CHAPTER 18 #5
“You could have chosen this family.” Judas shook his head. “Instead, you get to watch your whore and your sister die.”
He crossed the room to Sera and yanked her arm behind her back, twisting it cruelly until she screamed in pain.
“Please don’t do this.” She kicked, but the guards held her fast.
Alex steadied his breathing. Two guards had guns trained on him and Finneas, but if he could summon the energy to dematerialize, just once, he could get to Dani—
Finneas’ hand closed around his wrist.
“Kill them,” Lara ordered into her phone. “Kill them all—”
And then the room disappeared as Finneas sucked them into the pocket space that existed between worlds.
They reappeared half a second later behind the two guards who had Dante and Evan pinned down.
Alex slammed the closest one in the back of the head with his elbow while Finneas knocked the other one to the ground. He and Dante quickly disarmed them.
“Get down to the prison,” he ordered the others. “You have to stop the executions. I’ll get Dani and Sera.”
“No!” Lara screamed. “You bitch.”
When he whirled, he saw Dani standing over an unconscious Luciano, holding the knife that had been pressed to her throat. Quickly, she stepped to Alex’s side.
The two guards who’d been holding Sera had slumped to the floor, eyes vacant, evidence that his father’s deadly harvester magic was as potent as ever, despite his weakened state.
He hadn’t even been touching them. All his magic had been flowing through Sera.
His sister’s blood was far more powerful than the average vampire’s, but how long could she withstand his attempts to drain her before weakening?
“Let her go, Father,” Alex ordered. “I’m placing all three of you under arrest as of this moment.”
“You think you can arrest me?” Lara’s face twisted in rage. “On what authority?”
“He’s no longer fit to rule as monarch. I’m stepping in, as I should have done long ago.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Judas rasped, but his voice sounded strangely weak.
“Let me go,” Sera whispered, breathing hard. “Please. Let me go and call down to the dungeons. There’s still time. You can order the prisoners released. You don’t have to do this. But I won’t allow you to hurt them. I will end you before you kill another innocent.”
“As if you have any power here.” Judas laughed, then began to cough.
“You are a whore and a disgrace. You were never fit to continue this family’s legacy, and neither is your weakling brother.
I should have chosen your sister from the start.
She’s the only one of you who deserves to carry on this family name. ”
“Then maybe it’s time the Visconti legacy burns to ash,” Sera’s voice was cold even as she continued to shake. “Because I want no part of it.”
Judas growled, twisting Sera’s arm harder. She screamed and they all heard the sickening sound of bones popping as something in her shoulder gave way.
“Let her go,” Alex roared.
He wanted to rush his father, knock him to the ground to get him away from Sera.
But he knew all too well that his magic was fueled by rage, and such a show of defiance might cause his power to surge, overwhelming Sera’s ability to shield and killing her in an instant. From the way she was sweating through her clothes, he could tell she was barely hanging on.
“You’re worthless.” Judas was sweating now, too. “A whore. You always have been.”
“Sera,” he whispered. Because he couldn’t just stand there and allow this.
“Stay back, Alex.” Tears streamed down his sister’s cheeks. The pain from her dislocated shoulder had to be unimaginable. “Don’t come any closer.”
He nodded, backing off.
The sound of shouting came from outside.
“We’re in here,” Lara screamed. “Help us. They’re trying to kill us and stage a coup.”
“Oh Lara,” Dani said in a pitying voice.
She reached for Alex’s hand. “When will you ever learn? While you were so busy gloating over your plan to kill us, rebel vampire teams have been abducting your security forces from around the castle and replacing them with fae impersonators. That’s probably them now. ”
“You should probably go before the wards are reset to keep you here.” Alex smiled coldly. “I’m not sure the tribunals will look too kindly on you now that they’ll be under new management. And I hear fae cuffs leave nasty burns when applied for too long.”
There was a loud thump as Judas collapsed to the floor. Sera staggered away from him, one of her arms hanging limp in its shoulder socket.
His sister was pale as a sheet and shaking, but alive. His father—
“Oh my gods.” Lara sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the king staring sightlessly ahead. His face was shriveled like a corpse, his chest unmoving. “What have you done? He’s dead. You killed him.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Sera shook her head. “It was an accident. He was going to kill me—”
She collapsed. Alex rushed to her side.
“We need a medic. Get Dante up here.”
The door crashed open. As fae guards began rushing in, Lara shot them one last venomous look.
“This isn’t over, Alexander.”
Lunging for her father’s motionless form, she ghosted them from the room.