To that point, the Lysians certainly had not proven to be monsters like the one they were about to put down.
The gaze of every Lysian in the room watched me as I crossed silently through the chamber before taking an open seat beside their King.
10
ERIK
Ariana entered the room with her head held high. Kole stayed beside her, looking particularly agitated. I wondered what the two said to one another. Her pace slowed ever so slightly, allowing Kole to walk a step ahead, bringing her closer. She followed him to the dais and silently took a seat to my right. Her green gaze drifted all over the room, taking it in, without meeting mine once.
A sliver of guilt settled within for what she was about to endure.
Iver, unfortunately, sat directly to my left. He leaned back enough so that the front two chair legs hovered above the ground as he balanced on only the back two.
“Hey, princess. This may seem a little savage, but I promise, we are gentle beasts.” He flashed his teeth at her tauntingly, and I barely refrained from wiping the floor with him.
A low growl moved through me, hoping it was enough to silence him.
Ariana seemed like she was going to ignore Iver completely, but then she turned, focusing on him. “I am not aprincess,prince.”
She then held his gaze for far longer than most would have thought wise. Ariana was never told that Iver was my brother, but she guessed correctly. Of my brothers, he looked most similar to me. We both had brown hair and were on the taller side, but where my eyes were dark blue, his were a light gray. Edmond and Jorn, on the other hand, had golden hair with gray eyes, our father’s eyes.
Iver laughed and allowed his chair to fall back onto all four legs with a loud slam.
To her credit, Ariana did not jump at the sound, and I realized Iver was probably trying to startle her. The scent of fear was a pungent one; at times it was nearly sweet. He wanted to smell her fear. He was playing games.
“Behave yourself,” I warned my little aggravatingly uncontrollable brother.
“Oh c’mon, when did you become such a drag? You used to be more fun.” Iver huffed like a child. His fingers began drumming rhythmically on the table before him as his patience began waning. Iver couldn’t sit still without constant entertainment for even several heartbeats.
“I became adragwhen I became King,” I stated flatly before turning to one of my guards. “Bring in the leader of the Bavadrins.”
Lysians moved at my instruction. A door opened, and Ariana’s father was escorted in, his hands and feet in chains. His clothing was filthy, for he had been wearing them for days, his hair a tangled mess of black and gray. The scowl on his face was unchanged since he was taken from his home.
Ariana’s heartbeat picked up its pace while she sat incredibly still next to me. Her gaze flickered to her father.
The Bavadrin Leader Superior huffed as he made his way across the room, till he was positioned before us. His lips pressed in a hard line, eyes outraged. He glanced around, noting all of us.
“We gave you a chance to work with us, but you—” I began speaking to the prisoner, stopping when he colorfully spit onto the floor.
“You are the scum of the planet.” He seethed, before turning his harsh brown gaze to Ariana. “Help me,” he commanded, and Ariana shifted uncomfortably beside me. What exactly did he think his daughter could have done for him? She was not in any position to help.
I visibly frowned.
The Bavadrin Superior was not willing to listen, and his position was one for life. Not that someone like him ever would give up any scrap of power. For such profound greediness, he was going to pay for his attempts at holding on to that power with his life. The only way for someone more reasonable to take command was with his death. That was the only option he left us with. I knew it. He knew it. And his daughter knew it.
“Are you in some sort of alliance with the Sidhe? Do you help them take Lysians against their will?” Edmond asked.
Fraser ignored him completely, as if he had not said a single thing. Instead, his attention remained on his daughter.
“Don’t just sit there looking dumb!” he yelled angrily at Ariana. “Help me!” Again, he spoke in commands, not requests.
I didn’t think that he had ever requested anything in his entire miserable life. Everything was a mandate. What he wanted, he took. Now that he found himself in such a precarious position, he didn’t know how to behave otherwise. Had he expected the clouds to open and for the mystic Spirit to come and save his worthless soul? I could have laughed. The Bavadrin leader was a delusional idiot.
Next to me, Ariana closed her eyes, and she began to tremble. Her reaction only further added fuel to her father’s misplaced anger.
“I should have killed you alongside your mother! You no-goodwretch. You don’t deserve . . .” he began, spewing such vicious words that I was stunned. My surprise quickly melted into simmering anger.
Fraser killed the mother of his offspring. What a twisted and cruel man. What’s more, he desired to take the life of his one and only daughter because she did not sacrifice herself for him.
