Chapter 59
LYRAE
The throne chamber doors opened.
Queen Anaria sat on the high seat carved from a solid block of moonstone, set upon floors of white marble, smoother than a baby’s skin. The high, vaulted ceiling sparkled with a constellation of a thousand golden faelights in all shapes and sizes, like an entire galaxy stretched out over our heads.
Framed by an open archway thirty feet high, Anaria was outlined by the darkened mountain range separating Valarian from the windswept Pale, their snow-topped peaks sparkling beneath the rising moon.
Her eyes found me immediately, then a flicker crossed the queen’s face—something like relief—before vanishing beneath the unreadable mask she always wore at the official audiences where she had to make hard decisions.
The same expression the rest of the royal court—people I’d called friends—wore as they stared down at us.
I felt small and insignificant standing down here, dwarfed by the grandeur of this place, where my self-righteous reasons for my actions suddenly seemed…less compelling than they had an hour ago.
“Lyrae Antares,” Anaria murmured, voice echoing through the empty chamber. “We’re glad you have returned safely.”
Usually, the gallery overhead would be full, so would the rows of benches on either side of the aisle behind us, but tonight—for this—it was just us.
Torin, Zeph, Simon, and Cosimo stood to one side of the throne, Tavion, Zorander, Tristan, and Raziel on the other, in the spot where I usually stood, at the queen’s right hand.
Some part of me shriveled at the thought of never standing there again.
Never protecting this proud female who had been an enemy, an ally, and a friend—not always in that order.
Torin was chewing her bottom lip, hands tucked up into her sleeves. Her ghostly eyes skimmed over us, landing on Rooke with an unsettling intensity, brow pinched together, lips moving slightly, as if she were talking to herself.
I bent my knee, lowered my head, and sank to the floor. “Thank you, my queen. I am glad to be back.”
Ryland and Varian followed my lead. Ariel hesitated a heartbeat, then knelt as well.
Rooke sank deeply to his knees beside me, hand over his heart, wave after wave of dark power pouring off him, spilling onto the floor around us in a pool of dark, twisting water.
Even the air was tinged by his magic: a faint sparkle of gold floated like stardust, tendrils of twisting darkness that seemed to form a protective shield around us.
Up on the dais, everyone shifted closer to Anaria.
Anaria’s pale, assessing gaze slid over Kaden. “You must be Lord Kaden Rooke,” her voice as cool as winter. “The heir of Frostveil Keep and Dark Prince of the Shadowlands. I have heard much about your family.”
Read: I know your bloodline goes back further than my own, the blood of the Old Gods runs in your veins, and you are my enemy.
“I am,” he replied softly.
Her chin lifted a fraction. “You are the bearer of the Triune.”
“I am that, too.”
“Then I will speak plainly. You must understand the threat you present to both my kingdom and my people,” she explained, her tone harsh in the empty chamber. “We are only just recovering from a long war. I cannot risk another. My first duty is keeping my people safe.”
“My family legacy,” Kaden explained gently, “is not a danger to anyone, despite what some legends claim. The Triune was created by one of my ancestors to store our family magic to be used later, in times of great need. This is not a weapon, my queen—more of a…depository.”
“A depository that, in the wrong hands, could be used to decimate the entire realm, correct?”
“In the wrong hands…” he dipped his head lower. “Yes.”
“Then what are we to do, Lord Rooke, if this weapon—because even by your admission, the Triune is a weapon—falls into the wrong hands, as it nearly did with Lord Gravelock? Do you intend to rally your armies and ride to our defense?”
“I have no army, my queen,” Rooke said softly. “No soldiers, no guards. Only me.”
My heart twisted and broke and shattered for him, kneeling beside me, so vulnerable, so honest, so very…un-Rooke-like. Where was the arrogant asshole, telling her she could go pound salt?
Where was the male who had crushed Gravelock and his guards like they were made of paper?
Yes, I’d wanted him to try to be humble, but this?
It was like he’d given up.
A little sound escaped my lips and he risked a look at me, his mouth tightening, hand flexing like he wanted to reach out and take mine.
“Then what shall we do, Lord Rooke?” Anaria leaned forward. “Zephryn tells me you believe you deserve to keep the Triune for yourself. Keep control of this weapon—this threat to everything we have built. I cannot allow that to happen. Protecting this city is my job, and one I take very seriously.”
A shiver of her power thrummed through the room, and every part of me went taut when Rooke’s magic rose to meet the queen’s, that shadow of darkness pulsing around us stronger, glittering brighter as veins of gold threaded through the barrier.
No, no, no—this was about to become a disaster.
“My first duty is to my people. Protecting them from danger.” Her pale green eyes hardened to chips of glass. “Any danger, no matter where it comes from.”
I was on my feet before he could answer, because I would not allow this. I would not allow this honorable male to be treated like he was some petty tyrant, grasping at power, and damn what this did to my own chances of absolution.
“The Triune is his birthright,” I said, voice clear enough to echo off the empty gallery.
“Kaden Rooke has suffered and lost and bled for that birthright. If we take that away from him, we are no better than Gravelock. We are thieves, Anaria, and everything we have built here is a lie if we aren’t strong enough to respect—to welcome—allies who are every bit as strong as we are. ”
Anaria’s cool, unconvinced gaze flicked to Rooke. “Those relics are dangerous, Lyrae.”
“Yes they are,” I agreed. “But they chose Rooke. The Triune deemed him worthy of their power—picked him as the bearer of their ancient magic.” I paused, and then, before I could doubt myself, plunged on ahead.
“Just like the Fae magic chose you, five years ago.”