The snake hissed again, and the lights in the crystals above us twinkled as the wind howled and another rumbling through the tower made my stomach turn.
“Or?” I asked.
“Or he can keep you above the law, and use you to his advantage. Use your blood, your lineage,” his lips turned, “not to mention your womb. A perfect way to legitimize his claim on Bamaria. I think we all know that you are far more useful to him alive, as a docile bride for Lord Viktor, than you are dead. By having you as a daughter-in-law, he has a claim to take your country for himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s taken something that isn’t his. Think about when the Emperor had the Blade murder every last child of Ka Azria. What happened once they were gone? Imperator Kormac put his puppets, Ka Elys, in their place.”
Ka Azria … The ruling Ka of Elyria who’d been murdered for concealing vorakh. By the Gods.
My blood ran cold, my eyes locking with Rhyan’s father. The puzzle pieces I’d spent years collecting were now snapping together. By eliminating the ruling Ka of Elyria, the only Lumerian country to share our border, the Imperator had created a clear path to enter Bamaria. My whole life they’d been using it. Entering easily, bringing more soldiers every time. And Ka Elys never stood in their way, never challenged the entry of an armed legion. Ka Kormac’s soturi already had the backing of the Emperor. It wouldn’t be long before Imperator Kormac controlled the entire southern border. Korteria, Elyria, and Bamaria would all be under his complete and total rule.
I wanted to throw up. It had been in front of my face the whole time. Ka Azria hadn’t been a cautionary tale to warn others of concealing vorakh.
They’d been collateral damage in Ka Kormac’s quest to control the Empire.
Imperator Hart blinked slowly. “You see the gravity of the situation then. Emperor Theotis is not long for this world. And if things continue the way they are, you will not just be facing Imperator Avery Kormac, Arkasva and High Lord of Korteria. You’ll be bending a knee to His Majesty,EmperorAvery Kormac, ruler of all Lumeria.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying somehow to find composure. Gods. The Imperator was monstrous enough with his outrageous levels of power—for him to become Emperor …
But no. He couldn’t be allowed to ascend to the throne. The Emperor would be chosen from another Ka. That was the legal precedent. The way it was always done. No two Emperors in a row could serve from the same Ka, or from the same country. It was the law.
But … Fuck. It wouldn’t matter. I knewfirsthandjusthow well the Imperator followed the law. Knew what littleregard he had for precedent or tradition. How little resistance he faced from those he controlled. He was as good as the Emperor now. And if nothing changed, he always would be. He and his progeny would rule our lives forever.
I stilled, my eyes narrowing. “I wouldn’t be the only one to swear my allegiance. If this happened, he’d no longer be your equal. He’d be your Emperor, too. You’d be bending your knee as well,Your Highness.”
Imperator Hart lifted his wine glass in response, his lips turned up. A grim toast. “You see my problem, then. I did not become Imperator of the North to find myself bowing before my incompetent counterpart. Now, considering what we know, I have two options to move forward.”
After taking a long sip of wine, he sat back, readjusting the golden Laurel of the Arkasva atop his head, and refilled my glass. He gestured for me to drink, but I couldn’t move.
For a moment, he eyed my goblet, but then he shrugged, running his fingers along the golden border of his cloak, so it laid just-so on his shoulder. “My first option here is that I fall in line with Kormac’s story. Pretend Brockton and his little wolves had a big bad fight that led to their unfortunate end. I can pretend my nahashim weren’t in Korteria. Pretend you and my son weren’t there either. It seems the likely option—I expect word of your arrival to Seathorne has reached His Highness’s ears by now.”
Of course, it had—he wanted everyone to know he had me. That he had rescued Meera.
“I can allow Imperator Kormac to take control of you like he’s always wanted. I can honor his claim, and send you home to Korteria as his son’s bride. Allow him to breed you.”
And I’d be a prisoner for life. A slave to Viktor and his Ka. Tortured and worse. I’d never see Rhyan again. I’d never free Jules. Bamaria would be doomed.
“I think we can both agree,” he said, “that neither of us like option one.”
“I think we can agree that you don’t wanthimto have control of me,” I snarled. “Nor do you wish for him to outrank you. Option two?”
He smiled slowly. “I can expose the truth. Let everyone know you’re a murderer. It would be easy to say you confessed to me. To pull the memories from your mind with my nahashim. We can have you tried before the Emperor’s Council, imprisoned along with my son. You may even both be publicly stripped. My son at least would be. Then, I suspect Ka Kormac will have no choice but to go to war with Bamaria for your crimes—a war he will win since you’re currently lacking an Arkturion. How long do you think it would take Bamaria to fall? Hours? Days? It wouldn’t be long before Bamaria went from an occupied country, to a conquered one.”
It took all I had not to throw up.
“But, like you, I’m not inclined to support that option either.” The Imperator stood, strolling slowly beside the table until he stood right behind me. The tower shook again. The wind howled wildly, and the crystals swayed causing their lights to flicker. I felt dizzy as he breathed down the back of my neck.
Imperator Hart moved even closer, his body heat and aura brushing against my own. There was a hissing sound that rushed past my ear, and then something hot and slimy slid across my collarbone.
I barely dared to breathe.
“It is time we came to an understanding, you and I,” he crooned. “Time to find a third possibility. I have things I want. And things I can do. You have the same. I believe we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement, you and I.Asherah.”
I focused on my breathing, on inhaling and exhaling. “I don’t know what makes you think I’d ever agree to work with you.”
“The fate of yourself, of my son, and your country aren’t enough to sway you? Pretend you’re brave all you want. But I don’t think you want this nahashim inside your body, or your mind. I know what the Examiner from Lethea did to you. I had Kunda show me, in great detail.”
The nahashim slid between my breasts, its tongue poking below the top of my dress.
By the Gods …
