Because it all would be in flames in a few hours anyway.
The door opened, and she didn't look before whirling her knife in their direction.
It landed in the wood by Rhaif's head.
And she forgot how to breathe.
"Get out," was all she could manage.
Rage filled her insides. Her eagle landed on her arm as she trembled on the spot.
"I came to check on you," Rhaif said as he moved from the shadows, his one remaining eye wandering over her. "You're bleeding. Let me—“
Nyssa grabbed a piece of glass, the ridges cutting her palm."Did you come to kill me too?" she asked, circling away as he stepped closer. "Did you come to secure your place as the last of our line? Knock Dorian and me out so she would give you immortality for finally living up to your potential?"
Rhaif stared at her for a long enough moment, she realized she was right.
"Maybe I should let you live,” he said darkly.
"Thatiswhat you mean to do," she said. "How long have you been planning this? What charge were you going to kill her on had she not wound up with child?"
"She loved our enemy," he said. "It is his fault any of this had to happen so quickly. I loved her—“
"You just condemned her to death!" she cut in. "She was just burned alive before the entire Council and her own family! On your orders.Youhad the final say."
"It was only a matter of time before the Council decided she was not fit for duty and called for her removal or death. Especially after her attacking me."
“Afterherattackingyou?” Nyssa seethed, lights flashing in her vision at the anger raging inside her. “HERattackingyou? What about all the times you attacked her? All the times you raped her? Burned her? Are all those times excusable because you are the King?”
“She should have done as I asked,” he snapped. “She should have learned to behave and followed orders given to her!”
“So she should have submitted to being the silent, beautiful trophy every other Queen has been.”
“She should have learned her place.”
Nyssa paused, letting his words sink in, never blinking away from his daring gaze.Help, she called out in her head through the windows to birds.Help.
“You were going to vote for her death no matter what charge they came up with for her," she said. "Secure your place as High King. That idiotic Council was always going to take your side. Even with her announcing to them how you’ve been abusing her, they didn’t care.”
Her eagle's talons sank into her arm, and it affirmed her raised chin and straight back. She forced herself not to break like her insides wanted her to.
"You've always been smart, little sister," Rhaif drawled. "We've always been close. You’re just as eager for power as I am. I let you in that meeting room when you were just a child—“
"I walked myself into that meeting room," she argued.
"And I let you stay," he countered. "Your brother was never going to be the one to learn the politics. It had to be you. I watched and helped you crawl out from under our mother's thumb just as I did, to prove you were worthy of more than she thought you were. I stood by you and rescued you when those idiot boys tried to take you that first cycle when you turned sixteen. I have always been good to you—“
"You make it sound like it was a chore," she heaved. "Like you should have been anything different. You were my brother. My family. And all this time—all this time you were raping and abusing her because why? Because you thought it was okay? Because you thought it was how to show love? That is not love—“
"You don't know love any more than Drae did—“
Nyssa whirled the glass at his face. "You do NOT get to call her that!" she shouted.
Rhaif ducked just in time to dodge the shard, and it landed in the bedpost. He stared at her as her breath shook, and she waited for the fire to rise on his flesh.
But it didn't.
And Rhaif straightened his shirt.
