitions. And my sister, in turn, used me.
What a blessed cycle the Goddess had placed me in.
“The garden where I greeted you at high noon,” she said, offering me a disarming smile. It had no effect on me—not anymore.
“Fine,” I gritted out.
Then, I spun on my heel and stomped out the door, calling on Ilae to help me hunt the two heads of houses.
After almost an hour of scouring the palace, Ilae pressed an image of the two males on the third floor of the inner circle, standing beside the balustrade overlooking one of the many gardens.
I sent a pulse of thanks and conveyed he should remain to keep watch in case they moved. Thankfully, I only needed to backtrack a short distance from my location in the advisory feather.
Both faced outward, peering toward the gate like they were expecting an imminent arrival. I slowed my pace and lightened my steps, not wanting them to hear my approach.
“...if Kral Xannirin refuses to surrender Uzhhorod, that is no problem,” Mannore Liraeviel said.
“My son has personally vowed to execute him. After all, with his psionic powers, he could render all of House Vrak immobile in a second. It wouldn’t take long for his sword to swing through the three cousins’ necks. ”
Like many noble children, the heir to house Liraeviel fought in the army, heading the battalion that reflected his power. As a Myrza—the highest rank beneath the Zahal—he would have such an opportunity.
But I’d met him enough times to know that he was as arrogant as his father.
“They’ll not make it that far without more supplies.
My daughter has written of rampant disease spreading through the camp.
Her Manipulator squad is almost decimated from it.
I thought the plague we unleashed with that evil spawn of the Fates’ magic was supposed to help us win,” Rhael Thesariin huffed.
My nails bit into my palms at the reminder of the burgundy-eyed Demon we’d sacrificed hundreds to capture.
Our prisoners had spoken of his power to create targeted plagues and how they suspected once their army was deep enough into the Angel’s sovereign territory, the Halálhívó planned to unleash one on us.
Instead, we’d turned their own power on them.
“Where are the healers in all of this? Isn’t that the point of our most powerful following them into the Demon Realm rather than remaining here?” Mannore Liraeviel questioned. “Their magic would be useful for my lower back. Instead I’m left with the potions the lesser healers can make.”
“Kisst Thesariin. Kisst Liraeviel,” I greeted them, having heard enough of their grumbling.
Both jumped and spun. “Herr R?viel,” Rhael Thesariin gulped. “We didn’t hear your approach.” They shared a momentary glance, like they were checking that the other had their back in case an escape was needed.
The monster had arrived, lurking in the shadows, and they’d been too busy drowning in their own self importance to notice.
I let out a low, sinister laugh. “Of course not. You weren’t supposed to.”
Dragging in a deep breath, I dove into my power and yanked on the threads. Their eyes widened as the air beneath their tunics sucked toward me. One jerked to the side like he searched for a savior.
But the three of us were all alone up here, and no one was around to witness my Command.
“LISTEN.”
Incandescence leaked from my fingertips and slithered across the ground. With a twist of my hands, I wrapped it around them, binding them in place too.
I stepped closer.
“OBEY.”
The word scraped out of my throat.
“Whatever Koron Stadiel wishes to do at the council meeting tonight, you will eventually agree to.”
Rhael’s face turned a bright red. Yet he was under the thrall of my power and could do nothing to free himself of it.
It wasn’t the first time I’d Commanded him. Or Mannore. Not that either remembered.
“FOLLOW.”