"I'm giving you a choice, Nysi. And you'll have two days to make it. Stay with me, by my side—“
"Why? So you can keep me under your thumb and subject me to yourneeds?" she spat. "I am not whatever meek Princess you think I am. I do not belong to anyone. I am not some possession for you to keep squashed down and quiet. My sister did not just sacrifice herself for me to sit back and become your slave."
"Let me finish." And the threatening way he said it made her eagle shift.
Kill him now?her eagle asked.
Call our friends.
Her eagle flew off her arm and into the night sky.
Rhaif watched the bird go, and then his eyes fixated on Nyssa. "Stay here. Help me command this kingdom. Once the Venari King is dead at sunrise, the rest of the world is ours to take."
Nyssalaughed.
She laughed at the fantasy her brother lived in.
"You want me to betray my brother—“
"I am your brother too!" he shouted.
"You are not my brother!” she yelled. "You are not my family. You are some... Somevagrant and craven. Unworthy of the crown on your head and the powers our mother gifted you."
Knowing those words might send him spiraling.
And she dared him to come at her.
Rhaif's eyes flashed fire.
"You wereneverworthy of that marking," she continued. "You do not deserve to sit on any throne or receive the love these people so blindly have for you. You had the chance to be better than Vasilis and those before. And you chose that… thatbitchdespite every torture and bad word she ever said to you. You were so desperate for her love when you could have had the love of your actual family. Youneverneeded our mother. You had us. You had unconditional love right here in front of you. All of us wanted to love you. We wantedyou. We didn’t want a King. We wanted a brother. We just wantedRhaif.” She paused, sniffing back her tears, and she straightened. “And I am sorry you never saw it."
A tear trickled down his cheek.
"I will never betray Dorian,” she continued, voice quivering and high-pitched as she started to break. "I am not you. I would never condemn someone I love for power. If you want Dorian, you'll have to take me too."
The words seem to bring him back out of the hole he'd nearly slipped into, and the hatred returned to his eye.
"Little sister... I know how much you want that crown. I know how much you want that power. You'll realize you'll do anything for it soon."
"Oh, don't worry. I will have your crown," she promised. "I'll come back, and I'll take it off your severed head after Dorian slices your throat. The last thing you will ever see in this life will be our faces."
"Why wait, Nysi?" he asked.
The windows slammed open.
Raptors and eagles filled the room. Ravens and owls. Snakes slithered in from having crawled the walls to come to her. Her eagle landed on her arm once more and screeched in Rhaif's direction.
Rhaif’s eye widened as he looked at the plethora of dangerous beasts.
But Nyssa didn't flinch.
"I will wait because I want her screams and last words to haunt you as long as she promised they would. Because I want you on your knees begging for us to spare you—“
A black snake slithered up the lounger and wrapped itself around her arm.
"You willcrawlbefore I take your life, brother," she swore. "Just as you always said my enemies would."
The words sent what was left of the color in his face to disappear.
