“You want me to permit eleven enemy soldiers and their helldragons into my lands?” Malachizrien scoffed. “Not a fucking chance.”
However, Nychelle held up her hand without turning around. “Peace, nephew. Please. Let’s hear what she has to say, at the very least. Surely there’s more behind such a weighty request.” Nychelle’s steady words practically shouted that Kadeesha was asking a lot and that there’d better be more if she thought they’d entertain her plea even for a second.
From his throne seat, Malachizrien clenched his jaw. Yet he said nothing. Kadeesha marveled at how he was king, and anarrogant ass to boot, and yet the queen mother garnered clear respect and adoration from him. So much so that she obviously held a great deal of sway over her nephew. Kadeesha didn’t know how she might use that to her advantage in the future when it came time to be done with these games, kill Malachizrien for standing by and watching her people be slaughtered after setting the trap for it to happen, and then return to her court to take her place as ruler, but she filed it away to parse out later.
For the moment, Kadeesha informed the Apollyon royals why theyneededher Nkita and kongamatos in their territory. “With or without what happened during my interrupted wedding today, the Hyperion king was soon going to invade your lands. When he comes, he will come in force and with the might of the Six Kingdoms’ vast armies united under his war banner. Malachizrien may have garnered quite the reputation in the short time he’s worn the crown, and you, Queen Mother, might be infamous yourself for having immeasurably strengthened the economic and military power of your court. But no matter how fearsome of a king you have or how formidable your fighting forces have become, the Apollyon Court is still onlyonecourt. And it’ll be warring against many. Allow my Nkita sisters and our kongamatos to join me here, and once they arrive we will be at your court’s disposal when the war Malachizrien so badly wants ignites. Using me as bait may draw Rishaud to you eventually,” Kadeesha said directly to Malachizrien, “but you have miscalculated your enemy if you think it will be a speedy response. Rishaud likely is already meeting with the other monarchs of the southern dominions to formally declare war. When he comes to retrieve me and kill you, he will not come alone. He’ll come with a legion that’ll be tens of thousands of soldiers strong, and he will aim to eviscerate every mark of your peoplefrom ever having existed on Nimani. He desires to conquer the Apollyon Court’s lands and fold them into the Six Kingdoms. He doesn’t aim to do the same with the actual Apollyonfolk. Are you truly properly prepared for the war he’s going to wage, rather than the one you’re so eager to have?”
Malachizrien no longer lounged in his chair like some lazy amused panther. He was now seated upright, board stiff, like a big cat watching its prey, muscles coiled and ready to pounce. Yet he said nothing. Only raked a slow gaze along the length of Kadeesha, as if studying her and taking apart who she was piece by piece.
“Those hellish beastsarefierce in battle,” Trystin said.
Malachizrien skewered him with a look.
Kadeesha turned away from Malachizrien, deciding to use her energy in swaying the queen mother. Nychelle held up her hand again before Kadeesha got a word out, though. “Do not think, child, to pit me against my nephew. If you go that route, ever, during your stay in our court, you will lose. Perhaps it’ll be your head, depending on how my nephew feels, and I will not lift a finger to intervene. Per the terms we’ve agreed to thus far, our deal has been carefully worded, dear. Your mother and squadron are guaranteed to keep their lives during their stay here. The royal family has agreed to no such thing where you’re concerned, as you pointed out yourself when you petitioned for a self-defense clause.”
“How kind of you to open up discussions of another adjustment I’d like made,” Kadeesha returned. “My head, which you just mentioned—I’d like a guarantee that it stays attached to my shoulders, and I’d like to be assured that no other attempts will be made against my life by either Malachizrien or anyone else of this court.”
A snort erupted from Malachizrien.
Nychelle offered Kadeesha a patient, perhaps even apologetic, smile. “We can’t negotiate such a thing, girl, not with the prophecy concerning you and the threat to our court it may entail. As it stands, we’re being generous, and you’ll accept this bargain either way. I’m sure the lives of your people are worth more than securing your own survival, yes?”
Aether flames danced just beneath the skin of Kadeesha’s palms at another clear indication that the Apollyon royals would move to kill her at some point. But she set the flare of temper aside because the queen mother was correct. Kadeesha knew it. Nychelle knew it. Even Malachizrien with the mocking curl of his lips knew it. “Fine. I agree to everything you’ve asked if I get all I want in return, save my own guaranteed security,” Kadeesha gritted out.
Nychelle nodded, then whipped away from Kadeesha and faced Malachizrien. “Do you want to give an answer this moment, or should you, Trystin, and I deliberate for a time?”
Kadeesha gnashed her teeth at the second option. “I won’t,can’t, wait for a deliberation now that you’ve made clear the threat Rishaud poses to those I care about,” she said. “Decide at once or my offer is off the table.” It was a gamble, but one she had to chance. She couldn’t let this drag out and leave her squadron vulnerable longer than they needed to be. Her Nkita were fierce fighters, and yes, they could take care of themselves. Plus, very few went against a kongamato and lived to tell the tale. But Rishaud was a fae king who’d amassed an unfathomable amount of power over a millennium.Hecould rip through her squadron with little more than a thought. The kongamatos might give him a vicious fight, but Kadeesha couldn’t be certain they would come out of it the victor.
“What gave you the impression you were in any position to make demands about the timeliness of my response?” Malachizrien’s question was laced with a superiority that grated. But she kept holding her ire in check. There was a bigger objective.
“Regardless of what limited position you think I am in,” Kadeesha responded in the smooth tone Malachizrien liked to toss around, “I do have some power. I have the power to lend you a fighting force that will do more damage in a mere flicker of time than an entire legion of your soldiers. And if I were inyourposition, I’d consider that an advantage in the coming war that is worth its weight in gold … or seconds of time.” She crossed her arms and shrugged. “But this is your court and your people. You’re king of these lands. So you are right. Who am I to make demands and point out the prudence in accepting my terms before I decide not to offer up something that each of the courts you’ll face in war have coveted, tried to bargain for, and have failed to attain? Rishaud himself has tried to gain a kongamato squadron and could not. Many, many kings and queens have attempted the same throughout faekind’s history, including your own ancestors once. And yet, only the Aetherfolk were deemed worthy by the kongamato race to bond with them as flyers, and it is only the Aetherfolk who can fly them into battle.
“Sothat’swhere I get such an impression.”
That muscle in Malachizrien’s jaw ticked again. This time, it was hilarious.
Trystin whistled. “Oh, she’s good. I like her energy.” Malachizrien cut him a glacial look that could freeze over the scorching sands of the Fire Court. Trystin simply grinned. “It’s the truth.”
Malachizrien then turned the frigid look on her. “IfI assent, I want an additional oath sworn by you that neither you, noryour Nkita sisters, nor your kongamatos will be wielded, ever, against me or my people foranyreason.”
Kadeesha snorted. “You know my response to that. It’s the same as before. I’ll swear it, but I want self-defense to be an exception,” she said, staring him down.
“Fine,” Malachizrien growled. A thick vein stood out along the left side of his neck. Kadeesha bit back the smug smile, not wanting to press her luck. She got the sense the Apollyon king wasn’t used to being made to fold. Accomplishing exactly that filled her with immense, petty satisfaction.
“Princess,” Nychelle said in a tone that didn’t drip with the condescension that Malachizrien tossed around when he called her by the title, “if you and my nephew are settled on terms, I think this partnership may benefit us all exceedingly well.” A warmth suffused the queen mother’s words, perhaps even authenticity. But Kadeesha wasn’t a fool. She didn’t trust Nychelle any more than she did her dreadful nephew.
“We shall see” was all Kadeesha said.
Malachizrien’s dark chuckle reached out and wrapped around her. It overwhelmed her senses and skimmed along her entire body. Such a response was intolerable after everything that had occurred post–Oleander House. And Malachizrien’s lingering ability to spark such an intense reaction in her was definitely something she needed to sever at once.
Chapter Eight
ADAY LATER, MALACHIZRIEN SENT HER A GIFT.
Or maybe it was a cruel joke.
Kadeesha glowered at the lady-in-waiting who held the rankling gown. The Apollyon king had sent both the attendant and the garment up to Kadeesha’s rooms, apparently. The medium-brown-skinned woman with silver eyes and soft, loose curls had introduced herself as Lady Arrenia, a princess of the cardinal bloodline of Niyarre and daughter of the Stone Warden. She’d been sure to drop her titles chock-full of vitriol too—one had to make it clear, Kadeesha supposed, when one felt insulted to be serving someone they thought beneath them. Based on fae court hierarchies, that was technically true. Kadeesha might have been an archprincess, but she was of an outside court—one that was an enemy, no less. Noble bloodwithinone’s court always outranked noble blood from outside, even if the outside blood was of a higher sovereignty. It was a rule that held true across each of the fae courts, the only exception being seated monarchs.
Truth or no truth, however, Kadeesha still thought about making the woman choke on the gown draped over her arm.But she didn’t want to piss Malachizrien off by murdering one of his people. At least, not while she was stuck here and needed him to provide those she cared about safe haven.
