Chapter 44
Majority Rules
Cora
“Ruling,” I replied in the tone I’d perfected over the years when I mimicked Keres within my own mind. I’d never had an opportunity to actually try it aloud until now, but it felt good.
Keres looked shocked, but he hid it well. The expression cleared from his face in record time as he looked around the room at his guards. There were eight that I’d counted, all in their full Court of Ice armor. A few more were stationed in the hall that we’d passed on the way in.
“So you don’t care for him at all?” Keres asked as he pointed towards Cedar.
I shrugged. “He’s a great fuck. I’ll give him that.”
I’d fully closed access through our bond.
I wasn’t sure how I was doing it, but I knew allowing Cedar to feel how I was feeling right now would be a recipe for failure.
The anxiety I felt over something going wrong and him being hurt, let alone our little girl being hurt, was something I couldn’t face right now.
I didn’t need the distraction. However, his face said it all for him. Anger. Betrayal. Distaste. When we’d first arrived, I’d tried to discern if it was towards me or just the situation. But, we were in so deep now that I couldn’t let myself care.
One goal while we were here: end him. The rest could be dealt with after.
Disgust filled Keres’s face as he looked back at Cedar.
“You truly touched what’s mine?” he questioned, as if he hadn’t had the confirmation many moons ago with Lovel.
A breathy chuckle escaped me, but Cedar chose that moment to let the snarky male that I loved so much loose.
“She’s never been yours.”
Keres stared down at him.
“Excuse me?” he muttered.
I watched as Cedar slowly pushed himself back to his feet, his gaze turning down towards Keres.
“She. Is. Mine,” he growled once more. “She’s been mine since before we left this place together. She will always be mine. No amount of death or destruction you reap upon us will change that.”
Keres laughed, the sound reverberating through the domed room.
“You think because of this apparent mate bond—” He spat the words. “—she belongs to you, bird? Cora? The last heir to the Court of Ice? The final descendent of my brother Drustan? You believe you have some sort of claim over her because of a damn mate marking upon her skin?”
He began laughing once more as if he couldn’t help himself to stop.
“Do you believe I’ve gone through all of this trouble keeping her alive just so she can ride off into the night with you?
So you can claim this child as your own and rule over the court I’ve spent so many winters claiming as my own?
Yes, I know exactly who her family was. Why do you think I took her and Silvie? ”
I stared as he shook his head, the disbelief within my veins stronger than I cared to admit. I’d thought all this time it was simply because we were born children. I thought there was no record of us in the Court of Ice archives because we simply weren’t royalty any longer. We didn’t matter.
“Besides, if it weren’t for my bringing the vampires together under The Eternal Outcasts, the bird wouldn’t even be a vampire.
He was only turned because my males got sloppy.
I specifically told them I didn’t want any more from Finnian’s line.
But did they listen? No. So you were left in the street to die once his handler got ahold of him,” Keres spat.
I was so busy spiraling that I didn’t notice Keres give any sort of signal. His guards began closing in around us, and I tried to bury the newfound knowledge.
“I’ve had enough of these games, Cora. Your insolence was entertaining at first, but I’m past it now. Kill the bird,” he commanded as he began walking towards me. “I’ll take her.”
“You won’t touch me,” I commanded as I found my way to my feet, my magic flowing with me without hesitation.
My chest was tight and my limbs shaky, but I pulled with everything in me.
“For years I’ve held myself back. I’ve tamed myself.
I’ve appeared weak and meek in order to appease you, but no longer will I bow. ”
His eyes were wide as the swift thuds drew his eyes back to Cedar and his surrounding guards.
The first guard raised his sword only to impale himself instead of my mate. The shock in his eyes was unmistakable as he fell to the ground, blood slipping from his heart.
And the same with the next guard.
Again and again.
As each guard came closer, the same happened to them.
Cutting each thread around their lives short through their own weapons while I stood before the throne, Keres dumbfounded as he watched his soldiers fall.
After the fourth casualty, the remaining four stood back, hands on their blades, but the wariness was clear. The fear was palpable.
I met Cedar’s gaze to find him smiling towards me, but the smile faltered with the wind sailing past my ear. A long arrow protruded from his chest.
A smile one moment, an arrow the next.
Everything moved in slow motion as he fell to his knees, blood slipping from the wound and down his body. I tried to walk towards him, but Keres was there, his hands on my shoulders as he attempted to block my path and drag me away.
Silence was all that met my ears. As if nothing else could enter my subconscious. There were no words, no screams, no shuffles of feet. My magic flowed from within me, as I commanded it to do whatever it took to get me to my mate faster.