Chapter Six
WHILE AETHERFOLK WEREN’T HEAVILY RELIGIOUS, Hyperionfolk and the rest of the Six Kingdoms were.
It meant Kadeesha was to be married in the traditional way, in a palace temple erected as homage to the Celestials who created the first among faekind.
Kadeesha couldn’t escape having to wear a gown woven from gold cloth this time, either—it would’ve been too much of an insult to her new husband and too much of a mark of shame on her father and the Aether Dominion.
But she still pushed the line and selected a wedding dress whose fabric had been dyed as light a gold as possible without becoming ivory.
Her dress was made of a bodice that molded to her upper body and waist, then flared out in a fishtail at the knees.
There was a six-foot-long train carried by four little girls—they were children of Aether archnobles who had been bestowed the honor of having their daughters carry Kadeesha’s wedding train.
Her hair had been styled into loose, sleek curls that were then twisted up in an intricate pattern.
A slim diadem crowned her head. After she spoke her vows, a high cleric would remove the diadem and replace it with the gold wreath crown that every Hyperion queen before her had worn.
Kadeesha’s father, kinsfolk of their house, and other archnobles of the Aether Court unrelated to House Mercier were seated on the left side of the violet-and-gold runner that Kadeesha walked along.
At the runner’s end were seven marble statues—permanent fixtures in the temple—that stood taller than giants.
Kadeesha swallowed the urge to bare her teeth at the Celestials and their infernal prophecy.
In front of the statues of the gods stood her husband-to-be, beside the Ancient high cleric who’d conduct the ceremony on the temple’s altar.
While Kadeesha still stood among the back-most pews, she paused and twisted to glance at Leisha and Samira.
She’d argued with her father to have them seated closer, among the second pew.
It’d be the spot any blood siblings would occupy if she had them, and Leisha and Samira were every bit as close and precious to her.
It was a matter Sylas refused to budge on, however.
From where she sat, Leisha passed Kadeesha a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Samira’s smile was more relaxed, more convincing to any onlookers that she was elated for Kadeesha’s marriage.
Kadeesha dipped her head to her sisters, a silent thanks for their eternal love and support, before she started the wretched march up the aisle.
Rishaud’s kinsfolk and the Hyperion archnobles sat in seats to the right of the runner.
Near the back rows of pews on Rishaud’s side were a group of five noblemen and one noble-woman.
They were all dark-haired with unremarkable features.
So unremarkable that the eye might easily skip over them.
Except … something about the group seemed out of place.
They were clothed in the same fine doublets spun of white-and-gold silk as their Hyperion counterparts, but there was a discordant gruffness about them.
Kadeesha attributed it to the fact that their position among the back pews meant they were certainly distant relatives, probably weren’t even significant enough to reside at court or hold titles of worth, but etiquette had required them to be invited and they’d chosen to attend.
She met the amber stare of one of them, and a chill trickled down her spine.
The Hyperion male’s penetrating gaze was wholly unsettling.
It put her in mind of the stranger’s eyes—which were a more striking brown hue—at Oleander House last night.
He had looked at her as if he was devouring her and seeing through her all at once with his eyes.
A rush of unexpected lust hit her. She shook off the spell, whipped her gaze away from the Hyperion noble, and continued her march up the runner.
Kadeesha forced as blissful a smile as she could when she stood directly in front of her soon-to-be husband.
He was dressed in resplendent gold-and-white robes with a blinding gold crown atop his head.
His dark eyes raked over her, as possessive as his stare had been yesterday, in a way that made Kadeesha’s temper run as hot as her aether flames had the other day as well.
She smiled brighter and held out her hand.
Rishaud closed his hand around hers and tugged her to stand directly beside him.
She was proud to not recoil at his touch.
“Kinsfolk and archnobles of the Hyperion Kingdom, we come together this day alongside kinsfolk and archnobles of the Aether Dominion to join a Hyperion son and an Aether daughter in the eternal bonds of marriage,” spoke the cleric, once Kadeesha was in place at Rishaud’s side.
“Do you accept this lady as your wife, your soul partner, and your queen who will bear the sons that will continue the royal Hyperion bloodline?” he asked Rishaud.
“Not quite yet,” Rishaud replied. Kadeesha was slow to process the three words, slow to truly understand that he’d uttered them and what they meant.
Others weren’t as slow. Audible gasps rang out around the temple.
Kadeesha’s eyes widened, joy suffusing her for a heartbeat that somehow she’d gained more time.
Then, in the next moment, she saw a rage contort Rishaud’s features that he no longer bothered to hold in check.
She tried to tug her hand from his firm hold; he tightened his grip.
“What is happening?” Kadeesha demanded at the same time her father bellowed identical words from his front-row pew.
Rishaud ignored her, pivoting to face Sylas.
He gave a jerk of his head, and the attendant stationed at the temple’s doors threw them open.
From the vestibule beyond, men in gold-and-white military uniforms—soldiers—poured inside.
There were more gasps from the audience as the soldiers brandished swords and formed a circle around the cluster of Aetherfolk.
Sylas shot to his feet. “What is the meaning of this? Is this some kind of trap you’ve woven? For what?” Her father’s shouts were accompanied by dark purple flames roiling over his frame while he vibrated with rage. “Answer me this instant!” Sylas roared.
“You are mistaken,” Rishaud drawled. “I am high king here.”
No—you’re not, Kadeesha thought venomously. But semantics didn’t matter at the moment, not when Rishaud’s words were as sharp and fileting and ominous as the point of a dagger.
“I answer to nobody,” he reminded Sylas. “Certainly not a vassal king whose court has sworn fealty to me. A fealty that was broken by your daughter, the Aether princess I blessed by electing to marry. A blessing she spurned,” he snarled, “instead choosing to insult me.”
“What insult?” Sylas asked, bewildered. Further unease churned in Kadeesha’s gut.
“The insult of waking up this morning to reports that she spent the eve before our wedding in some filthy pleasure den. Those are not becoming actions of a high king’s bride, and neither she nor you, Sylas, can go unpunished for this impudence.
What if she’s arrived already with child?
It would go against the Celestials’ will and bring their wrath upon us all instead of their favor!
” Rishaud’s unrelenting hold on her hand tightened as Kadeesha violently yanked against him, snapping the fine bones in her hand.
Sharp, radiating pain erupted. She shoved the agony aside.
It’d lessen as soon as her hand mended itself and she needed to stay clear-minded and focused on the catastrophe that was unraveling.
“What is he talking about?” Sylas hissed to Kadeesha. “What did you do, girl?”
She stood on the altar, stricken. She’d been so careful when sneaking out and back in, and Oleander House’s privacy wards had been well and truly intact the night before.
She’d checked them herself upon entering and exiting to be sure.
So how had word of her activities gotten back to Rishaud?
He must have had a spy inside the palace.
Perhaps someone had followed them to Oleander House, waited until she left, and then followed her back.
One didn’t need to venture inside Oleander House to know of its function.
Although the wards ensured no one could remember activities other than their own beyond Oleander House’s doors, the establishment was famous Nimani-wide for the general delights it delivered.
Her assessment of how the hell she’d landed in this situation was cut short when Rishaud gave his soldiers a command that turned her blood to ice. “Kill the Aether king and his gathered court!”
No!
Absolute horror made the shriek lodge in her throat.
Not that it would have made a difference; Hyperion soldiers executed the order between one breath and the next.
Their swords slid into the flesh of Kadeesha’s people, spilling rivers of blood onto the floor.
The ones with aether magic attempted to defend themselves.
But Rishaud’s men were skilled and moved as one flawless, cold, efficient unit.
Kadeesha growled, finally snatching her hand away from the Hyperion king, and damned herself for having been so selfish and reckless the night before.
She heard a bloodcurdling scream, then turned and saw her father on his knees, his body ablaze in golden sunfire.
His eyes bulged, and his brown skin was turning a horrific charred black.