Chapter 34
When I first met him, I would have never thought of Reiven as regal or imperious. Spoiled and cocky, certainly.
But seeing him sit upon the throne in the castle, with an Obsidian crown resting atop his head, fingers drumming impatiently against the armrests as he regarded his aunt…
I would have bent the knee to him without hesitation if he asked.
He hadn’t bothered to ask Tamayo to do so and instead had the guards shove her to her knees before him on the velvet carpeting.
Her neat bun had come loose due to the rough treatment.
I stood to his right like a fish out of water, a Siren looking down on a Mourner noble in their own country. Akina and Jin wore glares from their places on Reiven’s left, but at least they looked natural there.
“You,” Rei said, eyes flashing red-hot like burning rubies.
“You fucking lied to me about Jin. Convinced my own father to let you curse and banish me. Tried to manipulate Akina so that you could rule over our people from your pathetic shadows. You get one chance to convince me to not do far worse to you, and my patience is thinner than paper, so talk fast.”
Tamayo blinked rapidly. “I-I did what I had to do to protect the Miyasagi name and our people! Your power was too immense for you to handle when you were young. You were dangerous. But look at you. You turned out far better than you would have if we just let you continue down that path, so I did you a favor!”
Rei’s grip on the arms of the throne tightened, and a reddish glow seeped into the metal.
Tamayo went a shade paler, lips quivering as she stammered. Maybe it was because she had already seen what Reiven was capable of when he had all his power, and now that she faced both it and the consequences of her treachery, she realized there would be no escaping his wrath.
“Rei…w-we’re family,” she offered weakly.
“You tried to kill Zephra.” He stood, towering over all of us, but especially Tamayo, who cringed on the floor as he strode down the stairs towards her.
Flames encased his hands. The room shuddered, but I was the only one who seemed surprised—according to Rei, earthquakes were common on Ghrysim Isle.
Somehow, it felt like he was the cause behind that one.
“Attempting to murder the woman I love was your biggest mistake.”
A flush crept across my face and neck. Was he actually going to kill her, naming her attempt on my life the primary reason?
Just as I opened my mouth to intervene, Reiven spoke again. “There is no salvation for you, dear aunt. Your curses and manipulations are over.” His angry flames completely disappeared, but I could somehow sense that this would end worse for Tamayo than if he incinerated her on the spot.
Her face twisted into rage and disgust as she glared at him, shooting me the same look.
Tamayo raised her chin and spat, “You are no Mourner king, Reiven Miyasagi. There isn’t a Mourner on this island aside from you that would entertain having a Siren in his bed, seated beside him, calling him her lover. Our people will revolt when they hear.”
He leaned down close to her. “And that kind of pointless hatred is the first thing I plan to change for our people.” Reiven straightened as his aunt screamed at him, struggling against the guards that restrained her.
“You don’t deserve to rule! You’re unworthy! You’re a reckless, destructive, Siren-loving monster who should have never come back here!”
“And you’re a hateful, deceitful old witch who doesn’t deserve a place on this island.”
Jin stepped forward. “Plus, she’s completely wrong about our people.
” He glanced between me, Reiven, Tamayo, even the guards, as if he was surprised we hadn’t noticed.
“Akina and I have been holding secret meetings with the people now and then. While it’s true there’s a great deal of fear and distrust when it comes to things outside the walls…
Mourners are curious. They’re sick of being stuck on the island, ostracized from the rest of the world, especially the younger ones.
I think with time and encouragement, they’d probably be excited to welcome outsiders to the island, and they might like to explore the world themselves. ”
It was wonderful to hear that there were already curious Mourner murmurs about the rest of the world. Jin and Akina were not as easily manipulated as Tamayo had thought.
Reiven grinned like a cat. “Hear that, Tamayo? Not everyone wants to stay in isolation, no matter what vitriol people like you have steeped us in for years…Maybe one day, Mourners will even swear fealty to a Siren queen.”
I held back a gasp, but Reiven just grinned and winked at me.
Shadows writhed around Tamayo, extensions of her barely contained fury. Dark tendrils lashed out at Reiven, while others shot towards me. With a snap of his fingers, pillars of flames burst through the shadows, sundering them with light and heat. Somehow, I managed not to flinch.
“Enough of this. You think attacking her is going to make me want to show you mercy?” Something almost cruel peeked through Reiven's decorum as he pushed his palm towards Tamayo.
A dark, cold wind swept through the throne room, chilling every layer of my skin until I had to wrap my arms around myself. Every flame around us dimmed.
Tamayo’s eyes went wide as sludgy tears of darkness trickled down her face.
A strangled gasp. Color and life drained from her body in threads of red light that pulled towards Rei’s hand.
Her body deteriorated from healthy to gaunt right before us, her eyes sinking back into her skull.
Shiny hair matted together and fell in clumps off her head. The stench of decay filled the room.
My stomach churned.
This…isn’t natural Mourner magic, is it?
“This is the real reason you wanted me gone, isn't it?” Rei hissed. “You were afraid of this.”
“Rei, stop!” I cried. Sure, he had plenty of reasons to want to kill Tamayo, but what he was doing was just sadistic.
He laughed softly and lowered his hand, while a gasping Tamayo clawed at her chest and face like she might rip her own skin off.
Black ooze covered her newly bony fingers.
“You're lucky my Siren lover is here to keep me in check,” Reiven said.
“I left you sixty days of life. Sixty days for you to rot in a cell, imagining our people bowing to a king with a Siren at his side, as we move together towards peace rather than unfounded hatred.”
Tamayo went limp as a rag doll, allowing the guards to drag her out of the throne room, and I almost pitied her. Reiven stalked back to the throne and plopped on it, heaving an exhausted sigh.
“Can’t believe she told you I died, and you actually believed her. Dumbass,” said Jin.
Reiven rolled his eyes and waved his brother’s words away.
A commotion at the door made us all jerk to attention. I thought for a moment that Tamayo had one more trick up her sleeve and somehow escaped, but the moment I heard the voices, I relaxed, and so did Rei.
Shaddan burst through the door with two Mourner guards hot on his heels with weapons drawn, but the Druinn's levitating spear gave a few warning stabs into the air beside their heads to keep them at bay. Calinia followed them inside, though much more calmly.
“Maybe if you moved faster, you wouldn’t be completely failing at your jobs of protecting a royal, because someone like me could easily assassinate—” Shaddan didn’t finish berating the guards and instead turned his energy on Rei.
“Speaking of the royal pain in the ass. Your guards are a circus of weaklings, and by the Spirits, you look like an idiot with a crown on.”
The royal pain in the ass himself motioned for the pride-wounded guards to leave, almost mirroring Calinia as he nursed what was probably the beginnings of a headache. I made a mental note to give him a scalp massage later. “Hello to you too.”
“I don’t want your damn niceties. What did you call us here for? I’m tired of waiting.”
Akina clasped her hands behind her back, smiling down at him. “Please don’t overexert yourself. You were grievously wounded in the Flames Below. You still need to recover.”
Indeed, fresh white bandages around Shaddan’s chest and abdomen peeked out from beneath his clothing, though he seemed as energetic as ever.
He gave her a practiced bow, aimed at her and only her—despite there being a young prince to Akina’s left and a newly crowned king to her right.
“Princess Akina, I thank you for your concern, truly. But if minor wounds such as these would hinder me in my duty, I wouldn’t be able to call myself the head of the Second Army of Terrakor.
” It was like he had flipped some sort of switch inside himself which turned him into a perfect, noble gentleman.
I had seen a glimpse of this version of him at the banquet months ago.
Well, he’s awfully charming when he feels like it.
“Shaddan,” Reiven said, a slight warning to his tone.
“Look, Mourner King—” Shaddan really didn’t want to address Reiven by his name, did he?
“I don’t intend to stay in your land much longer, seeing as I’ve completely failed in my mission to retrieve the Voidtome for the Druinns, and it’s only right I return home to accept my punishment.
” Akina gasped, and Shaddan nodded morosely, though the rest of us picked up on his theatrics.
“Honestly, all of us failed. The Voidtome we came so far for is gone.”
“It’s in the Abyssal Deep where it belongs.
” Rei rested his chin on his fist as he considered Shaddan, and to a lesser extent, Akina.
“You know…We have two Druinns, a Siren, and three Mourners here, representatives from almost every country. Zephra and I intend to continue Ash’s calling to work towards harmony, for the good of all our people.
Do you suppose the Druinn nobles will still punish you for failure if you return with the goodwill of the new king of Mourners, Shaddan? ”