43. Aldrin #3
Her soldiers try to charge us, to aim their pathetic arrows at us.
I roll my hand and the floor vibrates violently as wisteria roots and branches tear out of the ground around us, forming a tunnel straight to Titania and caging her in with us.
Multiple arrows thwack into it, but they can’t penetrate the webbing.
We walk along it, through a haze of marble dust.
“Did you think the Starlight King would partner with someone as toxic as yourself, when you are known across the realm for betraying your allies?” I continue. “No, his ruse was cleverly done to get my forces into the palace. All I had to do was die by poison and have it reversed by his abilities.”
“You just take and take, abuse, rob and murder whoever you like,” Keira snarls across the distance. “Did you believe there would be no consequences for the way you have ravaged this court for your own advancement? That the people would roll over and take your torments without ever fighting back?”
Titania’s eyes flare wide, but she spreads her arms out with false confidence.
“Look, Aldrin, Keira. Surely we can come to an agreement. I have a lot of wealth—it can all be yours. Just give me safe passage out of here to another court.” A small, forced smile spreads her black lips as her eyes turn to me.
“I gave you the opportunity of exile when you lost the last election.”
She is such a fucking coward when there is no one left to fight for her.
The flames of Keira’s hair flare brighter as her features twist with wrath. The intensity of it bubbles down the bond like a pot boiling over. “Death isn’t usually the outcome of a lost election, but I have no doubt you would have killed him then if you’d had enough influence to get away with it.”
“Name your price. Whatever it is, I will give it to you. I am a businesswoman, after all.” She gives a nervous laugh, backing away until she hits the throne that she stole from me, all while glancing around for help.
I reach her and lift her by the throat with a single hand. “Your life. Your legacy. The poison you have spread across these lands. That is my price.”
She opens her mouth, gasping, but I squeeze harder so she cannot speak.
I have had enough of her lies.
It is time for her to die.
Threads of my magic channel into her body, down her throat, piercing her flesh.
I take hold of her muscles and freeze every single one.
I take control of the blood flowing through her veins, of the particles of air within it, and I turn them into solid shards, into needles slicing her up from the inside.
The air within her lungs is mine to command, and I draw the moisture from it and drown her within it.
While she sputters, froth escaping her lips, I pull her close to me and growl in her face, “You do not deserve a quick death, but a lifetime of torture. You can be glad I am neither a cruel or patient man, and I am only too eager to wipe out the blight upon these lands that you are.”
I hold out a hand to Keira and she places the long, ornamental dagger sheathed at Titania’s side into it.
The coward never even drew it or tried to defend herself, so convinced someone else would always do the dirty work for her.
I wrap Titania’s fingers around the hilt and force them to grip it tightly.
Her eyes manage to widen with understanding.
I manipulate every muscle in her arm until the tip of that blade is brought to her chest by her own hand, then plunged into her heart.
I watch my greatest enemy’s face until her heart stops beating and the light fades from her eyes, that eerie swirling ceasing. Just long enough to confirm her death. Then I drop her to the ground in a crumpled heap like the discarded trash she is.
I thought I would feel satisfaction at Titania’s death, perhaps even joy, but it is only relief that courses through me.
She can never torment someone I love again.
Her lies will no longer make this court bleed.
I turn to Keira, who watches me with razor-sharp focus. She doesn’t say a thing, just grabs the back of my head and kisses me passionately. Salty sweat and the metallic tang of blood curl on my tongue, but neither of us pulls away for a long moment.
When we unravel from each other, the sounds of battle crowd in. I lower the cage of branches back into the floor and we get a full, sweeping view of the violence. Less than a third of Titania’s people are left and they are greatly outnumbered.
Keira practically shakes beside me. Her unsated anger is a beast just beginning to unfurl its wings and release its claws. A darkness that will consume her if left unchecked. I take her hand, opening myself up so my reservoir of power melds with hers.
“Make it rain ash, dear heart,” I growl.
She doesn’t hesitate for a single moment.
The girl I first met would wonder if these soldiers have families.
If past trauma led them astray or if any might be innocent and coerced to be here.
But my queen knows that the cruelty of this reign ends with Titania’s inner circle.
That every one of them chose to be here, and it doesn’t matter why.
Keira thrusts out wields of her destructive earth power, grasping our enemies in twos and threes.
She becomes stronger and more skilled each time she uses this ability.
Red cracks form rapidly across flesh, then bodies explode into showers of ash and dirt all around us.
With each death, her lips become more twisted and her eyes flare brighter.
“He is not here,” she barks out. “He’s not fucking here.” Her hands clench to fists and her skin and hair become so hot that it is a struggle to stand near her, much less touch her.
I don’t need to ask who he is. Torin.
“Finish them, dear heart, then we will find Torin.” I grab her chin and force her to look at me. She is so lost in her bloodlust and the currents of rage churning through her that it takes a long time for her to find her way back to me.
Screams, horrible screams explode throughout the room, followed by a heavy silence.
I glance up to find every single one of our enemies dead.
Great pools of crimson are smeared across the ground, swathes of ashy soil floating within them.
The air is thick with dark particles. Holes open up in the grout, drinking up all that fluid, while branches from the Wisteria of Mythanar drag away only the enemy corpses, allowing us to bury our dead.
When I open the doors of the throne room once more, there is a similar scene beyond.
Keira lets out a gasp that is half a sob when her eyes land on her father at the front, his hand still halfway through brushing back his hair, and Caitlin at his side, grimacing down at the snaking branches cleaning up the scene.
They are both drenched head to toe in blood, like it showered down upon them, but they don’t seem injured.
All eyes land upon us, then on Titania’s dead body at the foot of the throne. Every single Spring soldier falls to their knees in acceptance of our ascension.
I pick Keira up by her waist, making her release a small yelp in shock, then swing around and stalk to our throne.
There should be two of them, side by side and positioned with equal importance, but I make do with one.
I plop Keira within it, right where she belongs, and take a moment to admire her.
The gods know I have dreamed of placing her there for the longest time, as my queen and rightful ruler of this court. Even with wide eyes and speckled with blood, she looks utterly regal. I turn back to my people and seat myself on the edge of the throne’s thick armrest.
Cyprien steps out of the crowd. “All hail King Aldrin and Queen Keira!” he calls, a fist raised above his head.
“All hail King Aldrin and Queen Keira!” the unified voices of our supporters yell back.
Nothing has ever felt more right in my life than this.
The symbol of us, ruling together, our greatest enemy dead at our feet.