Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Liviana’s Bedroom, Shadow Court
Hadrian
I slam through the silver arched doors into Liviana’s chambers.
Why did Aurelius allow himself to be matched with this snobbish bitch, even if he never intended to go through with it?
Why has he let us be tormented by being parted from our mates, who should never have left my nest?
I would love them to be tied there, so that they could never leave me.
What’s wrong with that?
How dare Aurelius let our mates be sent away, disgraced as consorts?
They’re mine.
I should simply burn down this palace and steal back my mates.
This plan of Aurelius’, on the other hand, does have its merits. It will end in my being crowned Emperor once again, which is my rightful title.
Then my reincarnated Omega and Alpha, confusingly different as they both are, as well as needing retraining on the proper way to respect me, will stand alongside me forever.
Fuck their plotting.
I have my scheme written in the blood of dragons who lived and died before their birth, and I’ll take my revenge on those who made me watch my lovers die.
I storm into the grand chamber, disguising myself as Aurelius, as I have many times over the years.
No one can tell, apart from the difference in our eyes.
My fae appears to be able to judge best when I am present.
A killer senses another killer.
The bedchamber stinks of myrrh, as well as sprigs of lavender and rosemary that are resting in large marble bowls perched on tripods around the room.
I stalk over the polished marble floor, which is pooled with sunlight that pours through the wide window. I shove aside the silk screen, which is laid with ivy picked out in gold leaf, to unveil Liviana.
The Omega looks up at me, startled.
She is dressed in a simple silver robe. Her long hair is parted into six braids. She appears small in the middle of her large bed.
She is sprawled relaxed in the middle of her bed of golden cushions, feather bedding, and thick pelts.
She is surrounded by glittering jewels like constellations of stars: large pearl drop earrings, golden hairpins, a moonstone dragon pendant, emerald arm cuffs, and a silk sash fastened with an amethyst buckle.
My eyes narrow.
The bitch doesn’t look like someone who is being forced into a marriage, but rather someone who is gloating over their plot to seize political power.
Is Aurelius wrong to believe that fucker Aquila?
Liviana’s hand is hovering greedily over a serpent-shaped arm cuff with gleaming emeralds for eyes like she is about to pick it.
“Do you like that one?” I ask, silkily. “It suits you.”
Liviana grabs her hand back, flushing.
“You’re not meant to be here. It’s bad luck.” She glances around, nervously.
“I’ll risk it.”
“Where are my servants?”
“Resting.”
Unconscious.
Liviana studies me like she doesn’t believe my lie.
Then she pulls her act around herself again like a cloak.
“Could you simply not resist seeing me before the big ceremony?” She asks, coquettishly. “Or do you have something urgent to discuss with me, Your Majesty? Maybe about the flower arrangements or the food choices for the feast?”
Is she daring to mock me?
Maybe it’s not only my Omega.
All Omegas nowadays have no respect.
I hold back my growl with difficulty. “We both know that there is no love between us. I will not pretend that our bonding is something that it’s not. Perhaps, however, we can make the best of it.”
Liviana’s eyes light with surprise. “I would like that, Your Majesty.”
“Surely you should call me Aurelius.”
“I would also like that, Aurelius.”
She smiles, adjusting her braids.
My smile is much darker, as I prowl closer to the bed.
Liviana’s smile falters.
I gesture at the jewels. “What are all these?”
“Mother sent them. They are heirlooms from my family. They belonged to my ancestors and were worn on their wedding days. She said that I could choose one.”
“So, she does allow you to make some of your own choices?”
Liviana casts me a sharp look. “What do you mean?”
My smile widens to reveal my fangs, and the Omega shrinks back against the pillows.
I lean over Liviana. “Who would you have picked between my brother and me?”
She pales. “How can I…? I d-d-don’t…That is an inappropriate question.”
I flood my dominant pheromones over Liviana, and she huddles even further into the bedding. “Tonight, you will be rutted on my knot. Nothing I ask that brings us closer is inappropriate, is it? Did you prefer Tarq over me because he was older, more charming, the King?”
Liviana’s eyes moisten.
Interesting.
Is it a ploy or real?
Is she crying for herself, however, or over feelings for my brother?
“He courted me,” Liviana whispers. “By the Shadow Gods, why are you talking about the past? Can’t we look to our future? I will be loyal to you alone, I swear. Your loving Empress. You won’t even think about those filthy consorts…”
Filthy consorts…?
Fuck this undercover shit.
I snap, growling loudly enough to make Liviana scream in terror. Sparks spray from my horns.
I’m doing this my way.
I turn and leap from the dais. Then I storm back out of the door and into the corridor, where I left Aquila on his knees. I knew that I would need him later.
Aquila’s hair is tangled, falling over his bruised face. His academy uniform is creased and so hastily dragged on that he broke the top button.
Normally, he would be flogged for that.
His feet are bare because I didn’t wait for him to pull on his boots.
“Get up,” I snarl. “Play your part like we agreed. You are only good for lying, after all. Disobey, and I shall tear out both your throats like the traitors you are. Your soft Alpha isn’t here to save you now. Do you understand?”
Trembling, Aquila nods with wide eyes. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
When he shakily stands, I punch him in the mouth.
He lets out a grunt of pain, and his lip busts. Satisfied at the way that blood is staining his teeth and trickling down his chin, I grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag him into the bedchamber.
Liviana huddles against the headboard. The jewels are still laid out in front of her, but she no longer has any attention to spare for them. Instead, she is fully focused on me.
It would be possible to imagine that Liviana didn’t even know Aquila, the bloodied Omega that I am dragging in with me, apart from the tightening of her lips.
I slam the door shut behind me, then hurl Aquila to the floor between us like an accusation.
Is this going to be enough?
I don’t want her head. I want the heads of her mother and Aquila’s father.
I wait for Liviana to speak first, only she doesn’t.
Grudgingly, I respect that.
She would have made an excellent soldier in my army.
“Anything to say?” I demand.
Liviana merely arches her brow. “Why are you throwing bleeding soldiers into my bedroom? Discipline your cadets somewhere else, Aurelius. I need to prepare for breakfast. Today is a special day for us, remember?”
Aquila’s face flashes with hurt.
Liviana is a good actress. I would almost believe her, apart from the way that she’s unable to stop her cold gaze from darting to the cut on Aquila’s lip.
I kick Aquila in the gut, hoping that it will make Liviana flinch.
She doesn’t.
But she’s holding herself unnaturally still. The fact that she doesn’t flinch is more telling than if she had.
I kick Aquila again, and he curls around himself, hugging his stomach.
Liviana is now like a statue.
I circle Aquila. “I discovered this morning that this traitor was plotting against my cousin. Can you believe that?”
“Shocking. But what has that got to do with me?” There was only the slightest hesitation before Liviana replied, but it was there.
I grab Aquila’s hair, forcing him to raise his head and face Liviana. “You’re going to be ruling alongside me. You should start making decisions that are more important than what jewel you’re going to wear. For example, what life is more important and who deserves to die?”
“Die?” Liviana’s voice is fainter.
I roughly let go of Aquila, and he catches himself on his hands with a grunt of pain. “He’s a silver elite. You must know him. Is his life worthless? Or worth more than ambition?”
“I don’t know.” Liviana is wringing the blanket between her hands. “This has nothing to do with me.”
“Did I accuse you of something? Unless you did know about his plot?”
“I had nothing to do with any plot,” Liviana replies, shriller. “It was all him.”
Aquila’s face crumples with devastated betrayal. Then he pointedly turns away, refusing to look at her.
Got her.
“Wait.” Liviana scrambles out of the bed to the edge of the mattress, knocking the jewels flying like they are trash. “What will happen to him?”
I grab Aquila’s elbow and haul him to his feet. He doesn’t resist. He stands like the life has been drained from him.
“I’ll take him to the Silver Basilica,” I casually reply, “and have the traitor executed. Why don’t you come with me? You can watch as a wedding gift from me. We can keep his head to decorate the end of our nest.”
Would my nestmates like the heads of Cato and Decima for our nest?
Liviana stares at me in horror. “You fucking tyrant.”
I grip Aquila’s arm more harshly. “You’re the one who denounced him.”
Liviana sways like she may faint.
“Livvy,” Aquila shouts in alarm, finally struggling to break free from me.
I let him go, watching in amusement as the person who has just been sent to his death on the word of another, rushes to catch them as they fall.
Liviana is a better manipulator than my fae is.
Maybe I should add her to the collection of monsters that Aurelius keeps as his Golden Family. The problem is that she isn’t loyal to anyone.
Aquila slips his arms around Liviana, gently helping her down to the floor.
She is breathing too fast.
He grasps her hand.
“I’m sorry, Quill.” Liviana drags her hand up to rest over her heart.
“I misjudged Aurelius. I thought that I could play him. I didn’t know that he was unhinged.
He doesn’t even whip his staff. You’re my best friend.
I’d never intentionally betray you. Please, you must believe me. I didn’t think that he would—”
“Just tell him the truth, Livvy,” Aquila says, firmly. “I have already admitted my crimes. I will atone for them. But we can’t continue to be our parents’ puppets. You’re my best friend too and you deserve to be free.”
She gives a bitter laugh from so deep inside that it sounds like it hurts.
“Free? You lived like you were a savage fae out in that backwater village of yours, Quill. You’re new to the Shadow Court, and you’ve already been sentenced to death.
This is why you don’t understand that there is no such thing as free for Omegas like us. You’re a dreamer.”
Aquila slowly pulls his hand away from hers, and his expression hardens.
“Maybe I am. But my Alpha has forgiven me, when he should have killed me. He gives me the courage to dare that I can make up for what I have done, no matter how long it takes. So, let’s stop protecting our families after their mistreatment of us.
If you don’t, then I die. It is your choice. ”
When Liviana reaches up to touch Aquila’s cheek, I don’t know what she will choose, and heartbreakingly, I don’t think that Aquila does either.
What she doesn’t know is that if she chooses wrong, then she is the one who I will burn.
At last, Liviana pushes herself stiffly to her feet to face me. “Don’t punish Aquila for the plot. His father, Cato, forced him into it.”
I stare her down. “And how do you know that?”
Liviana tilts up her chin, challengingly.
“My mother schemed with him, threatening me with death if I did not obey. They coerced us both into the plan to take political power. Mother would become Head of the Council. I would bond with Tarquin and then after his death, with you. Aquila would spy in the academy and once he bonded with your cousin he would kill him. Oh, by the Shadow Gods, you didn’t follow through with that, did you? ”
Aquila shakes his head.
I grin with dark pleasure. I am better at this undercover shit than Aurelius believes.
“You won’t leave this bedchamber today,” I coldly inform them, “and no one will see you, apart from Aquila’s Alpha.
As my secretary, Ignatius will note down both your confessions.
I will expect full details on the involvement of your families.
Sign them, then I will grant Aquila a pardon for the sake of my cousin.
For attempting to trick me into your nest, however, and calling my mates filthy consorts,” my eyes blaze, as I fix my gaze on Liviana, “you are exiled. You shall run from the palace the moment that your confession is signed. Then I shall never hear your name, smell your scent, or see your face again, or I shall burn you to ash.”
Yet it is not her blood that I will taste tonight.
Instead, I will be crowned Emperor, and before the moon sets, I will gift my mates the heads of my enemies.