57
Warriors trailed us into the throne room. Ruvus and Gore stopped Voran.
I continued to the dais, where Celestine crushed me within her arms. “Goddess, the whole palace shook. Please tell me that wyvern ate your father.”
I almost laughed. Pulling back, I shook my head. “But Cercaven…”
Her eyes widened, then she looked down the room. As did High Priestess Nellassa, who stood behind the throne.
Quiet fell as Darcen entered the doors.
Meront followed. Joining his parents, he scrubbed at his face and appeared to whisper to them. Darcen’s face was unreadable, and his eyes cast to his soot-stained fingers. He rubbed them together as he halted in the middle of the room.
No one spoke. Voran shared a look with Ruvus before crossing the room, Dusk held at his chest with one hand. Though the burns marring it were already healing, the sight of them pulled at my stubborn heart.
Like everyone else, Darcen watched him pass.
Once he had, Darcen said, “I’m sure you’ve all heard that, uh…” He released an odd-sounding chuckle. “Well, apparently my father is dead.” He brushed his fingers on his coat. “Killed by one of the monsters we all fight over.”
Voran didn’t look at Darcen until he stood next to me. Dusk crawled onto his shoulder, pink tail swaying at his back as she watched me.
I gave her a quick smile.
“A wyvern reared for violence by none other than Valadorn.” Darcen glared at Voran. “A kingdom that claims to want peace.” He huffed. “That claims they will forge a new path forward for Avyshla’s realms.”
Voran tensed.
“But for these things to happen after what’s transpired here tonight, I must take something of equal value to what my kingdom has lost.”
“Darcen, it’s only just happened.” Meront strode forward. “Let’s take some time to—”
Darcen ignored his friend. “A life.”
Gasps and growls erupted.
Paling, Meront halted.
But Darcen’s emerald eyes brightened. “Fear not.” His gaze crawled to Celestine. “A bride will suffice.”
Celestine went wholly still.
“Moongold’s princess will suffice,” Darcen finished.
I opened my mouth to tell Darcen that he was being ridiculous. His father had just died, and he was reacting without thought. But when I looked at Celestine, I shut it.
Her eyes gleamed with something more than tears, perhaps something more than hatred, as she stared at the male who’d rejected their bond.
But it was Ruvus who spoke, sharp enough to cut through steel. “Moongold’s princess came to Valadorn seeking companionship with our queen.” He pushed his spectacles up his nose. “In exchange, she agreed to be given to me.”
“Given to you?” Slowly, Darcen’s gaze left the princess. As it landed on Ruvus, it darkened. “To a wolf who spends his days torturing people?”
Ruvus straightened. “Correct.”
Darcen chuckled. “All the more reason for me to intervene. She is not, and never will be, someone you can torment, Commander. Celestine is a princess, and she deserves to be treated as such.”
Ruvus turned to stone. His features seemed to ripple.
Voran cursed and made to step forward.
Then Celestine let out a forced laugh. “More like I have tormented the commander.”
Ruvus and Darcen continued to glare at each other, as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
Celestine gave me a helpless look.
“As my commander has said, Moongold’s princess willingly entered into an agreement with Valadorn.” Voran spoke with that earlier calm, each coarse word low yet lethal. “She is under our protection, and failing to respect that is an act of aggression we cannot tolerate.”
Finally, Darcen tore his gaze from Ruvus.
He looked at Voran, lip curling. “An act of aggression.” Laughing again, he gestured at the window—at the smoke painting the sky from his father’s demise. “Like the one your wyvern just committed?”
“Huvuon sensed the crown was in the wrong hands,” Voran said. “Which is precisely why the warnings about the Scale Crown have been heeded since the dawn of our creation. The crown being stolen likely also angered Dusk, prompting theft of her, too.”
Darcen blinked at the hatchling on Voran’s shoulder. “You cannot prove my father stole anything.” Yet his voice had lost its strength.
Voran nodded once. “Just as we cannot prove you were not involved in your father’s plot to steal the Scale Crown.”
Feet shifted in the ensuing silence.
Darcen glowered.
Voran remained expressionless, almost aloof. “Huvuon is notoriously ferocious, yes, but he’s not known to attack faeries. That he did tonight without hesitation…” He hummed. “I think that tells us plenty.”
“I was not a part of any plot, wolf king.”
Soft snarls from the warriors ended with Voran’s raised hand. “So you agree that there was one, fish prince.”
Darcen relented. He blew out a breath and shook his head. “It would not surprise me.”
“Cercaven has long questioned the Scale Crown,” King Cidon said, ignoring the glare from his wife. “We’ve heard many a drunk rambling about it all being a lie to keep the weakest kingdom in Avyshla from downfall.”
Darcen did not dispute that.
While Verlana muttered to the ceiling, Cidon shrugged and said, “Last we met, he jested that now was the safest time to test that theory.”
With only a hatchling and a missing wyvern in the kingdoms.
Meront stormed back to his father. “Why didn’t you inform anyone?”
His father served him a reproachful look. “Cercaven has been spewing the same nonsense since before you were born. Why would I suddenly believe him now?”
Meront cursed so viciously that his mother smacked his chest.
Voran rubbed at his chin while pacing slowly before me. “I care not about the fucking crown, and only that my wife’s hatchling was taken with it.” Gone was that calm. Venom further roughened his voice. “Thus putting our queen in grave danger.”
Darcen glanced at me.
Voran went on. “For that alone, I don’t just want retribution. I crave it so badly, I can already feel your skin shredding beneath my fucking claws.” His tone chilled as he stopped. “Luckily for you, you are now the last male of your line, and I am no line ender.”
“But Ayla is mercifully fine, and my father is not.” Darcen’s jaw rotated. “I do not wish to argue. All I want is what I’ve asked for. Relinquish the princess who does not belong here, and all will be well. I’ll even take my leave at first light.”
“Enough,” Meront growled. “You’re in shock, Darcen. Keep Celestine out of this.”
“Or what?” Darcen said. “Friend?”
I heard the high priestess murmuring a prayer behind me.
“This is ridiculous and unnecessary.” Skirts in hand, Celestine hurried forward. “It’s really not a problem. If Ayla can face her doom without flinching, then I can easily marry an old friend.” To Darcen, she said, “I will leave with you for Coraldeen at first light.”
Verlana stumbled back, a hand at her chest. “Oh, thank the mother.”
Cidon gave his wife a tired look but steadied her.
Dusk let out a piercing screech. Yet Voran failed to so much as blink. As if lost in thought, he stared at Darcen, who took Celestine’s hand. He lowered his head to whisper something in her ear.
My shock waned. I made to stop this madness.
Voran snatched my hand. He tugged me against his chest, and murmured, “When fate speaks twice, you listen.”