And then the double doors slammed open with a thunderous bang, one powerful enough to shake the room. Someone cried out in fear. And a voice, angry and feral, filled with the vengeance of a God, roared out.
“You will die if you touch her!”
Everyone turned in their seats, and Imperator Hart’s eyes widened in shock and fear, his face draining of color as Rhyan entered the room.
Chapter
Forty-Five
RHYAN
“But you’re—you were …” my father spluttered.
“Dead? Akadim? Apparently, that was just a phase for me. Something I was going through.” I strolled into the Seating Room. Into the room I’d hated so much over the years. The room where my father had hurt Lyr, where he had forced her into an engagement with Kane, forced me to be with Amalthea. The room where I’d had to stand for hours in silence at his side, and it was the room where my mother had—where—where he’d murdered her.
He rose from his Seat, his face turning red with anger, his aura blasting. “Seize him,” he screamed. “Now!”
Twenty-five soturi in the room all stepped forward, emerging from the shadows against the walls, their swords drawn and pointed at me.
I shrugged, unconcerned. “I am powerless now. You saw to that, Father. You took my magic. Ripped it from my body. The way you ripped everything else away from me. My title, my friends, my life!” My voice shook. “My mother.”
His eyes narrowed, his brows coming together in a sharp, pointed V.
“So,” I said, “it should be easy for your soturi to apprehend me.”
But they didn’t. They remained in place, not moving, not daring to take even a single step forward.
“I said seize him!” my father screamed.
I continued strolling forward, unconcerned.
“Dario,” I said, my voice had gone cold. “Step away from Lyr. Now.”
“No,” my father yelled. “You keep that knife on her throat. And Rhyan,” his eyes bore into mine, full of the same hatred they’d been filled with the day he tried to force me into a blood oath—the day he carved into the skin on my face. The day he took my mother’s life. “One more step, and she dies.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I said. “You know the consequences. You know what I promised, what I swore.”
If you hurt her, if you harm one hair on her head, there will be nowhere safe for you. Nowhere you can hide. Not in this lifetime. Not in the next. I will hunt you to the bowels of eternity.
“You have one chance,” I told my father. “We don’t want to hurt you. We want justice. Justice for all the akadim you allowed in, that you allowed to hurt your people. For all the blood contracts and blood oaths you’ve been wielding like weapons against your own Council. Your own Ka. And, for the murder of Garrett Aravain. On the day of the Alissedari you willingly allowed akadim into our country, akadim that attacked us on our way to the tournament. It took Garrett’s soul, turned him forsaken. When I killed him in the arena that day, it was to let him die as himself. Because he asked me to. And when I confronted you about it, you admitted it. You knew all along what had happened, you knew the truth and covered it up.”
“What?” There was a cry, and I knew at once it was Garrett’s father, Kane’s Second. I’d avoided looking at him the whole timewe were back in Glemaria before. But now, now I looked, for the first time in over a year, trying to tell him how sorry I was for the role I’d played, and how sorry I was for hiding the truth. I wanted to apologize to Garrett’s whole family. To make amends. But that would come later.
I glared at my father. “And you, you, are responsible for the murder of my mother, Lady Shakina Hart.”
“You fucking liar!”
“It’s true,” Kenna said, looking up. “I was there. I watched it happen. And I was forced to lie.”
“I will speak to you later, wife,” my father spat out, his words like ice. “I’ve had enough. Dario. Slice Lyriana’s throat. Now!”
“NO!” Lyr screamed, and so did I.
Dario’s hand shook, as he tried to pull his hand back. He cried out clearly in pain.
“The blood … contract … fuck!” He gasped, tears in his eyes.
Lyr stumbled back. But my father barked an order at Aiden, and suddenly he was rushing toward Lyr, his face screwed in pain. He gripped her shoulders, shoving her towards Dario.
